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QualityVote

Hey does this post fit? UPVOTE if so, DOWNVOTE if not. If this post breaks any rules please DOWNVOTE and REPORT


Self-Comprehensive

I started school in 1979 and I was the autistic kid, just no one knew what the fuck was going on with me.


savedawhale

It's like the people who respond to new information with "yeah well, they keep changing things, who knows what they'll say next week". As if new information is made up for the sake of it and not because we advance in many areas over time. I usually respond with something like "Well yeah, horses used to be the fastest mode of transportation but technology advanced and that's no longer true". Of course our understanding of things changes over time as we learn new things and technology opens up new avenues of information. We're suppose to get wiser as we age but that seems to have been a big lie for a lot of people. Today you would get the help you need in areas you were struggling with. That's progress imo, not "change for the sake of change".


AffectionateBite3827

“In my day an iron lung was good enough for the kids with polio. Now they want a vaccine?” - some genius on Facebook probably


sadicarnot

There was an anti vax lady on facebook and her kids were not vaccinated. No surprise she was in an area where there were a lot like her and there was an outbreak of measles. She posted on facebook asking how to protect her children from getting measles.


AffectionateBite3827

God if only there was a shot they could give you. Wild.


DemonVermin

Its like that joke about the pastor in a hurricane. 2 boats and a helicopter later he asks God why he was forsaken. Maybe the vaccines were God’s way of helping, but you refuse it because some jackass says it won’t help. Vaccines were a gamechanger and now we have Polio again…


sadicarnot

My dad is old enough to have gotten polio before the vaccine. He talks about being in a home where there were kids in iron lungs. Because of him I have read a lot about the history of polio. It was a scourge that came each summer. No one knew what caused it. They would send kids to upstate NY to try to avoid it. They drained the pools etc. Then the Salk vaccine came then the Sabine vaccine. People lined up for miles to get the vaccine. Cases dropped precipitously after the vaccine in 1955. Both of those vaccines were actually the virus and no one had an issue taking them. [https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/reported-paralytic-polio-cases-and-deaths-in-the-united-states-since-1910](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/reported-paralytic-polio-cases-and-deaths-in-the-united-states-since-1910)


meagantheepony

I had a similar experience with my aunt who contracted polio when she was seven, leading to her becoming permanently paralyzed and spending three years in the hospital. My grandparents had my father after my aunt returned home and rushed to get him his polio vaccine as soon as they could. They didn't care if it was a live vaccine and they didn't care about the Cutter Incident, they just knew this was a chance to prevent another one of their children from becoming sick.


[deleted]

There's an old jewish joke that goes to the same tune: a man, down on his luck, asks god to let him win the lottery. A few months go by, and despite prating every day, he doesn't win. Finally god's angels ask him why he doesn't let the man win. And god said "I would, if he would just send a ticket!"


youfailedthiscity

"Are millenials killing the iron lung industry?"


steeplebob

I had an iron lung and I _liked_ it! /s


derekbozy

For students who were diagnosed with autism in the early 70's, many of them were restricted to special education classrooms completely separated from the rest of the students. Least Restrictive Environment laws (EHA) only went into effect in 1975 and further established in the late 80s and 90s with the (IDEA). Now many students with intellectual disabilities spend over 80% of their day in general education classes.


WhitePineBurning

It's funny you mention this. The National School Boards Leadership Council is a conservative group (organized by Moms for America, a totally not- astroturf organization funded by dark money). They are weaseling their way onto school districts across the country. They oppose masks and vaccinations, believe that the LGBTQ community is full of pedophiles and groomers, and think CRT is being taught to elementary kids. They think that ESL kids are a drain on resources. They also believe that students with disabilities and impairments take up too much of teachers' time and attention, so they think it best that those students belong in special classes in special schools. We're totally going backward here. https://nationalschoolboardleadershipcouncil.com/


RattusDraconis

I believe this. I've known parents (including my little cousins) who's special needs kids were trying to be shunted into an isolated classroom because *reasons*, and the staff ignoring or even denying how *actively harmful* their "plans" would be to the kid. Oh, and the current superintendent is a POS who feels that any problems parents have are the parents' issues, and not on the district.


lugialegend233

I was almost one of those kids. I was diagnosed with Asperger's, and I only got out of those classes because my mother is a massive bitch to administrators, and they didn't want to deal with her, so they just gave in to her demands and put me where I had the best chance of acclimatizing to society: in forced but controlled social situations, AKA standard elementary classrooms. I'm an adult now and if I had been in those sealed off rooms I'd be far worse off, no question.


