My brother is autistic, and as kids, we went to the same school. One day, when he was about 7, we came home from school and he ran to his room immediately and didnt talk for the whole night. He refused to go to school the next day- but still wouldn’t talk, he just stared into space and banged his head on the wall. After asking his teacher what could be wrong the next day at school, she sighed and told me that one girl who was two grades ahead of him had told him he wasn’t allowed to play foursquare at recess because he was a “freakazoid.” Some kids laughed at him and she chased him into the small hallway at the edge of the gym where a teacher had to eventually go find him, rocking back and forth.

While the girl didnt know him, she lived near our neighborhood and had minorly teased him on the bus before, so I knew who she was. The next day was a snow day, and while taking a walk with a friend, we passed her house. She was outside, playing while her parents were shoveling. My friend and i threw a few snowballs in her direction to get her attention. I yelled at her, in front of her parents, “pick on someone your own size- freakazoid! You want to attack someone who can’t defend himself?” Then we ran away. The girl’s parents found out what happened and forced her not only to write an apology, but asked her teacher to make her miss recess for a few weeks.