Just wanted to share an autobiographical excerpt from Todd J. Schmidt in "Voices From the Spectrum". I really empathize with this perception:
"No one knew. They weren't supposed to know that it was okay to be like me. They couldn't have known that their methods of teaching, parenting, teasing, and judging were just about the worst thing they could do to a kid like me. I was over-sensitive, an underachiever, odd, lazy, weird, stupid, and gullible. I didn't have autism -- that was the kid who never spoke. I never shut up. It must be my fault. They simply didn't know. And how could they have?"