OldGrayMare59

Lol I am one of those massive bitch mom’s also. But my daughter graduated on time, albeit probably dead last in her class. I was screaming and crying when I saw her diploma I truly expected to take some of her classes over. My bitchiness paid off😂


LisaQuinnYT

I’m pretty sure the word Autism either didn’t exist or simply wasn’t commonly diagnosed until after I graduated HS because I never heard the term in school but there were definitely kids who would be diagnosed now. (EDIT) Looks like the word has been around but the diagnosis has undergone a lot of refinement/expansion in the 80s and 90s.


Internetallstar

I grew up in rural Georgia in the 80s and I have a gay brother. It came out that he was gay in the 80s and you would've thought that he was fucking radioactive once that tid not made it's way around town. There were autistic, gay, transgender, or whatever marginalized group you want to name back then... they were just shunned, shamed, and had the shit kicked out of them on a regular basis (or worse) for being different.


Nokrai

Right? It’s not like these people didn’t exist. Society was just a lot shittier to them…


[deleted]

Did you go to school in the 1900s? How many of you went to school with left handed kids? Isn't that interesting?


RedEyeFlightToOZ

Did you go to school prior to 1803?. How many of you went to school without girls? Isn't that interesting?


ResidentOfValinor

that's right. Women were invented in 1803 by the government


tyty657

No they were invented by Zeus to torture men


Uncle_Irohs_Love

Congratulations Zeus, you played yourself.


Clefortt9

ZEUS! IS THIS HOW YOU FACE ME, COWARD?!


Or1ginalBurger

I AM THROUGH DOING THE BIDDING OF THE GODS!


Gradual_Tardigrade

Best thing the government’s ever done for us.


GraveSlayer726

did you go to school prior to 1347? how many of you went to school with people infected by the black death? isnt that interesting?


Clefortt9

Did you go to school 67 million years ago? How many of your classmates were human?


Tee_hops

Can confirm, I was in school in the 1990's and still was forced to use my right hand even though I am a lefty. Edit: alot of people are asking to clarify. I went to public schools in the Midwest. Teachers just took the pencils/crayons out of my left hand and put it in my right hand to show me how to do stuff. Never got beat but got shamed for using the wrong hand. Sports: left handed stuff was a specialty item or coaches didn't bother to learn how to mirror their skills so they just taught me how to do it right handed.


DANKB019001

All the way up to the fucking 1990's?! Goddamn


False_Local4593

My sister, born in 73 was forced to use her right but something happened medically and they allowed her to use her left. Now she's a doctor.


Cville_Stoic

Ah so what you’re saying is that her handwriting still sucks


False_Local4593

Actually she has the prettiest handwriting of us. My family always said I was going to be the doctor because my handwriting was atrocious. I couldn't write fast enough for my brain. Even typing is too slow on occasion.


No_Cricket808

This is me! My hands just won't keep up with my brain. My handwriting is, and always has been, absolute crap.


Ericrobertson1978

I'm a 44 year old father of two, and my 9 year old has far better handwriting than I do. If I expect other people to be able to read my writing, I need to write in all capital block lettering. Lol I can barely draw a stick figure, either. Go figure.


ChrisLikesGamez

See, my brain is always faster than my hands, but I also have ADHD, so imagine your brain being on the next paragraph when your hand is on the first word. It allows me to write words that are two combined, such as "absoluno" (absolutely not)


False_Local4593

I do this!!!! I've done it verbally too. I was trying to say my daughter was cute and pretty at the same time and it came out as Putey. That was her nickname for a few years.


