I bullied an autistic kid. Wait, is he autistic?

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I was in sixth grade. I met this kid in summer school. It was very clear to me that he didn't want to come. He's always screaming out. "I wanna go back to camp!" over and over, even when the teacher tells him "Camp's Broken" They tried to calm him down. They even placed him near the computer next to me. It was quiet for a while. (I liked it, he was so annoying.) But then, he threw the keyboard across the room and shoved the monitor off the table. That kid scared me. I felt bad for him. You see him in his seat, shaking and rocking his body and flapping his arms. And when he colors, you always hear him moan. He's 14 and he watches Sesame Street, and I was like what a weirdo.

Next year, I was constant being teased. I also teased that kid, because well, I didn't know what it was like. I was in his class again! Out of nowhere, he barks like a dog. And rocks. Everytime someone tried to talk to him, he's like "Teacher, Harry is bothering me." He didn't do anything, he just asked to borrow a pencil. Okay, I was sick of the teasing, and I thought that kid was a perfect target, I couldn't remember why I did it. But when I pinched him and ran, he gets mad. He rocks his whole body and flaps his arms and now all the sixth graders are teasing him.

When he gets mad, he screams, bites his hand and rocks his body, then he flaps his hands, when he stands. He could chase you, stand up and kick at nothing in particular. He could even bite you. He's bitten a few kids. I heard from a lot of boys that he was exposing himself in the locker rooms. He even ran out without pants after a boy teased him. He peed in a wall, in front of people. Especially the teachers. He peed on a teacher once, and he flaps his hands after that.

Worst of all, what so weird about it. He had the audacity to fart in public. Especially in a gymnasium with 50 or so kids. And he laughs everytime he farts. I was like wow, you should be ashamed.

Just for kicks, I imitated his rocking and flapping to the point where I got into the habit of imitating him, even when I didn't want to.

That was six years ago. I'm 18 now, and since it's awareness month, if Robbie reads this right now. I want to apologize.

I'm not sure if he has autism. What do you think?

Sounds like he is. Your post is one of the examples of why kids bully.
They are being picked on themselves so they take it out on someone else by bullying that person to feel better just like you did.

I was wondering about the same yesterday.

All those children who bullied me, in all those different school were all loners and outsiders who were seen as strange or even had a disorder themselves.

So weird.

What you did is what Psychology refers to as redirected aggression. If you get the chance to apologize, and reasonably believe that it'll help rather than just re open old wounds, then that would be right. The kid may have Autism, I don't know enough about the spectrum to say. Your post sounds like you have developed into a normal adult with a conscience. Don't dwell too much on water under the bridge, just continue being a decent person.

Well, at that age, children don't have certain maturity to understand. I'm really trying to accept that fact. I think the bullying had only added or caused more of the behavior you all didn't like in him. The public wizzing is one example, to me, that stress is a likely factor in some of the said behavior.

Why do I think that? I did the fart thing once to. I also wizzed on rare occasion where I shouldn't have. lol. I had high levels of stress back then, and that impaired some of my mind. Not as a teen mind you. The one fart insident I did in public, and infront of all class mates. They were so ticked off that I did that, and the teacher didn't understand why I found it amusing. He was... concerned.

I wasn't the least bit amused, but actualy amasingly stressed out. I don't know the situation or the persons very well there so.. I just assumed that certain levels or stress could be plausable in causing him to act out that way. More so if he had mental difficulties.

LoL. I think we all find farting amusing. Hey, I would find farts funny, as long as I don't smell it.

I know what it feels like to be bullied, and apparently so do you. You also know what it is like to bully. It's good that you apologize.

Ive come to the conclusion that Bullying is very much an impulsive behaviour. Kids have aggressive impulses at that age toward anyone they percieve as being "different" than themselves. I really believe that most kids just dont have the empathy
to understand or appreciate how it feels on the recieving end. The only way to STOP bullying is to impose a cost on kids
who bully; EVEN IF they are female and the target is male. Remember this: bullying is the Bully's problem! It is Not the victims problem. In cases of bullying the fault lies exclusively on the person doing it and not who its being done to.

I think that's part of it, but I think another part of why bullied kids bully is that it is what they learn. When we're treated that way our whole lives, it's difficult not to give it back when the opportunity presents itself. I recall one time bullying my cousin to the point of tears, and then crying myself because I felt so bad. I didn't realize I had that kind of "power" within me to hurt another person. It came frighteningly easy to me, and yet I sickened myself at the same moment.

good for you man

Been there done that. Anything to try to make myself "acceptable" to the other kids. No it didn't work.

I'm pretty sure she was NT though, but it was still wrong.

I had a horrible time in school until I changed highschools. My last 3 years were heaven. I went to an 'artsy' highschool and hung out with the 'weird artsy' kids. I actually had a chance to see what being popular felt like. It was awesome. It's mostly about fooling other people into believing that you're better than them (at whatever it is that is thought to be 'coolest'- in my case it was writing, drama, and music) (:

I think that's where bullying comes from, too. Low self-esteem, needing to make someone look/feel worse... I only did it on purpose once, but I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life... I don't know how the people who treated me so badly can live with it. They probably don't even remember.

If you hadn't apologized at the end, I would have been much more angry right now! I wish my bullies would have the balls to do that. They are a bunch of cowards. I have to admit, i tried bullying once but i was so pathetic and i ended up being screeched at by a parent. I just wanted to feel what the bullies felt to understand it. It didn't work... Needless to say I haven't done it again!

Poor guy. If you could find him and apologize directly, I think it would mean a lot to him. I know it would mean a lot to me if anybody from my past apologized, but it won't happen. I'm glad you found out how to stop.
When I'm at a playground or pool and I see a kid or kids bullying another kid, I embarrass my family by running over and pulling the bullies off and telling them to stop. Invariably, they say, we were only playing. My answer is it isn't playing if only one of you are having fun. Do any of the bullies then decide to become decent like you did? I don't know. I wish I knew the process for bullies learning better. So many of them go on to stay adult bullies.

Exactly. That's why I don't like the notion that autistic people are just above bullying or something. I know too many people who have done it, sometimes a lot sometimes only a little, but just sometimes. Whether imitating other social behavior without understanding, or taking things out on other people, or noticing that people who bully get treated better and doing it to get treated better, it happens. We're not immune to it.

I don't think I made anyone cry, but I did treat someone worse than I had to because she was herself probably autistic (undiagosed) and I hated myself so I resented her existing and reminding me of myself. And I did feel pretty sickened by myself when it happened.

By the way the one thing that made me mad about the original post was a lot of those things are things a person can't help. Like how on earth does a person avoid farting in public? I thought that was an involuntary function, and lots of people do it, I was just taught to say "excuse me" afterwards. But if someone laughed instead I don't see what the problem is, lots of kids laugh about farts.