School causes autism

[Story and Myth]

Hello everyone.
Few of you know me, and no one here knows who I really am. This is why I feel comfortable telling you all of this, something I've never told another person.

I was a smart child. The kind of smart child everyone hates; I was self-important, condescending, and completely convinced of my own rightness. How else was I going to act with straight A's? With 100%s? With aptitude tests placing me in middle or high school mentally?
I had a friend. She moved away, and then I had no one. I was alone. The other students despised me for various reasons, from my dangling hair clips to my tight rein on my pencils to my A+ spelling tests. The teachers disliked me; my parents put extra demands on them to cater to my intelligence, and I was an easy, accessible, defenseless target. My parents turned a deaf ear; they did not want to know of bullies or injustices.

You know why autistic people have developmental problems? Some of them have damage in that part of their brain naturally, of course. But a lot of them have sensory problems. Serious sensory problems. Problems that make their jeans feel like sandpaper, for instance. Or certain noises like nails on a chalkboard crossed with a sonic boom. Or certain smells like smelling salts, burning their nostrils. They deal with this by withdrawing from the world, by shutting out all that might harm them. They adopt a narrow focus on a single thing, such as a rocking movement, or a phrase they repeat over and over again, to escape from the painful stimuli. The problem with this is, of course, they are no longer learning. They have stopped receiving input from the outside world, so they lose the ability to interact with it. They do not know how to talk to people, because they never learned.

I had painful stimuli. Everyone I spoke with, be it teacher, student, or parent, had a harsh word for me. The simplest solution was to stop talking. I withdrew, just like an autistic, and stopped interacting with the world. Perhaps my saving grace was that I focused on books instead. I rebuilt myself based on the main characters; The Boxcar Children, The Chronicles of Narnia, Nancy Drew, all of these became my friends. My mentors. Of course, this landed me in trouble with my teachers, who started taking my books away. They couldn't keep me from focusing on them, though. I learned how to think about a book exclusively, even when it was not in front of me, and ignore everything else. Just like an autistic.
This is what finally tipped off my parents. They would ignore screaming, and crying, and pleading, but apparently they took notice when their child became expressionless and silent. They sent me to another school, where I found a few others like me.
I am now in high school. I score well on my tests, and I have friends to chat with and hang out with. But I still have trouble gauging their needs. And I still test positive for autism, all these years later. I guess some scars don't heal.

[AWOL]

Not severe enough for autism, I doubt it's chronic enough for Asperger.

Go to a therapist, and actually do what they tell you.

[Story and Myth]

And actually tell my parents I have serious mental problems? You do not know them. I'll be under 24-hour guard in an asylum before the initial diagnosis is printed.

[Liquid]

Honestly, I don't think you could have done any better under the circumstances.

Sometime stuff doesn't heal, at least for a long long time. You were injured by what happened, yes, but you've bandaged the wound on your own. You can't do better than that. It'll still hurt, but you're headed in the right direction.

[aaaaaaasd]

How can the school cause Minecraft that's just silly

[AWOL]

(10-13-2011 06:44 AM)Story and Myth Wrote:  And actually tell my parents I have serious mental problems? You do not know them. I'll be under 24-hour guard in an asylum before the initial diagnosis is printed.

> Ask for advice on a mental illness
> Refuse to accept therapy as an option
> Uses parents as an excuse
> For ignoring personal health, no less

This is why I gave up caring about randoms.

[SoulRiser]

Hey, I remember you.

I stopped talking for several years... the only people I'd talk to were my parents. I just didn't like attention I think. People were annoying... but then I don't think that was school's fault.

Well, I guess everyone has quirks. I still fail miserably at socially accepted things like when to say hello/good morning, when to offer people coffee, shit like that. It doesn't bother me, and it doesn't bother my real friends who actually know me to some extent. I don't know if this is in any way related to Autism... but I don't think it really matters that much. Why give it a name?

[AWOL]

(10-14-2011 02:41 AM)SoulRiser Wrote:  Why give it a name?

To help psychologists categorize things, it really is just a set of symptoms. There is no specific cause.




Buuuuuut, I don't think this is Autism. Or Asperger syndrome. Probably something on the autism spectrum, but definitely on the lower side. He should still seek help with it if it's interfering with his life.

[sergeant]

Cockblocked.

Man I wish I was insane but everyone else just finds me annoying

[gore goroth]

Look even autistic kids think school is a prison.

[Efs]

Sounds like you have it tough. I never knew that about autistic people and I'm glad you shared that with us, make us feel trusted
People can be so stupid and fucked up sometimes...

[batboy138]

I'f it makes you feel any better, I'm autistic too.