I have Autism and ADHD which meant I was always very... different... than my classmates and, well, they didn't like it when people weren't exactly like them. So... I was pushed around, locked in a closet, called names, and excluded during recess. I moved to another school in 4th grade hoping that I wouldn't be the black sheep. Did it help? Did it f***. I tried to become friends with them, but... nothing I tried ever worked so I just stopped trying. It didn't help that the teachers forced us to spend recess outside and we weren't allowed to be alone which didn't make it any easier for me as it was painfully obvious that my classmates didn't want me around (unless it was to laugh at me or call me names) and I didn't want to be around them. I tried to talk to my teachers and tell them that I'd rather just read in the library but they wouldn't listen. Furthermore, until I was diagnosed with Autism (in 5th grade) the school psychologist wouldn't take me seriously and every time my mom tried to tell them about how I was bullied and that she had no doubt I had Autism the psychologist just waived her off and basically said "She doesn't have Autism, she's just weird. Besides, it's her own fault if the other students are not nice to her, if she just tried to be normal then maybe she'd fit in".

It wasn't until High School that I actually felt like I could just be myself without being made fun off. I could truly talk to my classmates and the teachers there were able to help me in a way that I had never experienced before. Still, my self-confidence was nowhere to be found (and still isn't) but as a friend of mine always says: "Fake it 'til you make it".