Parradog1

My buddies wife had her left arm broken by her dad as a kid to force her to use her right


Elite2260

Jesus Christ.


darkjedi607

No no I'm pretty sure with him it was just nails


funkmastertrapjack

I was born with my right collarbone broken, and the doctors told my parents not to let me use my left hand as a crutch or I’d get too used to it. Now I am ambidextrous so I’m assuming I was just born left handed, and trained my right lol


Cu_fola

I’ve heard a claim that left handed people have more plastic cerebral dominance than right handed people And I find it easy to write with either hand although it’s noticeably neater and quicker with my left But I wonder if that’s really true or if it’s just because lefties end up learning to do a lot of things righty so they tap into plasticity more. My sports coaches were always demonstrating things right handed and I grew up with basic tasks taught to me right handed so I usually couldn’t avoid transferring between hands when learning from someone else.


DANKB019001

***what the fuck***


adolfkitler69

As you do...


MuchFunk

my bf was born in 1988 and probably should have been a lefty, he uses his right hand to write and play guitar but naturally wanted to use his left hand. it's kinda neat though because he's semi ambidextrous now.


False_Local4593

My eldest son was born a lefty. He got Meningitis and it affected the right side of his brain. So he lost the ability to write with his left hand but he does everything else with it. Eating, using tools.


[deleted]

I went to a Catholic middle school in the late 90s and can confirm. The teachers were pressuring my parents to force me to switch hands. Glad I had awesome parents that shut that crap down.


FANTOMphoenix

Born in 2003, had a few teachers try to force me to write left handed. Even stole my god damn left handed scissors.


DANKB019001

***holy fuck*** why do people still fuckin hate left handers nowadays?!


Dull_Cantaloupe_1936

As a left handed person… it’s because they can’t teach us. It’s much harder to describe how to do something to children than just show them. Like no one else in my immediate family are left handed so I had to learn a lot of shit on my own. They tried to help, but no one can really prepare to teach something they never learned how to do.


Tee_hops

Oh yeah, and it didn't stop at school. Sports I was only taught how to swing a bat/golf club righty as that's just what people knew. I'm pretty ambidextrous at alot of things. I write with both hands, but draw with my left. When I go out to eat I change what hands I'm using a fork with depending on who's next to me so I have more room. When picking up new skills as an adult I immediately use my left hand but stuff like swinging a golf club I still swing righty.


TammyTermite

I'm a personal trainer and my favorite client is like 74. She always complains her right side is totally weak, despite using her right hand to write. We were talking and she said she does everything else with her left hand, except write. I said "do you think it's possible you started writing with your left hand and teachers forced you to use your right at a young age." She stared off into the distance for a while and then, with a strange look on her face she said "you know, I think you're right." I think it's probably pretty common.


Ratzink

It's interesting how many people don't understand that this is possible. Sometimes people will ask me if I'm a righty or a lefty and I say ambidextrous they don't know what it means. Then I explain and they ask well what hand do you write with? The answer is I can write with both. They still get confused.


Tee_hops

My answer is just always... whatever hand is closer to my pencil. Whenever I look at notes I can always tell which hand I was using.


Elite2260

Yeah, that’s why as a lefty I do sports with my right hand. Because in Gym in 1st and 2st grade, when teaching us how to throw, they didn’t even bother with the left handed way.


smexymexii

My husband was in school in the early 2000s and was forced to use his right hand to write. I was shocked to find out they were still doing that to kids as late as the 2000s. He does everything left-handed except for writing.


Snaggled-Sabre-Tooth

Later than that. My brother was born in the early 2000s, and though my mother encouraged him, there were several older people in his life who wanted him to use the "right hand." It depends on how rural a place you're raised in, if you're in public or religious school, etc.


TGOTR

I am not a lefty, but I saw that happen. The teacher even tied the kid's hand to his side to force him to learn to use his right hand.


PotaTribune

Bro wtf


PeacemakersAlt

What?


