Ignorance is possibly a huge issue when it comes to how peers my age interact with those who seem ‘different’ from them, especially if they ‘act’ weird. The group that I will focus upon will be those with developmental disabilities, and to be specific, autism, but what I say here can be in part applied to any other minority groups. This particular disorder is one that has been becoming quite common as of late, and I myself am on the spectrum. However, so has a growing ignorance by neurotypicals. Like for example, a person may call me ‘childish’ if I chew on my water bottle. However, nobody asks why. My reason of course is that I chew on my water bottle (or the rubber case on my chromebook, or anything plastic or rubber in general), in order to help me calm down. Yet nobody asks. Another example of how there are cases of autistic children being severely bullied by their peers, all due to how they act ‘different’. This could be easily prevented if ‘normal’ peers could just try to understand that we are different, and that stereotypes are truly harmful to the stereotyped. No, I can’t figure out quantum physics like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory (even though he is conformed by the creators not to have autism), or count individual pins like Raymond from Rainman. However, I can clearly feed and dress myself too. There are some people with autism who are in both extremes, but many of us are sprinkled in between. I stim by chewing plastic and rubber when I get nervous, I pace around listening to music in my bedroom when I am bored, and I tap my foot when I am excited. I have specific interests in many areas, some of which are eerie (such as urban exploring), and others which could be put off as just ‘childish’ (such as the history of animation). I am sensitive to loud noises (which is why I avoided going to the pep assembly due to how much noise there is). I also tend to get very nervous instantly, often stimming accordingly while I am called ‘childish’. Most likely there is not a single other autistic person who has that exact group of symptoms. However, many of us do feel empathy, even if we don’t know how to express it most of the time. We can hear you talking about us to a friend of yours. We aren’t a burden on our parents or our friends. Our meltdowns are because we express our feelings differently than you do. So what if we’re different? So what if we go against your norms? We should still deserve at the very least respect and the understanding that we aren’t the same. Remember when I said that this information could in part relate to any other group? It does! Not all Muslims are terrorists, not all lesbians are masculine, not all gay males are feminine, etc, etc, etc. What I am saying should be understood by everybody, yet here I am saying it to you. It’s really sad.

There is of course one reason why this pain is happening. It’s a little thing called instinct. Regular animals require it to survive, but we shouldn't use it as often as a dog or a cat. We are better than that. We don’t have to flee from predators while stalking prey. We now have farmers to feed us. We are the most advanced species on earth, and yet we rely on instinct to bully others. We as a species are better than this. We have the ability to send messages across the world in merely a fraction of a second. Yet we spend it harassing somebody in the comment section because they are christian or jewish. We have so much knowledge, and our human language is a amazing thing, yet we use it to complain that an individual with autism is annoying, or that something is ‘gay’ or ‘retarded’. It makes me saddened that we are lazy with our gifts of intellect and opposable thumbs.

The bottom line is that Ignorance is not bliss. You should try and understand as much about an individual as you can, instead of assuming that they act or are a certain way. I bet that certain people would give up what makes them ‘different’, but I personally wouldn't. I would act differently without my autism, even though it is a struggle. To those who are hated because they are in the minority, remember that you are you, and that you are special, everybody is. I believe that you will do amazing things when you grow up! To those who judge, ask yourself, “Is this really worth it?” because all that you’re doing is losing the chance to have a amazing friend by your side, and it’s your loss.