I made it through, so this is MY story.

You will go to school, everyday.... Hoping that today is the day everything will change.. People will finally accept you for who you are, and they want to hang out with you. But everytime, everyday you go home, already crying, or go to your room, and then start crying... It's just another disappointment. So what are you going to do now? Who will be your friend? Your teddy bear? No, I already threw him out.... Your mom? No you can't tell her everything that's happening... She will be so sad and angry at the same time, it'll break her heart....

In my case it was music, music became my best friend. At the age of 7 I got my first MP3 player, and a super cool headphone. That was the beginning of something good! I listened to music all day, it gave me the comfort I needed. It was my friend that gave me the power to hold on.

But behind that true happiness about the music, there was still this ugly truth of the bullies at school. They would still kick you under the table, make fun of you and call you things.... So I decided to stand up for myself. I asked my mom if I could go get boxing classes, and she was like 'why would you want that Bo?' and you would answer her 'Just because mom, I saw a boy who does it and he's pretty cool'. So the next week I started my classes, learned some cool stuff and felt strong, finally being able to kick some ass!!

So that's when I formed myself... Everyday a step further to a beautiful life, without the bullies.

I'd fight them off, but they just wouldn't stop..... How could I deal with this for three more years? So I started talking to my teacher.. He told me I needed to be calm and count to ten when somebody made fun of me or kicked me. I accepted his opinion and followed the orders. But I would still get kicked under the table, and nothing was said to the shitty bullies..... :(

I lived, I survived.. somehow... someway...

But in my last year in middle school... My 'friend' walked up to this slide... It was the highest point on the playground, and he just yelled across the playground 'Everybody that hates Bo, come and stand over here' and that's where it just slowly blurred out... I saw all the kids... all my 'friends' walk up to him. It was all a blurry picture from there on... eyes filled with tears.... But I fought them back... I couldn't show my weakness... So I went inside.... turned up my music.... and I survived the last months... every break eating my food on the toilet with the music on, I wouldn't turn it off until I went to sleep...

So I can honestly say: 'music really did save my life!!'

I took all this shit for about 8 years.... Now I don't take shit anymore!

I stand up for myself, it's me, my life and my choices and I will stand and I will fight for it!

So everyone who's going through some rough times, you can always talk to me! ask my Facebook or kik or anything! I'll make it for you and I'll help you get through it!

 

Don't you ever give up! You'll get through this!

My hero always says:  'Life will never put you through more than you can handle!' - Austin Carlile.

You are strong, you were given this life because it'll in the end make you a better person! When you learnt how to deal with it, you can help others! And if you can't deal with it there are people who will help you how to deal with it!

You just have to find the right person for you!

 

I love you all, you are all my friends! Don't ever forget that!

My name is Richie Jewell. I'm 21 years old and I have autism since I was born. Like everyone else in the world, I have an up-down life like a seesaw. I went through some of the stuff that has been a rocky roadblock during my life. It was very challenging to live through the times that I endured during my life such as teasing, on and off depression, struggling to adapt in places including schools, helplessly observe my parents’ divorce and the struggles with my disability like problems with speech and language, communication, awkwardness in social situations, screaming and crying when I was young out of frustration. Well despite all of those horrible obstacles that tried to cut me down, I would overcome them by using my own set of coping skills:

Getting through one day at a time, knowing that happiness and smiles triumphs. When I had no friends due to the disability, I pretended that my stuffed animals as if they were my own and practiced it for later on. Whenever I'm in a negative situation, I dream myself a happy place with beautiful nature and happiness all around me. I also remind myself that everything happens for a reason in life, I always ask myself, “Why do we fall? So, we can learn to pick ourselves up”, and most of all, writing poems from my heart with the help and comfort from family, friends, my hobbies, which include animals, wrestling, movies, writing, and inspiration. Those things I just mentioned are the huge puzzle pieces of my life.