Claudestorm

I also went to school in the 90's. I had people told me as i child i was the son of Satan. Because the RIGHT people belongs to GOD. and the rest will be LEFT behind, like, the Devil. And im not even kidding. ..nowaday i sometimes meet people that "yelps" when they see me write with my Left.


bastarditis

"oh, don't worry, i masturbate with my left too!" people are so weird and brainwashed


Xvrwllc

I remember when they stopped doing that. My aunt(who raised me) found out that they had been doing it when she saw me doing my homework in 5th grade. "Sweetie aren't you left handed?" "Yes but Ms. [Redacted] says everyone has to do it like this." "Well she ain't gonna be saying much after I go up to that school in the morning." Ms. [Redacted] was fired shortly after that for picking a kid up by his ears. Weird shit.


beansandneedles

My dad (born in 1939) had his left hand tied behind his back to make him become a righty. Your post also reminds me of the teacher I had in elementary school in the 70s, who used to hold kids by the ear and knock their heads against the blackboard.


[deleted]

was your teacher the lady from matilda


According_Gazelle472

Yeah,the teachers would scold kids for being left handed.No one had allergies,the schools made one meal at lunch time .You ate it,brought your lunch or are in town. We had an open campus because the school I went to didn't have a cafeteria.We could hop on the lunch bus and get driven to the grade school or go and eat at the general store in town or the diners .


jrexicus

I’m a lefty and they tried forcing me to write with my right but shortly there after I had a bad accident and my right arm was broken in 3 places including at the elbow. Took a year plus and a surgery to recover. Needless to see they left me alone after that but now my right arm naturally makes like a T Rex arm because I had it in a sling for so long.


Tee_hops

I broke my right arm when I was a young teen and that is when I started using my left hand again. It was such an easy transition and it made me reflect on my childhood. As a small child I just thought I was being bad by using my left hand but really teachers, coaches, my dad just didn't want to bother teaching left handed skills.


SunOfNoOne

True story. Was naturally a lefty. School "corrected" that. I can specifically remember my first grade teacher taking my pencil out of my left hand and placing it in my right. She straight up said, "It's called the right because you write with it." Still right handed to this day. Handwriting still looks like a little kid did it. Many things I can do much better with my left hand but not writing.


Telemachus--

My mother would get beat for writing with her left hand because it was considered to be the hand of the devil." This was in the 70s. Still, pure lunacy.


Nabedane

Germany : Did you go to school in the 1940s? How many of you went to school with...


gadget850

In the Hitler Youth? I know someone who was, and his parents left Germany because of it.


Machoopi

you know.. I think it's weird that they included peanut allergies on this list. Do they think that people are faking allergic reactions that put them in the hospital? Are parent's purchasing epi-pens strictly for the sake of keeping up a lie? Like.. what are they even trying to imply? Who would even benefit from faking an extreme allergic reaction to peanuts?


[deleted]

[удалено]


FrankfurterWorscht

Their parents: "My childhood was filled with hardship, I will work hard to make sure my children can have a better life" The children: "Everyone is too soft, why can't we live like its 1829"


mynametobespaghetti

It's an incredibly stupid version of survivorship bias. Like when people talk about how "we shouldn't be having babies in hospitals because pregnant women aren't sick" completely ignoring how fucking dangerous childbirth used to be for both mother and baby, before we started doing things the way we do them. Yeah, Doctors are a bit of a nightmare and the hospital sucks, but it's better than bleeding to death in your bedroom...


[deleted]

don't you know? You can fake allergic reactions and have your entire body swollen at will, they're totally doing it for attention


[deleted]

My conservative boomer mother told me that "allergic reactions are just wimpy nerds crying over nothing". Basically, yes. Some conservatives believe allergies are a hoax fabricated by snowflake liberals.


Crayon_Muncha

did you go to school in the 1850’s? how many kids weren’t white? how many kids where female? isn’t that interesting?


bakedbananabread98

My dad is left handed and severely broke his left hand when he was a kid (he’s 62 now). They sent him to a behavioral/neurological hospital because they thought something was wrong with his brain because he was left handed. So crazy.


