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Some of my bullying experiences that led to my breakdown in secondary school

I pre-warn you, this is a very depressing entry, :unsure:.

Throughout school I encountered bullies and when you have no friends those bullies can have an even greater impact. The following are just some of my experiences with bullying, believe me, there is more, including betrayal, :unhappy:, one intentional, another accidental. Many incidents have happened to me with bullies at school and one incident that was particularly bad involving the P.E. teacher who was also the head of year.

As far as I was concerned school consisted of bullies, those that were neutral and, if you?re lucky, a friend. For most of primary school only the former two surrounded me. As I was going into year five of primary school I felt I had to change classes due to people bullying me. I was glad of this, though to be honest, I was still bullied in the other class as well.

I noticed I was the only person in class who used to put my head on the table and cry when something went really bad, like being bullied, :cry:. The thing is I remember the table top most of all; it would be funny if it wasn't so tragic. In secondary school the tolerance I had to bullying was still crying but also telling them to go away, it made no difference though. I told the teachers many times and it made absolutely no difference, they would just keep bullying.

I think it was either in the fifth year or the sixth year that a bully from my previous class came up to me in the playground just before the bell rang to go into class either during break or lunch time. He came up to me and punched me square in the stomach and I was winded for a few seconds. I looked up at his face and there was the biggest Cheshire cat grin I've ever seen from one cheek to another. This was just one of the experiences I had of bullying in primary school. Much later I think I found out from television that he appeared on the television programme Road Wars and was arrested for apparently stealing alcohol. He was just as arrogant as he was in person all those years ago. This gives you an idea of how much I hated school. I could look at it saying that he was arrested so that was that, but at the same time, I was in a class with a soon-to-be criminal that used to bully me a lot at school. That brought back horrible memories.

In both primary school and secondary school two different bullies, including the one I mentioned above, seemed the same in one particular category, arrogance, and oh yes they had plenty of that. They both used to have wide grins on their faces. The one in secondary school was very good at P.E.; most bullies tend to be don?t they, but he mainly enjoyed psychological bullying. One such example is that he used to annoyingly brush his hand across my head in a patronising way, and that was most annoying. I didn't know at the time that I had SPD but he took advantage of it, it?s as if he could read the difficulties people had and made the effort of taking advantage of it. There were also two other bullies who enjoyed coming up to people and making funny noises directly into their ears, that was very irritating especially when you have SPD. A bully also poured drink over my head once.

I was always afraid of being told off at school. School felt like a prison to me. I tried my best to get through every prison day to get to my haven, home. When I was in secondary school, there was an incident where the students started messing with a loose paving stone on the ground. I didn't understand why they were doing it but I tried it to see what the fascination was thinking nothing of it if I was careful, and then out of nowhere someone else jumped on the other side, of course creating an imbalance of weight which in turn caused it to crack. One of my long standing bullies couldn't wait to tell the P.E. teacher as P.E. was my next lesson and so he ran off at the speed of light, and I could swear he was relishing it. The world suddenly froze at that moment and my heart sank instantly. I have never forgotten it. I REALLY couldn't go into P.E. at that time, but I had to, I don?t skip classes. I terrifyingly walked into the P.E. changing room, like a zombie, awaiting the worst but knew I couldn't cope with it. My life seemed over at that point. My P.E. teacher was also the head of year. He must have been told because when I got changed into my P.E. kit and entered the gym hall he said he wanted to have a word with me. Firstly he got everyone doing an activity then he asked me to sit with him on a small set of table and two chairs in the same room with everyone else (My head was drumming and my heart sank even further, so far I thought that this is it, the end of the road. I thought that my life was over. I knew nothing good would come of this. I was in a living nightmare. I wanted to get out at the nearest opportunity, but that?s not me. I do the best I can in school, and try to come out the other side unscathed from the prison that kept me there for the first half of the day.). I, painfully slowly, made my way towards the chair. I wanted nothing more than to make a run for it to be free, as I knew exactly what was coming, my life was crashing down around me, and I couldn't take it. I was amongst the other students in the gym hall but when it came to support, I was alone. He then asked me the painful question ?did you step on the paving stone?? and ?why did you do it??, I immediately broke into tears and crossed my arms in front of my face on the table, in a defensive move, as I usually do when I break down in tears, which for me was quite frequent and cried, and cried, and cried, :cry:. I couldn't stop crying. The other boy that jumped on the other side of the paving stone came up to me to ask if I was alright. No, I wasn't alright, I had the head of year interrogating me in front of everyone about something I had no control over. The teacher was even saying ?What are you crying for?? over and over again, wasn't it obvious, I thought, he quite obviously didn't, though for the life of me I couldn't understand why, and still can?t. I was in great pain, for many reasons. In fact I never stopped crying all the way home and for days after that, I never attended school during that time either, and I never ever went back. The pain it caused was so fierce I couldn't face walking into that prison with the ?head police officer? being the cause of my pain. The welfare officer for the school knew how badly I was bullied as I was going to him for a while previously over it. It had hurt so badly that when the welfare officer came several times to try to get me back to school, I had this adamant feeling that I have never experienced in my life, and kept saying very strongly ?NO, I can?t?, I was never confident enough to come out as defiantly as that but I did and he knew I meant it. After the bullying, it was the last straw that broke the camel?s back. He knew I wasn't someone who would cause problems and it was very difficult for me to say no to authority figures, he knew then this problem was very serious. That is the reason why I have not been in school since. I will explain the way I have been taught since then until recently.

