Just got cornered by my PE teacher

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Apparently, I need to "work on my attitude".

Yesterday, it was swim heats at school. That means we spend an hour in a pretty small pool room with 60+ other kids. I was mildly sick, there's a bug going around the school, especially my friends.

This feeling was amplified by the noise, etc - the splashing of the water, thirty of the kids talking at once, dripping from the ceiling, one PE teacher blowing a whistle and yelling, two others telling us what to do. Then, the teachers and the other kids kept giving me conflicting instructions as to where to go/what to do.

I can't swim very well. The PE teachers know that. However, I can usually swim a little, just slower than everyone else. I can, however, tread water/float on my back well enough that I am in no danger of drowning in a pool/if I'm pushed off a boat/whatever.

No more swimming skills are needed for survival.

But, I was swimming worse than usual, if that's possible. I tried to tell the teachers I felt ill, but they ignored me, assuming I was stressed and trying to get out of swim. Yeah, I was stressed. But, I also did feel like I was going to vomit. I was sick and way overstimulated

Then, when I did swim, the kids all cheered me on. Fifty+ kids yelling at me while I'm in the water (a very uncomfortable situation for me, I really don't enjoy the sensation), and a teacher walking along at every step, since she thinks I'm worried I'll drown or something. So, to make me feel 'safer', she yells at me that she's there and I only have to get to the other end of the pool - every single time I take my ears/face out of the water to breathe.

By the end, I was intentionally keeping my head under for as long as possible, just so I could avoid hearing all the noise.

After we'd been dismissed to change, two of the teachers held me back.

I was wearing nothing but a swimsuit and one of them cornered me, hugging my shoulders.

I have no sensory aversion to touch, but long story short, I have an extreme aversion to people I don't know very well touching me. This is more social than anything else, as it was learned, not instinctive, but that doesn't mean that I don't detest being touched/touching people other than friends and family. Especially where I don't have clothes (people can poke me on the shoulders if I've got a shirt on, they can grab my hand if my sleeves are long, etc).

The teacher cornered me, hugging me. Naturally, I stiffened up, since I couldn't really pull away and get in more trouble. She gave me a five minute lecture on my 'attitude' and how I should take swim lessons on Saturday mornings at school. I have something I can't get out of Saturday mornings, and I'm terrified of the other (non-hugging) teacher who was lecturing me.

This whole time, I was being hugged, and told that I was being rude, and should change my attitude.


I've got to do five lengths of the pool in similar circumstances on Monday. And then run like 5 km. What to do?

Is there anyone you can talk to, like your parents, about what said person did. Hell, technically, a teacher isn't allowed to touch a student these days (rule varies with locale though).

That sounds like a horror story; I'm hiding under my blankets. They would have never been able to get me into that pool unless they threw me in it.

Yes. Print some copies of your post and hand them to as many people as you believe understand much at all about you.

Locale is Hong Kong. This is the second time I've had to post about teachers touching me without realizing it. First time, a teacher poked me on the nose.



Hmmm. People who would understand me feeling uncomfortable:
My group of friends here at school
My best friend (in New York)
Another friend (On the west coast)

I haven't gotten a dx yet, but I fully intend to start the process in a year. Due to the fact that I'm switching schools and continents in twelve months or so, I can't really start anything now without it getting confusing.



Of course, this all is probably complicated by how I had a near-meltdown last year before swim heats. In my defense, it was within five days of me arriving in Asia for the first time. I was new at school, didn't know anything about the country, hadn't gotten to take a break and listen to music or anything since we'd arrived.

The other teacher got annoyed because I swam better in the second unit last year than I did now. Then, there were twenty students, not sixty, and nobody was yelling. And, to top it off, I wasn't sick.

But, I'll have to do this again, for five lengths of the pool without stopping (this time was 2 then 2)

How unfortunate. If I was you, I would most certainly lodge a complaint against the corrupt teacher. I bet you are surely anticipating your return to New England!