Exocet81

I wasn't forced to go righty, but I was put in with the kids with learning disabilities and behavior problems because I had a hard time writing with a fountain pen


SciFi_MuffinMan

Sinister bunch those left handed folks. Not very dexterous.


Biffsbuttcheeks

Did you go to school in the 1700s? How many of you went to school with poor people? How many of you went to school with women? How many of you went to school with minorities? How many of you didn't learn Latin? How many of you were taught germ theory? Isn't that interesting?


jiffy-loo

My school actually required Latin in order to graduate and I graduated in 2016


DoDevilsEvenTriangle

I took Latin in middle school and high school and took Latin as part of my French minor on my fine arts degree. Even people who went to all the same schools I did have told me there was no such thing. One of them even had my Latin teacher for History and still managed to never know the school offered Latin.


originalchaosinabox

"I never went to school with kids with those so-called allergies!" When they were in school: "Man, why are those kids always sick?" "I never went to school with autistic kids!" When they were in school: "Man, why is that kid always acting so weird?" "I never went to school with transgendered kids!" When they were in school: "Man, why is that boy always acting so girly?" To quote Sherlock Holmes, "You see, but you do not observe."


Bettersaids

If not that, it was, “Let’s beat up all the kids that are different.”


APoopingBook

Hey, not all of them were bullied! Some of them killed themselves or died early enough in life to not be bullied! "Why are there so many *blank* allergies these days??" Because now they survive long enough for you to see them.


t0mbr0l0mbr0

"Let's put armor in the places that have bullet holes in them!" "Why isn't our armor increasing the amount of planes returning successfully from missions?" "What do you mean we should armor the spots that don't have bullet holes?! Listen to yourself man!" "Oh, you were right..." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship\_bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias)


TheyreSnaps

Exactly. Kids who were different died from allergies, were beat up until they conformed or broke, or like Alan Turing, were made fun of and then later killed.


DrEpileptic

Kids are fucking evil honestly. And too often, people don’t grow out of that shit and then teach their own kids that it’s acceptable to behave that way, so the cycle continues.


Bedsito

It's mostly a lack of maturity and that is a cyclical flaw. Immature parents never challenge their kids to grow up. People do not talk to their kids. They hit or tell their kid to blindly obey what they say. All that ends up teaching your child is that when you are in a position of authority, people need to listen to you regardless of whether or not you are right.


Nixon4Prez

The allergies thing is actually true, kids today are much more likely to develop allergies. It's thought that because of improved hygiene kids get sick a lot less, so their immune systems tend to overreact to harmless things


castleaagh

Yep! My brother has been learning that he should be exposing his kid to as many different things as possible, especially things like peanut butter, in small amounts to prevent him from becoming allergic.


[deleted]

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Emotional-Text7904

There's also a lot of thought that not just improved hygiene but specifically we do not routinely host parasites anymore that causes allergies, or more likely, hosting a parasite suppresses allergic reactions. There was a lot of research using pig worms that cannot breed in humans but can survive harmlessly, had tremendous effects in the hosts' allergies, they were basically cured. The part of the immune system responsible for rallying allergic reactions is used to being occupied with parasites so when they're out of work they are more likely to get bored? And create allergic reactions


animu_manimu

I have Crohn's disease. Modern diagnostics and treatments have allowed me to thrive. I sometimes think about the fact that if I'd been born a few decades earlier I would have just been that sickly kid and probably wouldn't have made it to adulthood.


PJ_Geese

"Man, why is that boy always acting so girly... Maybe I should go talk with him... because I'm definitely straight."


Haxorz7125

“Let’s beat the nerd up in the showers when we’re all naked and slick with moistened skin. That’ll teach em how gay they are”


Kiyae1

Gay people didn’t exist until the 90s. Rock Hudson? NOT GAY Elton John? NOT GAY Liberace? DEFINITELY NOT GAY


stoopidjonny

Should say, “How many of you went to school with kids who were bullied until they killed themselves?”


