Uhh I'm late and this story isn't funny at all but here it goes


She never spoke and was hard to communicate but a sweet girl. Didn't understand most things, got overwhelmed and overstimulated quickly. Our teacher assigned another student to take care of her at all times, this student was also a little child so had no idea how to manage her friend. We would often hear her scream from (now I understand) overstimulation.

I transferred to that school at 5th grade, and on my first, very nervous day, she came to me, held my hand, kissed it and put it on her forehead. It's a sign of respect to elders in my country to kiss a hand like this. I was very confused as I wasn't her senior. After getting to know her a bit more I realized she was trying to comfort me in her own way. I had more sympathy and more importantly more respect for her after that, something I felt she severely needed.

Looking back, I knew even then her situation was sad and she needed better care for sure. But kids around her never taunted or bullied her, not even the worst kid in class. When we went to day trips as a class we always raised money for her to attend as it was known her family was poor. Parents & teachers raised money for her clothing, basic needs etc. When she cried out of frustration, anyone would console her, not just a teacher. She was like a little sister to all of us. I had to be transferred again because my family moved again, but I'll never forget her or the people around her. They were all just little kids, but showed more compassion and empathy than most adults I see now. She changed the way I perceive people with mental disability at a very early age.

I've posted this before in an older thread...

This was primary school, we would have been around 10 years old. There was an attempt to bring special need kids in and intergrate them into our classes. One guy was just so odd, it wasn't going well. One morning recess we're out playing on the swings and monkey bars and a girl screams, we run over and the special needs guy has blood running down from where his ear used to be. He's also dragging an open cardboard egg container (the ones we used to cut up for crafts) behind him tied to a piece of string. In that container is the missing piece of his ear. He'd cut it off with scissors.
That's how the special needs integration programme ended.

He would howl like a dog. He’d get in trouble daily and get under the table panting and bark and growl. One day was an extra bad episode and we all thought it was funny being 5 years old at the time, and after that day we didn’t see him anymore. The state took him.

Turns out he was kept in cages with the dogs at his house and learned dog behavior. Wonder whatever happened to him. Hope he got help.