THESE REAL LIFE STORIES HAVE BEEN SHARED BY PARENTS, EDUCATORS, CHILDREN, TWEENS AND TEENS FROM AROU

Shared by Sean, 29

I have autism, and I am very proud of this fact. I think of my autism as a gift and super power! My autism has helped me understand others feelings. For example, since I am autistic I know what the pain of being bullied is. For the most part people who have disabilities are treated like freaks by others…and for immature, belligerent, and oppressive reasons such as feeling superior or for entertainment. The kind of disability you have will likely determine what people say to you and what actions people take towards you. Try to think how you would feel if you had autism? Try to think how you would feel if you were blind or deaf? What would your behaviors be like? When you actually experience something first hand in your life you have a better chance of relating to those who have also experienced the same thing. Likewise, if you are willing to look at things from their perspective you will also understand. Unfortunately today’s society makes it very hard for us to share our experiences and give advice to others. After doing a lot of research, I feel that the two main causes for this are: People instinctively do not want to listen to other people because they think that they have all the answers. I believe that the reason for this is pride. The second reason is most jobs that allow you to convey ideas to others require a whole of training and a whole lot of education. Since we are on the subject of education, the college and higher education system in the U.S.A has a one-size-fits-all approach. Often those of us with autism are the ones who need extra help. That extra help comes in the form of specialty teachers and therapists. There is some help for autistic individuals at younger ages but when they reach the age for higher education they fall through the holes and cracks of the spider’s web. Based on my personal experience, grade school and higher learning institutions have differences and expectations that are world’s apart. This is a very bad thing for anyone with any kind of cognitive learning and developmental disabilities. The first difference for me was that grade school was free, the books were free, and so was transportation. College is certainly not free in any sense of the word. Yes, community college has minimal to zero tuition, registration, and entrance fees but they do charge a lot for books. Transportation is not free. Grade school campus sizes are much smaller than even the smallest community college. For me, trying college out was very daunting not to mention overwhelming. Navigating my grade school was much easier than navigating a community college. When I was in grade school, there were no grade point average requirements at all but now I feel the pressure to have a super high g.p.a. in college. I don’t feel as though I have the support, accommodations and professors who do not understand my special needs. I hope you can feel my frustration and understand my struggle. However, in no way am I saying I will give up. Far from it! I will learn to adapt and make my own path. If there is no way for me to get to the top of the mountain through traditional education, I will make my own way. If there is no solution to a problem I face then I will make a solution. Most importantly my negative feelings and emotions can either be alive or not alive inside me. Do I want to be strong or weak? My inner strength and will power will get me through my challenges. So what do I want to gain from sharing my story? My hope is that it will help others see the world from the perspective of people with disabilities. I want to raise awareness that people with disabilities are intelligent. We just have a different way of showing and expressing it! My goals are to get my name out into the community, get a job and do public speaking. I want to help people with disabilities.

Shared by Mary, 16

Hi my name is Mary and I’m in year 12 at an all-girls school, Three weeks ago I was accused of showing an inappropriate post on Facebook to a teacher, I was not the one to report this to the teacher however the post was inappropriate as it was slandering a teacher. I completely agree with whoever showed this post to the teacher because things like that should never be said let alone posted on Facebook. I also understand why whoever did ‘snitch’ hasn’t come forward after seeing the way that I have been treated by people who I thought were my friends. Since I was first accused of ‘snitching’ (as the girls like to put it) I have been verbally harassed with girls walking past me chanting snitch at me, girls telling me to go kill myself and also telling me that they would bash me. I have also been physically abused with girls pushing me over. I was pushed onto the busy road beside the school and also got pushed over at the train station where I could have been pushed onto the tracks. I have received snapchats with girls telling me to kill myself, and I have also been receiving notes shoved into my locker with the same thing, the teachers at my school have tried their best to help by moving my locker and having a chat to the girls but it hasn’t seemed to have worked. Today someone posed a like for a like on Facebook which resulted in someone saying that ‘I @&#!ing snitched’ and that I had no friends left and they don’t understand why I haven’t killed myself yet. These girls are about to legally become adults and the maturity that they show is not what you would expect from people who should know better. These girls keep pushing and pushing hoping to get a reaction from me but I refuse to give one. I’m not sure whether they are waiting for it to get to a point where I get pushed onto the road and killed. I’m at the point where I am done with their behaviour and I do not understand how they think this is even slightly acceptable. Girls always talk about being so close nit and how they back up their friends but through this event I have realised that most girls are not like this at all. I have ended up having to cancel my birthday party and I have also deleted Instagram, snapchat and removed all girls off my Facebook friend list. I thought I would share this not just so that people go oh she’s the girl who got bullied but so that people understand that they shouldn’t listen to rumours because those can ruin a person’s life and leave them in what is supposed to be the best year of their life as the worst. I’m not going to give in to these girls, they are not what makes me, me. My choices and how I feel about myself is what matters, not what these girls think of me. My dream would be for people to think about their actions and for them to realise that what they say does hurt.

Shared by Madi, 14

Megan's story touched my heart to the point where something inside told me that I needed to do something for her and for what she went through so I can inspire others with my story as there is hope (Hold On Pain Ends), In a brief description of what I went through I will share with you the rocky path along my journey and how the path is starting to be smoother. So basically I was abused at a young age while having the diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. I've had extreme depression and anxiety due to the trauma and have attempted suicide three times and ran away once. During those dark times I lost hope and motivation to move on with my life as it was crashing down. My last resort was residential care, I tried everything and if this didn't work I'd be screwed. Luckily after three weeks it was a 360, my scars were faded and I began to see the light. All my life I've had a love in mental health, I've always advocated but wasn't able to advocate for awhile because I wasn't stable. Now that I'm stable I have found my mission: my mission is to speak up against the stigma of mental illness and having mental health classes starting in kindergarten. I believe if we start that young the suicide rates in teens will go down, bullying will have lessened, and we will not be afraid to speak of our illnesses as its only a part of us just like diabetes, braces, or a broken leg. Kindergardeners will learn how to treat others and respect property by practicing it, and be given the skills to stand up to bullying. Every year the kids will learn more in more and leading to suicide prevention, eating disorder and self harm substitutes. They will learn about how physical health affects mental health, drinking responsibly and keeping their mental health and physical health on track while learning how to stand up for what you need mentally and physically wise. I wrote this to try and inspire others to find their vision as their is a reason you were sent her. Find something you have a strong passion in and reach for the stars because even if you have helped one person than you have made a difference. That one person will send the love to others in need because you spent your time to help them. Go out there and make a difference!♥️♥️♥️♥️