Alexander's Story

For me, the bullying got bad starting in grade school. In first grade, I got picked on because I was different and due to the fact that I had mental illness. I was also an easy target. One of the ways this affected me was that I would be very depressed and angry and with my mental illness, this was not helpful. Although the problem was not only within the school building, but also on the bus, there would be older kids waiting to pick on me there. Those same kids would pick on me at the bus stop and in the neighborhood. When I was picked on at the bus stop and the neighborhood, they would sometimes physically bully me.

This bullying continued into second grade. By then, the combination of bullying and mental illness got bad enough that I thought about suicide and how terrible my life was. I developed a habit of looking down at the ground so I would not see the kids bullying me, a habit even now in high school I have trouble with even though I am no longer being bullied. The bullying continued into third grade, although it did improve. I was put in a self-contained class which I started to make friends in and although I was still bullied it had improved a lot. Also, by third grade, I was no longer really depressed. The situation slowly improved over into fifth grade and after that bullying, for me, was no longer one of my bigger problems.

Special thanks to the Disabled Young People's Collective for gathering these stories.