So you're curious on what I do for a living, right? Currently, I work at a local library in Beacon, NY to get some money. Outside the job, I'm a writer, motivational speaker and world/autism advocate to reach out people and raise their spirits. I'm writing a book now titled This is Me: My Life with Autism which talks about my struggles and triumphs with the disability throughout my life. I do speeches at public places such as schools and libraries to raise awareness of autism, world problems, my struggles with my disability and most of all inspire people to new heights. Why this profession? I'm doing this for the people who have been laughed at, ridiculed, looked at the wrong way, have been told you can't do anything, you won't go far in life or bullied including myself and show them that we are in this together to help the world by raising awareness on not just autism but the world problems as well. I want to show support to people who are in a struggle like I was. I want to be the symbol that anything is possible. I had a dream that one day: this world will rise above the hate and realize what we are doing to ourselves. In one day, we are going to treat each other with kindness. This dream will become a reality if we all follow the steps: think, act and change. Gandhi once said, “We must become the change we want to see.” Believe that you can change the world. My theory is that changing the world cannot be kept by force but educating ourselves. If that happens, then the dream can become a reality and finally my voice will be heard. You’re probably think that I'm a dreamer but I’m not the only one dreams. Someday, you'll believe in my vision. And the world will be as one.

The message I want to is that anyone with a disability can make this happen. Everyone has a voice to be heard and I want them to hear mine, on making the world better and getting them to think what does it take to get better. I learned a long time ago that you don't have to scream and holler to get attention, because if a person has enough power to speak softly, they'll listen to you. It's a slow process but it will be done, plus me having a disability makes it even more intriguing, understanding and challenging. Everyone should be the likes of Charlie Brown, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Dumbo the Elephant, in a sense where despite all of those odds stacked against them and being tormented by peers, They appreciate them for who they are and embrace the traits on what we and they have. If 7 Billion people in the world became one of them, maybe we could stop society's bleeding known as bullying. Everyone has a story to tell, you got to make the best of life in order to be successful. I'm just an average person trying to make a big change in the world's society so we can live in a healthy, peaceful and beautiful environment that makes us adaptable for our home called Earth. Like everyone else in the world, we have a long hard road ahead of us. However, we will never give up. Do not pray for an easy life. Hope for the strength to endure a difficult one. If you're going through a difficult life, just remember we are not alone because you might never know who is enduring the same struggles you've encountered. Don't look backwards into the past because we will fall. You can't spend your life looking back. You must spend your life looking forward, because you can't change what has happened. If I look back, there's someone else who is looking forward that will go right by me. You can't reach for the past. It's happened. It's gone. By then, we will live in a healthy life. We are amazing creatures with a powerful ability to overcome obstacles. Your life is your message to the world: Make it inspiring and create a difference! Just like what I'm doing right now!

My inspiration to this cause is my heroes of my life: Robin Williams, Jesse Saperstein, Steve Irwin, John Lennon, Rachel Joy Scott, God, Jesus Christ and most importantly, close friends and family. Every day, there will be new challenges that are going to confront me but I will get stronger and more confident as I conquered them. I always live by a quote, made by Muppet creator Jim Henson, in order to continue my journey of life. And i quote: "Life is meant to be fun, joyous, and fulfilling. May each of yours be that - having each of you as a child of mine has certainly been one of the good things in my life. Know that I've always loved each of you with an eternal, bottomless love. A love that has nothing to do with each other, for I feel my love for each of you is total and all-encompassing. Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It’s a good life, enjoy it."

What does my future have in stored for me after this? Well, who knows? I'm not a psychic and I can't predict the future. The only thing I can do now is accomplish more speeches and keep writing my book so I would have a great future ahead of me. In order to be successful, I could try give the best advice which follows: Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go and want to be, no one else. Reach into your heart and soul to discover your talent. Sometimes, people's talents fade away and you lose something special so, hold on to it. If your talent or idea helps you, then let it set you free from the obstacles that are currently destroying your spirit. Follow your dreams and heart by listening to that “whisper” inside your head speaking to you. If you listen to it, you'll go somewhere. Cherish your visions and dreams because they are the blueprint of the achievements you succeeded. You've got to figure out what it is you love - who you really are and have the courage to do that. Remember that you have to be proud of what you're doing. Always ignore bad and insincere criticism if you're doing what makes you happy. There are many opinions about your work , never let voices put you down, the only one you have listen to is your own. Be yourself and become proud for that because you are original, special for you who are and everyone else is taken. Look for the good in every day. Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities! Believe in your own potential for greatness. There are many individuals whom become successful and simply put a hold on their life. No matter what successes or failures you encounter in life, you must live life, love harder, open doors, stay positive, create opportunities, and most importantly, continuously improve. We experience struggles and challenges that confront us every single day, as time goes on, you get stronger by defeating them. Our hope is you will “never stop” learning, teaching, and dreaming. This message will remind you to push harder, strive for more, stay positive, remain strong and be yourself to live the life you always imagined. All you need to do is enjoy and live life to the fullest. It's something that is within each of us. Repeat these steps every day, and you will become successful.

