I've always been what you might call "different." My difference has a name: Asperger's Syndrome, also known as autism. Many, many autistic kids get bullied, and I was one of them. From elementary school through junior high, I had kids lie in wait for me on the way home from school (in elementary) or on the school bus (junior high.) The school ignored my parents' pleas to do something about the situation. "We're not responsible for things that take place off school grounds." When an older boy sexually assaulted me, the vice-principal of the school shrugged it off with, "Boys will be boys." I wish now that I'd reported it to the police when the school did nothing.

Today I'm an autistic advocate and I want to help other autistic people who are being bullied, whether they're kids or adults. I'm working with other autistic people who have survived bullying. I don't know yet what form this will take, but I won't stand buy and let other kids go through what I went through.