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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In elementary school, DC disclosed autism diagnosis to a few other kids in class and most of them acted no differently, but miraculously one bully actually apologized for their behavior toward my child.

My lean was to keep the diagnosis to our family and close friends only, because I was worried about stigma and misunderstanding and mocking.  This was especially the case in middle school, where some students used "autistic" as a slur, similar to the "r" word.  Once in DC's middle school years, a cafeteria full of kids openly cheered when a kid who was more public about being autistic announced they were moving away and leaving the school.  That was chilling.

I do disclose to instructors and administrators of DC's extracurricular activities like camp or lessons, etc.

Now DC is a teen and feels proud to be neurodivergent, but is still leery of disclosing dx to acquaintances or classmates who aren't really friends, because of the risk of mean reactions.  Kids can be so mean.  Others may be more open than we are.

I should add that DC has a neurodivergent friend group, and they're open with each other about their differences, and everyone is accepting in that group.  It took a while to develop that, and there were years when I worked hard to arrange for playdates and connections to keep neurodivergent friendships going.  Similar to PP, I disclosed dx to other parents when friendships were developing.[/quote]

I think my kid was in that same cheering cafeteria. It sounded really terrible to me, but if it’s the same kid I’m thinking about, my child was unaware of any diagnosis and just more aware that the kid had been bounced around a ton for all kinds of disciplinary reasons. [/quote]

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