The contributions that I have for my success right now are dedication, confidence, patience and support. Because of those, I can believe in myself. I have confidence in my ability to make it to the top and accomplish one goal at a time. My biggest supporters I have are my family and close friends. I have them stored in my head and will remember them for life. I shall never let anyone change me or break my spirit because mines powerful. If I could snap my fingers and be non-autistic, I would not because then, it wouldn't be me. Autism is part of who I am and what made me so unique. Like I said before, everyone has a story to tell and it is our duty to make the best out of what life has given us. This who I am and always will be: I am Richie Jewell.

My names Kaylee, i'm 13, i'm also bisexual. Since the 1st time I moved to Iowa, in 4th grade, i've been bullied ever since. I've been bullied because of my face all the way to my shoes. I get bullied a lot about getting raped. I've been bullied about loosing my virginity. When i was younger all I thought about was getting out. I thought about killing myself. I still think about it. I'm in major depression. I have major anxiety. I do go to a counsel. I've been to a hospital. Nothing really helped. I feel like I can't live my life without being judged. If I do kill myself, in my suicide letter, i'll say blame the bullies. One thing I don't do is try to get revenge. That just makes everything worse and it brings you down to their level.

Okay .. I have been bullied.. but I have not taken it as far as most have.. ever since I was little people would make fun of me because I have freckles and buck teeth ..I have had very low self-esteem because of it.. and my friends have been bullied.. I haven't even told my best friend.. but I have thought about cutting myself.. because of my low self-esteem and how people are so mean.. they call me ugly and some people won't even talk to me because they think I am ugly.. I just want to stop other people from going through everything my friends have .. it is not good and bullying is wrong and needs to be stopped !!

i was in the third grade and i didn't fit in i wonder why but i just i didn't. I tried cutting my hair to a new style but they just called me a boy... im a girl. I tried wearing different cloths but they just said that it looks like pj's huh so i thought it was it was done but nope.. 5th grade i was so cool i fekt like i fit in then i had probs at home so i decided to cut myself well i went to far once and well... yeah but i relized thats not how you solve stuff so i stoped now i have a perfect life and i help other people that get bullied so take a stand and lend a hand 

i'm the kind of girl who would sit in the back of class and be the quite one and just because i was quite i was targeted for bulling and this school year has been tough for me being called a retard in front of my whole class and my teachers at my school think that i 'm not all there when it comes to math and i just feel like a retard because i don"t understand math. i get picked on because i don't have that last name and the right clothes and i was tired of not being good  enough . i would hold my feelings in and blow up at my parents and they would get mad at me  then it would be world war 3 . I don't feel like im welcomed at school because i could sit with a group of people and they would move away from me. i'm glad that i'm not the only one out there that has this problem. i feel like no one needs to harm them selves or kill them selves just because of one or a group of people finding joy in our pain.

We are very excited to be hosting Cynthia Lowen as our kickoff speaker to our Bullying Initiative we are trying to establish in our county so that all our schools/communities have additional resources and supports to proactively address bullying concerns.We are inviting a microcosm of folks directly involved with bullying including students,parents,school administrators,mental health professionals,faith based and legal representatives to begin a dialogue to be followed by action steps moving forward.We are about 4 months away from our event and planning topics for breakouts so if anyone has suggestions feel free to comment.Jim McElrath,LCSW,Executive Director,Family Service of the Chautauqua Region

I think it's important to finally stand up for yourself. Of course you will need people who support you and who you can talk with about everything, but in the end it is you who needs to be brave and let it all go.

I was bullied, mostly called names and sometimes hurt physically, for about 5 years. I was just 11 when it started.

I had to get glasses, because my sight steadily got worse and my mother insisted on getting them. At first it was just teasing and I didn't mind it that much. I even made fun of them myself! I thought it just needed some time getting used to them. But then I started to grow and I gained weight a lot faster that normal. My mother had to stop me from eating sometimes. So the random comments about my glasses moved to teasing about my weight. I think I had about 130 pounds at the age of 12-13. It got worse and finally my mother stepped in and called my class out on it in school. After that it was better and my class accepted me like I was. But in school I still had the same problems. Even my sports teacher, who was not exactly thin teased me in front of my whole class. And I let it go. I let it go for a long time, almost 3 years and then I finally had enough. You see it was not every day, but I came home sad more often than not. And finally I decided that it was me, not my mother and not the teachers, who had to get up and fight for myself. I called the bullies out on the things they said and I told them they too had fears and things they worried about. In the end, my last year in that school was peaceful. And I decided to stand up for myself and never let anything go this far ever again.

