Welcome, I am a girl on a mission to help others with a similar story succeed. I too have suffered, and I know honestly what it is like. I am a young autistic woman who was diagnosed in 5th grade.
I want to share with you some moments which have strengthened and shaped me. I was born with hypotonia, and was taught in special education from preschool to fifth grade. So I have always been a fighter. In second grade my two best friends were murdered by their father. This moment shook my childhood but allowed me to be there for my friends when they needed it. I was bullied all through elementary school, culminating with being falsely accused of being a bully myself in 5th grade, and suffering an unjust punishment of serving in-school suspension with the special needs teacher who abused me. For three years, I replayed that moment over and over in my head, trying to figure out what I had done wrong, only for my best friend's mother to hear the mother of my accuser admit that it had all been a rouse to get me out of the mainstream classroom. I was then raped in 7th grade, by a stranger I had met in the library and continued an off-and-on relationship with him for 5 years. This moment still scars me, but I am thankful to the people who helped me get past it. I now have a mysterious fainting disorder, which the docs have yet to diagnose. So yeah, I've been around.
I came to 7cups a couple of years ago when I was suffering with anxiety, suicidal ideation, and heartbreak. And its where I found solace to keep going and met my amazing boyfriend. I know that my story may seem extreme or depressing, so I want to end it on a positive note. Life does get better. I am still dealing with a lot but I also am a successful student with a boyfriend who loves me, and a best friend who has been there through the thick and thin. I am proud of what I have gone through and look for ways to help each and everyday.