Please Stop Laughing at Me by Jodee Blanco

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I'm not sure if this topic belongs here or in the writing forum. I read this book called "Please Stop Laughing at Me, by Jodee Blanco" about a girl who was the constant target of physical bullying from 5th grade through high school back in the 1970s and early 1980s. Just like me, she just could not fit in no matter how hard she wanted to have friends. Unlike me, she was very popular with her classmates in the primary grades and she never had any behavioral issues with adults and was considered a model student and maybe picked on so much because she was a goody-goody. Her experience with her classmates makes mine look like a cakewalk. I was rarely, if ever, physically bullied - my experiences were mostly about being teased, gossiped about, and ostracized. This woman was beaten up, kicked, and punched by her own classmates on a regular basis.


FYI- I find the reviews on amazon have more information on her childhood than her personal website does;

http://www.amazon.com/Please-Stop-Laugh ... 109&sr=8-1
Her personal website is http://www.jodeeblanco.com/

If anyone has read this book, do you think Jodee was a case of undiagnosed AS?
I see some parallels between her life and mine.

Allie Kat (my own life story is at http://www.myaspergerslifestory.com) so you can see how it compares to Blanco's

Last edited by AllieKat on 02 May 2011, 2:42 am, edited 4 times in total.

I read Jodee's book. But I'm not sure whether or not she's on the spectrum. It's quite possible though. I was able to relate to her story as my life from the time I started school until I graduated was full of bullies, & taunting if not being physically assaulted (by both girls & boys). After I read her book, I gave it to my oldest daughter because she too has been mistreated by her peers.

I am pretty sure I also fall on the spectrum.


Tomboy

I've read that book when I was in Grade 6. It's a very good book. My experience was more like yours, though.

I haven't read the book but Jodee's experience sounds like a genuine nightmare! Where were the authority figures to help stop it?

Yes; that's what strikes me about her books: the authorities just stood by and did nothing as she was being physical beaten to the point of injury. I remember being teased and gossiped about (people passing notes about me) but physical violence at my school was not tolerated and I think my NT peers never had any desire to hurt my physically; it was just a status thing to laugh my odd behavior and avoid associating themselves with me.

I am really moved by how much abuse this woman endured growing up and am glad she is so successful today. I love it when she goes to her 20 year reunion. My goal is to also be able to go to mine in 2014 and give a speech about Asperger's Syndrome to the very same peers that treated me as an outcast. I wouldn't be able to do it today but I may be able to do it 3 years from now if I keep working on "coming to terms with myself."

I wasn't ever physically beaten to the point of injury, although I did experience physical bullying, as well as emotional abuse. When I tried to report it after being instructed to do so I was told that the faculty could do nothing because "it's their word against yours" and "it takes two to tango" and "maybe you're doing something to provoke them." Even teachers got in on the bullying on occasion.

I honestly don't remember schools ever taking bullying seriously, although they did seem to respond quickly whenever I tried to defend myself, which was basically whenever they pushed me to the point of meltdown, and then I just got vicious. I know I got in trouble once for biting a student and drawing blood.

I got all that BS as well. I was told I was being bullied because I 'acted odd'. Yeah cause I did it on purpose didn't I? (sarcasm intentional) I was assulted by a teacher once and they swept it under the carpet. Totally ignored it. I left school early because people were harming me physically and emotionally and one person tried to set me on fire. No one cared. There is no authority anymore, it is all 'your fault' if you are an odd person.

P.S I was undiagnosed at school.