School Can Be Traumatizing for High-Masking Autistic Kids
Something needs to change, these misunderstood kids deserve better
I fail to understand how people can speak so wistfully about their school days. My classmates, for the most part, have only wonderful things to say about my school, which was one of the top schools in our area. But that is not how I remember it at all.
I hated school with a passion.
In fact, when I sat down to write this essay about my time in school, the only thing that came to mind is a hazy memory of the dread I felt every single day as I walked towards the formidable-looking jail, er, I mean school, building.
I think I have blocked out most of my memories from that part of my life. Whenever the topic of school comes up, my heart begins to beat faster and my palms get sweaty. Even now, when I talk to a teacher, I subconsciously find myself clenching my jaw, with my stomach in knots. I get flashbacks of times I’d been called out for ‘asking too many questions’ or being unfairly punished.
Even though it has been more than 20 years since I graduated from school, I still feel that same sense of impending doom when I have to go into my son’s school. I had a meltdown the first time I attended his elementary school orientation. Now I avoid…