Comments

School was a scary experience for me too. I still have fears going to school. It's really scary with classmates who are out there to make a fool out of anyone who is socially deviant.

Oh, and I was sent to the psychiatrist, because some teacher told me off when they say I intimidated them with death threats. Yeah right, who started it first, those classmates could only make fun of me and that inexperienced stand-in teacher just made it worse. I was under Prozac until my conditions stabilized in my 2nd year of University, but then, I really couldn't perform in school ever since I started medication.

Never mind, it seems that we're not alone in our experience in school.
 
Yeah, school was horrible, I hated every minute of it, but I was alone for most of it. I remember wandering around the playground, completely alone, reflecting on how my life was progressing and the bullies around me, I thought there was no hope. All I ever saw was darkness ahead, I desperately wanted to find friends, but I didn't think I'd ever find anything in common with them, >.<.

I even remember the assemblies, the head teacher would bring us all into the assembly hall and recite rhetoric nonsense such as, "Do onto others as you'd want to be done to yourself", but I knew my bullies would never care if I spoke friendly to them, that was social suicide and I knew it, >.<. I hated singing hymns in the assembly hall, but I was too depressed to bother singing, so I just mimed. I even had massive cramps by sitting on the floor too long and when I got up and started walking, I was dragging my leg as it had gone to sleep, and yet, I didn't notice anyone else in the same situation, >.<.

I was betrayed by someone that I ended up becoming friends with and I noticed, when I talked to him that he hardly ever spoke a word to me. I remember going around to his house once, but the house radiated control in big letters. We weren't allow to play on his PlayStation as he was put under a strict ruling that he couldn't on weekdays, and even on the weekends only for about an hour or so. I was coming over, surely they could have allowed us to play on it, at least for that, but no, we weren't allowed, >.<. His father wanted him to run off to the local shops to buy chips from the fish and chips shop, and he came back. My mother told his father and stepmother that I didn't like chicken and various other foods, but when the food came, there was chicken, peas, and chips, on the same plate, >.<. I couldn't eat chicken and I didn't like peas. I couldn't eat it, there was no way, so I just said I couldn't. They then said, "Can't you just eat the chips?". I said, "No", as they were touching the peas and chicken. The stepmother went out into the kitchen with the father and she was crying. I just sat there feeling stiff and uncomfortable, looking at my 'friend', and all he did was give me these eyes that seemed watery as if he felt just as awkward as I did, >.<. I was thinking, "I should be the one uncomfortable, why are you?". I didn't say anything to him, I couldn't. Anyway, the next day, I was split up on opposites sides of the class from my 'friend', but my mother found out later on that it was because of his father as she found out from the teacher that his father had gone into the school to ask for me and my 'friend' to be separated, >.<. Anyway, I walked up to him, asked him why we were split up across the classroom and why I was sitting next to two empty chairs near my bullies, but all I got from him were the same uncomfortable expression he gave the day before. I also noticed that his new friend told me "You can have more than one best friend", but then why do we have to sit at opposite sides of the classroom, it didn't make sense to me. Anyway, long story short, that 'friend' then came to the same secondary school as me, laughed at me with one of my bullies, and then left school giving away all of his Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards, but I couldn't understand why, they should be a childhood memory, not something to be given away, >.<.

Anyway, that's one of my experiences of betrayal from a friend. In the end, I think he was just protecting me from bullies, but in the end, he was laughing at me with a bully of mine, talk about twisted, >.<. Anyway, now I'm more cautious of people as I could be betrayed again.

I never got to university, as I said, I had a breakdown in secondary school and was taught behind my bedroom door with the help of two home and hospital tutors for 6 and a half years. I think that a lot of people on the spectrum find university difficult, and to be honest, the very mentioning of university, college or higher education makes me depressed. I think it's because I still wish to learn, but I haven't found the right way that I can cope with and nobodies helped me. I have major difficulties from all forms of education, from college, university, even distance learning due to mistranslation, >.<. I don't know how I'll find the right way to learn as I know I need someone in physical form to ask questions directly to and get direct answers from, but at the same time I would need my bedroom door as it helps me build enough confidence to talk to them and I feel I can think and learn without being crowded by other people's eyes on me, >.<.

