never had a social life

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throughout my entire childhood i was always the odd one out and found it incredibly difficult making friends.I did hang around with a large number of people in school,but they were far from friiend material.I never fitted in at school and i was eventualy hated by the whole year group.As a result i left in year 10 without ever having a social life.During my entire 4 and a half years at school i only ever went out a handfull of times and they all ended badly.When i was invited to go out ,it was always to go drinking and smoking weed.None of that interests me because of my sensery impediments.The only place i went with my so called friends was over the park to play football.I know i have virtualy missed out on 5 or so years of my life(especialy after staying at home the last 2 years) and it realy makes me sad.I crave a social life but i dno where to start and my past experiences have made me start hating people.I am 16 (almost 17) and i dont leave the house at all.I am no longer in education and am in a very deep state of depression due to everythingthat has gone on

This sounds all to familiar to me, except that I forced myself to finish school. And yes, it was very painful, but finishing school is the MOST important. More so than having a social life. If the traditional school environment is so difficult for you, perhaps you could finish via home school. Education is far to important to be ignored. No school, no future. It's that simple. Sorry.
Things got a LOT better for me in college, perhaps because I was in a science and math program where there were lots of others with similar backgrounds to mine, i.e. nerds and geeks with little or no social life. I also found that I did better when I was able to interact with adults older that I was. This was easy for me, since I joined a club for ham radio operators, most of whom were MUCH older than I was. BTW ham radio provided me with an outlet for interaction with others and one where I could control the situation via the power switch if need be!
And as for dating, that too got better in college. I learned early to avoid the frats though. Not my kind of people at all. So the bottom line is simple. Finish school and get creative about finding social life outside of the school environment. My HS dating was never with girls from my school, but always from outside that environment.
I hope this helps. Hang in there and good luck.

Okay, first off, please realize that school is artificial and brutal. Now, you probably already know this, as I do. But it's a little bit reassuring that other people say this, too. For example the essay, "Why Are Nerds Unpopular?" http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html
Now, I question the author where he says it wouldn't be so bad as long as you weren't actively persecuted. I don't know. I've been ostracized, I've been persecuted. Almost being ostracized is worse. He also says junior high is the worse. For me, it was last two years of high school, ages 17 and 18. I struggled with OCD, didn't shower every day, had a speech impediment (difference). People avoided me like I was mentally ill. and nothing wrong with that, people shouldn't avoid mentally ill people. People should not be so afraid of differences.

(and talking with you and potentially giving you some good advice is a little bit like going back in time and helping myself!)

So, maybe artistic kids, young people about your same age interested in theater or music?

Or, young people interested in different political activism (and please have modest expectations regarding this, it's not a new community like I had hoped, people are standoffish, but in time, I learn the social skills of low key scanning for potential friends, then the reciprocal skills and the back and forth of allowing a friendship to build, inheerently imprecise! but I do get better at it with time)

Maybe the more serious-minded young people? and I don't really have a specific on this

And---remember your old dreams, and maybe be open to some new ones. For example, I wish someone had preached medical school to me when I was younger. So maybe the book "Every Patient Tells a Story" (Lisa Saunders) and see what you think, and why the hell not! Or read up about possibility of universal flu vaccine, like to do some biochem?

Or business, or arts, or changing the world. Please try to remember old dreams and be open to new ones. And keep talking with us here, at a schedule entirely of your own choosing.

For a nerdy guy or an aspie guy, I think the standard advice is to be open to a girl a couple of years older than yourself. This is advice I certainly wish someone had given me!

Now, to follow up about school, it's always the immediate previous level. For example, if you finish a master's program and are interested in a PhD program, they are mainly going to be interested in your master's grades and letters of recommendation. If you want to look at law school, they're going to look at your college grades and hardly care at all about your high school grades. So, if you do the GRE and maybe get somewhat early admittance to college? Or, go to junior college, get good grades there. I think that's what they will mainly look at.

Remember, plenty of people finish their 4 year college degree in their late 20s, early 30s. So, you are ahead of the game! I really encourage you to look at it that way. You have been learning what you need to learn and are slightly ahead of the curve and that's a good place to be.