They like to mock the fact that I was bullied for being ugly and autistic, and that I spent my childhood in an illegal group home where basic needs weren’t even met. Apparently, no one is entitled to sympathy, and I guess we’re all just supposed to laugh it off, right? It’s easy to make jokes when you don’t have to live through it. But here’s the thing—those "jokes" don’t make the trauma go away. They don’t erase the years of bullying or the emotional scars that come from growing up in a place that was supposed to care for me, but instead left me feeling abandoned and worthless. But here’s the reality—those "jokes" don’t take away the years of trauma. They don’t change the fact that I was abandoned, neglected, and constantly made to feel unloved. They don’t erase the countless nights I lay awake in that group home, wondering why no one cared. I didn’t get proper meals, attention, or love. I was just a kid in a broken system, and all I wanted was to feel like I mattered. The bullying didn’t stop at school either. It wasn’t just the kids calling me ugly, it was the adults, the teachers, the staff—everyone made me feel like I wasn’t good enough. People never let me forget how different I was. They acted like my autism was something to laugh at, something to belittle. Like it was just a reason to treat me like less of a person. So when I see people laughing and saying that nobody’s entitled to sympathy, it just reminds me that some people will never understand what it’s like. They’ll never understand how deep the cuts go when you’re constantly told you’re not enough, when the world expects you to just "get over it."