I haven't been to a psychiatrist, but then I wouldn't like to be put on medication as I would rather avoid anything with possible side effects. I always worry that they'll make you worse as I know that there are anti-depressants that cause depression, and even in extreme cases, to suicide, >.<. I wouldn't want to touch them, and if a psychiatrist thinks I should take them, I don't believe they'll help, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, asperger's syndrome isn't a mental illness is it, so I can never understand why we'd need to see psychiatrists, >.<.

It's nice to hear that I'm not the only person that's experienced bullying, :). It wasn't easy, that's for sure, but in some senses, it's shaped the caution I have now, but it's also made social interaction all the more difficult, >.<. I can only imagine how bad your bullying experiences must have been. It's typical, we being different as we're on the spectrum get ridiculed and singled out to be picked upon.
 
i'm interested reading all of these, I was alone in school a lot too. One older boy asked me why I was carrying a toy monkey with me aged nine and I said '' because he's my friend''. I ran away from school and had police looking for me at age 5, then again age 10 [ nicknamed runaway kid'' pushed down stairs in secondary, bike tyres punctured, stones thrown at me on my paperound, chair kicked from behind all lesson, made to be the watcher guy in P.E to say if the ball was ''in'' or ''out''?? didn't and still don't understand what I was supposed to say, teacher basically intentionally humiliated me [ but its ok, i managed to trap his hand in a folding trampoline by ''accident'']. I never wore my uniform aged 14, 15 or 16, I drank until I was sick in school, yes, in lessons out a flask, to try make it easier being there, I came in at 12/ 1 oclock instead of half 8, refused to do home or schoolwork, when the truancy office tried to make me go in I lost it and started banging my head on the wall because I couldn't understand why I had to do something I hated so much. Two of the bullies are now arrogant pricks just like you said about road wars [ I'm an avid watcher] one spends his life in prison then on the run, the other sells drugs. School was horrible for all of us!
 
Mr Faramoose;bt1746 said:
i'm interested reading all of these, I was alone in school a lot too. One older boy asked me why I was carrying a toy monkey with me aged nine and I said '' because he's my friend''. I ran away from school and had police looking for me at age 5, then again age 10 [ nicknamed runaway kid'' pushed down stairs in secondary, bike tyres punctured, stones thrown at me on my paperound, chair kicked from behind all lesson, made to be the watcher guy in P.E to say if the ball was ''in'' or ''out''?? didn't and still don't understand what I was supposed to say, teacher basically intentionally humiliated me [ but its ok, i managed to trap his hand in a folding trampoline by ''accident'']. I never wore my uniform aged 14, 15 or 16, I drank until I was sick in school, yes, in lessons out a flask, to try make it easier being there, I came in at 12/ 1 oclock instead of half 8, refused to do home or schoolwork, when the truancy office tried to make me go in I lost it and started banging my head on the wall because I couldn't understand why I had to do something I hated so much. Two of the bullies are now arrogant pricks just like you said about road wars [ I'm an avid watcher] one spends his life in prison then on the run, the other sells drugs. School was horrible for all of us!

Yeah, I can never look back to school fondly because even in the better memories in finding a friend in secondary school was a failure because of the breakdown I had. I refused to see him even though he brought me a present to my house purely because I was worried what he would think if I told him I couldn't go back to school. In the end, I lost a good friend, and ever since then I wanted to patch over that regret and it even led me to write to him on Facebook but he didn't write back to me, :(.

Another friend which was one of the only people in primary school that spoke friendly to me which I've already written on the forum about was best friends with one of my bullies, and a bully that targeted me around the time I was embarrassed in class. Even though I knew they were friends I wanted to be able to find out what she truly believed about those that bullied me and how she would act in my position. From what she told me, she would feel just the same as I would. When I told her about him it was out of desperation with mistakes and everything, but I had to confess that he was a bully and how much it affected me knowing they were friends, but I knew nothing I could say would change the scheme of things. I wasn't out for vengeance, I didn't want to fight the issue, I just wanted to tell her how it made me feel. She wrote to mum instead of me, but in the end she was accusing my AS which I thought was unfair, :(. Anyway, since then I've been thinking I shouldn't contact her, especially if she couldn't understand where I was coming from, so that's what led me here, to find more genuine friends, :).

About Road Wars, when I saw that bully on there, it shocked me, >.<. I was thinking, "Whoa, is that really my bully from primary school?!? He's a criminal? Wow, so that's what's become of him, I knew he was a rough bully, but wow, look where he is". In the end, it was weird seeing him again, but I started to think that it shows what I had to put up with at school. Whatever the case, it's not something I should dwell on, he is where he is, and I am where I am, but in a sense it's because of what people like him did to me that led to me being behind my bedroom door in learning, >.<.