When I entered University I started to dress like I wanted. I didn't disguise myself any longer. I lost weight and I felt more and more comfortable with myself. Today I sometimes think back to that times, because my brother faces teasing and bullying himself. But he is a stronger Person than I was. He stands up for himself and never let it go that far.

I hope you will find comfort in my story. Maybe you see yourself in it. Maybe you will finally stand up for yourself.

I can only give you one advice: Be yourself and don't let anyone define who you are or how you should be! You are perfect the way you are and no one can change that fact.

 

I hardly remember a time in primary school where I wasn't bullied, called fat, beaten, shunned...

I used to get bullied when I was just 5 years old, by an older girl at my Catholic School. The teachers would just watch. She would attack me in any way she could, and left me concussed once.
My mum got sick of it, and went to the principal. Myself, the principal and my mother talked to the girl, and she left me alone. Then I moved to Australia.

I couldn't help it that my family was poor. My dad was disabled and an alcoholic, and my mum was his carer, and that meant little money for myself and my siblings.

I started school in Australia in 1999, at 7 years old. Another girl would always pick on me. I didn't have the best shoes or clothes. I would just glance her way, and she would sneer at me.

I moved schools numerous times. It never seemed to help. I was either too poor, didn't have any fashion sense, or was picked on because of my skin colour (tanned).

It wasn't only at school that I would face bullying. My dad would constantly tell me that I would never amount to anything. Then, when my step-dad came into the picture, everything went from bad to worse.

Step-dad would call me fat, lazy, stupid, ugly... I would believe these things and go to bed every night, crying.

Now I have self- confidence, and am slowly making myself a better person.

Every morning before school I would tell my parents I was sick, knowingly lying to them because I just didn't want to face school. I didn't want to face the girls who called me fat behind my back, the boys who taunted me openly and the teachers who heard the cruel comments but refused to take a stand.

I was always different than most girls; tall, and chubby, but I didn't think anything of it until the day a girl called me names that I will never forget. Once she started the name calling, it was a ripple affect and everyone chimed in. Walking down the hallway of my middle school, I would be spit on, yelled at, kicked and pushed. But I never let anyone see me sad or put down, thinking it would make me seem weak.

Although I never let anyone see me upset, every night after school I went to my room and cried, contemplating taking my own life and cutting my limbs to a boody pulp. And every morning I would get up for school and beg my parents to let me stay home. You see, my parents didn't know about my daily horrors so they made me go, and eventually I started to resent them.

It went on like this for 3 years until I decided I wasn't going to let someone else's disrespectful decisions dictate how my day would go. I made everyday a good day, even while being kicked and called names. I didn't let myself cut the skin God granted me with, nor did I let their hurtful words puncture my feelings.

I told my parents what had happened and they decided it would be best that I talk to a therapist. Every week I would see a woman who pried the information out of me that I kept to myself for so long. Every week she would make me believe I was beautiful and I mattered. Every week she made me understand that to forgive myself for the harm I had done to my beautiful body, I had to first forgive my enemies. Every hour I spent with that woman mattered. Every hour she let me understand that my parents want the best for me and if they had known about the pain I was put through, they would have changed something. She let me understand that the beating in my chest isn't just a heartbeat, but a physical representation of purpose. I was put on this earth by God himself for a certain reason, and to fulfill that reason I needed to trust myself and let myself believe I can do anything. She let me understand that my importance isn't measured by the number on the scale.

After 4 years of treatment I am able to say I can forgive the young men and women who have hurt me emotionally, psychologically and physically. After 4 years of treatment I am able to forgive my parents. After 4 years of treatment I believe I am beautiful and I am here for a reason.

While still trying to figure out that purpose, I am free. Free of bullies, free of resentment, and free of pain. And I am happier than ever.

Please forgive your bullies. Not for them, but for you. As a former bully victim myself, I am able to say that the feeling you get after you let it all go is remarkable. Its indescribable. If you aren't able to forgive them, I understand. It takes time. In the meantime, when you see a lonely kid, or a person who just doesn't look comfortable, talk to them. Tell them they matter and they aren't alone.

Everyday make it a habit to compliment one person. Whether its just a simple, "I like your shoes," it makes all the difference.

Everything starts with one. Pass it on. Make the change.

But remember, no one has the right to define who you are. Be true to yourself.