“The joy I once felt when in the classroom has been replaced by a dread for each new day in school, due to the chutzpah”
I’m really enjoying the new serial, Diverging, about a girl with autism. I was never officially diagnosed with autism (I never tried to get a diagnosis), but I acknowledge I have a lot of the “symptoms” of high-functioning autism like masking, obsessively studying topics I get really into, being overly sensitive, and sensory issues.
I was super shy as a kid and was bullied and suffered socially. I was socially awkward and didn’t know how to make friends, and unfortunately, no adult noticed, and I suffered throughout my school years. But, interestingly, sometime toward the end of 12th grade I read an article in Family First on how to make and keep friends, and it felt like someone had turned on the light in my brain! I used so much of what I learned in that article and after high school I never had issues making friends or in social circles!
Although other factors played a role in this as well (such as no longer being around my childhood bullies), that article was a huge piece of the puzzle. It’s so sad in a way to think of how much I suffered socially in school and how a few pointers could have gone a long way in helping me — but better late than never!
One thing I think about often is how everyone in the world has personality quirks and middos issues to work on, but it’s the people with autistic traits who end up getting a diagnosis for their issues. Think about it — is there an official diagnosis for someone who is too controlling, too giving, puts too much effort into their job and ignores their family? Yes, we might call them “people pleasers,” “workaholics,” “control freaks,” and “abusive,” but there’s no official clinical diagnosis. But overly sensitive, overly intellectual, overly socially unaware — for that, you can get a clinical diagnosis.
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