Through out my years of elementary school and high school, I've always struggled with certain things; like certain subjects I learned in school, and being able to understand people. Sometimes, I was even shy around people when I first met them. The reason why I struggled with those things so much is because I have a learning disability and an intellectual disability. I had brain surgery at 3 years old and had to learn how to eat, speak, and go to the bathroom all over again. In school, I was bullied for being different and acting different. Not many people in school understood what I had and I think that is why most people who didn't have disabilities stayed away from me. The worst time for me was when I was in elementary school. Being in elementary school, you are learning a LOT of things especially when it comes to social skills. Most of the popular kids teased me for being different and they would belittle me, call me names, use me. And one time I had to take this dumb test just to be apart of the popular group and they got me to do stupid things especially do a cartwheel (like, anyone can do that)! I even remember this one time when I tried out for Volleyball and this one girl who was part of the popular group just kept talking to me saying things like I wouldn't make it or that I wasn't good enough to make it. I never made the cut and I got so upset and I just wanted to cry because of what she did to me. When I first went to my high school (which went from grade 7 all the way to grade 12) I was bullied for the amount of hair I have on my body. (I'm half Portuguese, Polish, French Canadian, and Native Canadian). It wasn't my fault I had so much hair, it was apart of who I was. But all the time I looked at the most popular girls in my grade and I always wished I had less hair on my body like them (I didn't really know how to use a razor at 14 years old). It hurt me a lot that I would always look at my arms that have lots of hair on them. The things they said were hurtful and I just held it inside pretending like nothing happened. In grade 9, I was brutally bullied for liking a guy. His friends would come up to me and start asking me questions or telling me stuff about him that were not very nice. They bothered me and bothered me everyday and I held it all inside and locked it away from my teachers. But my friends who were around me noticed it, they just didn't think I was bothered by it. One day I finally broke and started crying because of something someone had said about him that made me feel very bad and he knew it would make me feel bad and my teacher got upset with me because I never told the teachers that I was being bullied. Once it got settled with the Vice Principal; everything was good for a while until a big rumour about me threatening someone to stay away from the guy I liked spread pretty quickly and everyone believed it (including the teachers). That whole week, I cried and cried and cried. Everyday, I would go home and cry in the basement with my music on REALLY loud. My mom thought I was only crying because of the guy I liked, but it was not only because of that; it was because I was getting bullied by his friends because I liked him. In grade 12; they decided to take to the internet and start bullying me again like they did back in grade 9 and this time they teased me about a different guy I liked. But luckily this time, I had people to back me up and stuck up for me. Because of all the bullying; I became scared to try out extra-curricular activities that I normally didn't do and was secretly kind of afraid to be inside of a classroom because I was always worried about how hard the work was going to be for me and if I was going to pass the test or not. But the truth is, we are all different and even though we wish to be someone else sometimes; we shouldn't try to change ourselves because who we are is what makes us unique and if people are going to tell you otherwise, then they're not worth your time. I let bullies put fear in me to try out different things that they wouldn't normal see me do because of what they said to me. You should NEVER EVER let a bully get to and tell you that you're weird or different in a bad way, because you're different in a good way and that's what makes you special!! :)