Ever been bullied because you have AS/Autism?

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DO you mean bullied specifically *because* of AS ("You have AS, ha haha!") or because AS makes one an easy target?

I've spent the past few years battling depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after being target by a sociopath workplace bully in 2005. I couldn't defend myself and that led me to seek help and was diagnosed with a learning disability in 2006 and then full-blown AS earlier this year. I'm in my late 30's now.

Mty AS makes me an easy target for bullying. I don't pick up on teasing or subtle digs, I come across as different, and the anxiety makes it difficult for me to stand up for myself. Because of what I went through a few years ago I have become very, very sensitive about teasing and let people know with a cold look. I may come across as too sensitive nowadays, but a person needs to protect himself.

Nordic

I am not AS but am learning about it> I have a nephew who has been diagnosed with autism and a dear friend of one of my kids that is undiagnosed so far- he is 3. I am also a teacher and mother of 4. This thread intrigues me.

I know that I have been treated cruelly- even as an adult. Unfortunately, in my experience people can be cruel as much as kind. sometimes more so.

However the times that haunt me from my childhood relating to bullying involve my younger brother. He is asthmatic and was very sick as a child. For two years he was on cortisone and was really overweight as a side effect. I will never forget one time in particular that he was bullied on a playground and I defended him. (I'm sure I didn't make much of an impression on the bullies) but I remember being so angry at the two bullies! I don't think my helping or getting angry changed much in the long run, but like you the feelings from that experience have stuck with me.

There's a thing we do with really bad memories sometimes, which is called "re-traumatising". It means we replay the memories of bad situations, without ever really working through them, reliving the feelings and sensations that they caused us, and thus imprinting them more and more in our minds. Instead of healing ourselves, we keep ripping the plaster off the wound, and opening it up again.

Seeing a decent counsellor might be a good idea. That way you can work through the emotions in an objective way, and it might help to take the "poison" out of the memory. I've done this with some certain bad memories about my father, and also about being bullied at school, and it does help. But finding a counsellor who you feel knows enough about autism to understand your own way of dealing with things might be tricky. They do exist though. If you are UK based, contact the National Autistic Society - I think they have a list of counsellors. Maybe your doctor could refer you to someone.

Yes. I was everyone's favorite "punching bag" in middle school. I attended an independent all-girls' school, and while girls are rarely physical, middle school girls are some of the cruelest beings on the planet. Almost all of them are deeply insecure, and so they pick on other girls to make themselves feel better. I was at the bottom of the social ladder and desperate to fit in, but never could. The other girls knew I was "different" and people don't like what they don't understand, because it scares them. Thus, everyone was mean to me almost all the time.

Halfway through 9th grade, I gave up the trying to fit in...and most of the bullying stopped. I finallys said to myself, "This is who I really am, and f**k 'em if they don't like it." When I stopped trying to be popular, I became well-liked. Sure, I was a freak, but I accepted that and laughed when people referred to me and my friends as the "freak posse." A lot of people thought that was kind of cool. "If they don't like me, f**k 'em," hasn't earned me tons of friends in my adult life, but people who can't accept differences aren't the kind of friends I want!

No one knew that I was autistic in school or in the work place save for the last one I had where it was light teasing. So no, I can't say so that it has been true for me.

I was bullied for other reasons though.

More times than I can care to count. I wish sometimes I could go back in time and break the jaws of those people who tortured me.

Yes, people think that I'm a druggie because of my unusual behaviors.

Oh yeah I know all about that. My school life was beyond unbearable. Elementary had me being beaten up and harrassed on a daily basis, Jr.High I had a nervous breakdown from the harrassment, spent 8th and 9th grade at a special ed private school which was better but just because i was the oldest studen there by 2 or 3 years. Went back to the public school in 10th grade with as Pink Floyd called it "The Wall" Complete lack of emotion while in school, stared straight ahead, antisocial to the extreme, made honors all but one quarter of 10th grade and all of 11th and 12th grades. Took 2 years off after HS and taught skiing to 2-7y/o's fulltime which managed to bring down "The Wall" since just the sheer joy of teaching children to do something I loved to do was at that point probably the best years of my life. Now am in college with an active social life which is unusual for me. And I live under the motto of "I do what I want, Like what I like, Love what I Love, Wear what I wear, Am who I am, and anyone who has a problem can just F*** off!"

I was bullied because of traits, but not because they knew since most didn't. So yes I was bullied because of my AS in a way.
I have not been bullied in college though, I'm mostly just ignored because I'm so quiet I disappear into the background anyway.

Being bullied was life for me, for many, many years. I had a total meltdown in 8th grade in the locker room. Lots of pent up emotions and frustrations finally exploded. Things eased up a bit after that, probably because people thought I was crazy, but I still went through a lot of crap, especially during the year that Columbine happened.

IF somebody is bullying another person because that other person has autism, it is my belief that the bully should be criminally charged with a hate crime.We have hate crime laws up here in Canada, and they should be used more to stop the bullying of autistics and aspies...One of the reasons Id like to get my law degree in the future...So I can be a crown prosecutor and start prosecuting bullies.

All the time. Mostly as a child and in public school. I was accused of being a bully because I soon assumed that any sort of interaction was negetive and I was trying to defend myself. When I tried to get back at the realy bully, I was caught and punished. The real bully never got any punishment but made it appear as if I had started it.