Anyway, yeah, it's sounds like you've had a hellish time as well, and yes, bullying is something a lot of us can share, and I can certainly relate to that. Just let me tell you, you're not alone, I'm sure I'm not the only person out there affected by bullying at school as you said, and I'm glad we can share our experiences and relate to one another, it's shows our understanding, and I think that is essential. That is something that is rare in this world, understanding, and I'm so glad that there are people out there that do, :).

It's not easy to think on from that bullying, is it? At least I've found it very difficult. I still think back on it, especially since my Facebook primary school friend is best friends with one of them, >.<. Nevertheless, I am still affected by the bullying especially the embarrassing one that led to me worrying about socialising. I even missed out on talking to someone in secondary school when they confessed their feelings for me through one of her friends with her standing beside them. It was all because of that bullying incident that took place in primary school, and it was ever since that bullying incident until the end of primary that that bully connected to my primary school friend bullied me.
 
This is why I get so angry when I hear supposedly "pro-family" groups opposing anti-bullying legislation or weakening it like they did here in Michigan. I have been told that it is because they are afraid that if a Christian kid says "homosexuality is wrong" he or she will be charged with bullying. I just wish they could read these and other accounts.

It is obvious that people who talk like that have no clue what bullying is and what it does. That they have never been bullied or had their sons and daughters bullied or any other family member bullied.

I tell my friends at church, "when groups like Focus on the Family say that they are opposed to anti-bullying legislation for the reasons you give it sends a very powerful message to the ones who are doing the bullying as well as the ones who are being bullied. It is saying that if you are being bullied, that is too bad but we are not going to come to your defense because it might damage OUR image. Then you wonder why there is so much antagonism out there towards the Christian message."
 
Spinning Compass;bt1751 said:
This is why I get so angry when I hear supposedly "pro-family" groups opposing anti-bullying legislation or weakening it like they did here in Michigan. I have been told that it is because they are afraid that if a Christian kid says "homosexuality is wrong" he or she will be charged with bullying. I just wish they could read these and other accounts.

It is obvious that people who talk like that have no clue what bullying is and what it does. That they have never been bullied or had their sons and daughters bullied or any other family member bullied.

I tell my friends at church, "when groups like Focus on the Family say that they are opposed to anti-bullying legislation for the reasons you give it sends a very powerful message to the ones who are doing the bullying as well as the ones who are being bullied. It is saying that if you are being bullied, that is too bad but we are not going to come to your defense because it might damage OUR image. Then you wonder why there is so much antagonism out there towards the Christian message."

I've just looked up online and yeah, these pro-family groups sound like they are very much against those that are homosexuals, it's typical, prejudice in all walks of life. Just because someone has a different look on life and how they want to live, suddenly they are evil because of it. It's sickening that there are those in society that condemn us for the way we feel or how we act. Even though I am not a homosexual, I can only imagine how those that are, are being hurt with treatment that these organisations like these pro-family groups have been causing them. I can't comment on the pro-family groups, but prejudice against someone simply because they are different to others is barbaric and I can understand how harmful organisations like these pro-family groups must be having on people. It's typical that they're too afraid to help anti-bullying legislation and weakening them simply because they want to prevent a more fairer and accepting society. That kind of treatment could only promote the bullying of others and I can certainly understand how such an effort to quell the anti-bullying legislation and weaken them could only lead to a more cruel and torturous world. I don't know anything about Michigan, but for these organisations to be against protecting children at school from bullying is most certainly wrong and I can completely understand how bad that makes you feel, I'd feel just as bad as you would.

Yes, clearly they have not been affected by bullying and not been through the pain because if they were they would realise just how harmful such actions would have on the rest of society. It's typical that those that haven't been bullied judge such efforts to rid us of prejudice. It's a disgrace to prevent protection for those who need it. For all of us that were bullied at school, I think we'd all feel outraged if such legislations against bullying was weakened or prevented simply because of people's fear of others differences. It's because of differences that we are bullied, each of us may not follow others ideals, but we have our own beliefs and our own dreams, we are all unique and individual in ourselves and it's wrong to judge others simply because they are not like them.

Yeah, you're right, to target anti-bullying legislation for the reasons of difference does send a very powerful message. It's as if they are saying that it's okay to judge others because of they're differences. It's other people's differences that are at the epicentre of the reasons for bullying. Prejudice is something a lot of bullies are all about. They target others because we are not like everyone else, why should we be? We are not sheep to follow everyone else's ideals, we should care for one another and accept our differences, not target each other. I cannot comment on religion, but in a sense, Christianity should be about equality, and yet, a lot of people are ridiculed because of their differences. I promote equality, we should all respect each other for who we are, we are all different as no one is the same, we are all unique and we should all respect one another for who we are instead of targeting each other.
 

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