Wow, this is some powerful stuff; thank you for having the courage to open up here. I love that steemit is such a safe place to express raw emotion; the people are always so supportive.

I taught high school for years, then went back and completed my Masters in "Special Ed"... they don't call it that anymore btw. It was titled Diversity and Inclusion instead. Anyway. I have witnessed first hand the struggles kids and parents have when dealing with any kind of 'diverse' behaviour; especially with Aspergers or most of the spectrum, parents have no idea how to 'deal' with it, and the kids just don't know another way, because for them, it just is.

Did you just find this out recently? And if I may ask, what prompted you to seek that information out? Just so you know, most kids with any disorder, including anxiety, depression etc, turn to drugs and alcohol as a way of coping. My son has severe anxiety and has more than dabbled in a lot of different things; in fact he was in a treatment centre for a while. His psychiatrist told me that she completely understood why he smoked pot (which by the way I don't consider a bad drug); with so much going on in his brain, it was simply a way to slow it all down so that he could focus.

I remember one student in particular, who had Aspergers, one day in class, walked very quietly up behind me as I was talking with a group of students, and slowly blew on my neck. I turned around, rather abruptly and asked him what he was doing. He calmly and logically replied that he didn't want to interrupt my conversation or disturb me, so he thought it would be more polite to blow on my neck to get attention.

significant impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of functioning.

Of course the other kids laughed and I had a long discussion with everyone about the differences in all of us and just because he sometimes reacted differently than the expected norm, it certainly did not mean that he was abnormal. The times are changing in the school system (in Canada anyway), but kids will remain pretty darn cruel. I'm sorry for what must have been a horrible time in school for you.

I hope that you find a professional who can help you unpack all of this, because it will be a journey, but understanding it will certainly help you; and there's all sort of "tricks" you can learn to help you navigate what must seem like a pretty confusing world at times ;)

Again, thank you so much for sharing your story!