I was diagnosed way to early for a girl with Asperger's, but from the day I was diagnosed I have always wished I was somebody else. A neurotypical, to be more exact. And before you say "NTs have it hard too", hear me out first. I was born into a family of NTs and went to a school full of NTs. And I felt I was The Problem Child. Out of all the children I knew growing up (cousins and classmates) there wasn't anyone who had worse issues than me, behaviour-wise.
My mum suffered challenges from me that her siblings and other parents she knew didn't with their (NT) children, and I brought on so much stress for my mum and I think she just yearned for a "normal child", or more accurately, a "normal parenthood". Normal doesn't mean perfect, so that's not what I'm trying to say. Normal just means the desired, the standard, doesn't stand out, etc.
And at school, the older I got the more socially isolated I felt. There were only like 11 other girls in my class and they all hung out together every lunchtime, but I still felt so excluded, even by the nice girls. I just stuck with them for familiarity (I knew them since we were 5 years old and I liked them of course) and because I hated being on my own. But I was often left out of gossip and activities, and when I tried to join in they'd say "I wasn't talking to you!" or "go away and stop following us!" Also I was treated differently and I used to imagine how different my school life would have been if I was born NT just like them. I'd just automatically be accepted into their group and know all the right things to say and be considered as cool as the next person. I'm not saying I'd have been popular but I know I would have been accepted.
Also I get angry, because why me? Both my parents are NTs. My mum was in her mid-20s when she was pregnant with me, and had no birth complications. I was a healthy baby, born a week later than my due date. Yet my aunt had problems during pregnancy, where the baby (my cousin) wasn't getting enough oxygen and the doctors said she was at risk of being born disabled. But she wasn't disabled. All she had was some minor learning difficulties and a bit delayed in speech but she turned out OK, seemed NT enough to be able to fit in and make friends and not be challenging for her parents or be a concern at school.
So I lacked all the risk factors of being born different yet I still was, while my cousin had more risk factors of being born different and she wasn't.
So, why me?
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Female