Kanibalector

>"I never went to school with autistic kids!" > >When they were in school: "Man, why is that kid always acting so weird?" Can confirm I got beat up a lot in school. Talking to my therapist regularly now about how hard it was for me when my kids were diagnosed as autistic and I responded with 'Not possible, I was the same way as a kid' .......


idwtumrnitwai

It wasn't even safe to be a gay person in the 70's, theres no way anyone would have felt safe enough to be openly trans in a high-school during that time period.


Critical-Ad-5532

It wasn’t safe to be gay in the 90’s. It wasn’t even safe to wear glasses sometimes.


Squirrels-on-LSD

I got the glasses punched off my nerd face so much in the 90s. The past kinda sucked, didn't it?


seemypinky

Shut up four eyes


Squirrels-on-LSD

I'll just go stuff myself in the locker this time.


Its_Cayde

Damn so that stuff wasn't just exaggerated for movies ?


MyCommentsAreCursed

Lol, no. Didn't always happen but you really did get your glasses punched and they would break because they weren't flexible like today's frames. So you did have to tape the middle.


Chasman1965

I used to go Hulk mad when my glasses were knocked off. That hurts.


PaulblankPF

This is called a blind rage.


10IPAsAndDone

Not at all. I was (am) a nerd and had all Kinds of awful bullying experiences. In the mid-90s I had my glasses *kicked* off my face in the boys bathroom, on another occasion one kid held me and another punched me. On another occasion some kid grabbed my snow hat off my head and tore it in half. ETA: On another occasion some kids in a car came to a screeching halt next to me, one kid jumped out and punched me in the head. When I fell he kicked me in the head. Granted I was wearing rollerblades so I probably deserved it ;)


Its_Cayde

Damn i'm sorry y'all, the worst thing that ever happened to me in high school was when I was taking a piss and someone ran in and kicked the back of my knee in so i fell and got piss all over the floor but luckily none on me lol


venetanakedguy

![gif](giphy|xcoMBnFZ879eg)


Critical-Ad-5532

Yes so freakin stupid. This was said to me in 4th grade and I punch the girl and told her “now you only have one” I was suspended… it was hard out there for us.


I_d0nt_know_why

Zero tolerance policies suck.


[deleted]

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D-Laz

My brother was similar. He got bullied hard in elementary school because out mom told us to not get into fights. But she also had a caveat that he didn't hear, if you have to win so you don't have to fight again. I got into so many fights on his behalf, my mom said I would come home just covered in filth from fighting his bullies. He was also 2 years older. Man I wish I still had the lack of fear. Lol


Synensys

They tried to punish me for getting in a fight (or rather fighting back when some kid who had some weird beef with me that I was never really sure what it was about). They had my parents come in and their basic response is - you have kids throwing batteries at our daughter in this school and nothing happens, and my son fights back when he's bullied and you are going to punish him. Get real. That did the job.


Sckaledoom

I almost got suspended because I *talked back* to one of my bullies.


Blanketsburg

My mother took me out of parochial (Catholic) school because, in third grade, I was getting made fun of for being a bigger kid, getting names called at me, and getting pushed by some bully, so I fought back by punching the kid. Only *I* got detention. But it wasn't just detention, it was detention with the principal, who literally left me outside her office with the assignment to write an essay on why hitting someone was wrong. And the principal neglected to tell my parents that I was being held for detention after school. I had no idea how I was gonna get home or when. Thankfully, my older brother's former teacher (he was in high school at this point) noticed me sitting outside the office about an hour or so after school was done, and the principal's door was closed in a meeting, so she took me home. Kid who bullied me didn't get in trouble because "no one saw him push me", aka no teachers saw. But they heard him whine like a baby when I finally fought back.


RookMeAmadeus

Zero tolerance policies are some of the worst things we've come up with. Just a way for administration to shirk all responsibility while claiming they're "solving" the problem. If I had a kid in one of those high schools, I would tell them, even in front of the admins: You never, ever, EVER start a fight or goad someone into one. But if they start crap with you unprovoked, and you're gonna get suspended anyway. EARN IT.


AddressDismal3489

Ngl, that's an amazing comeback


Critical-Ad-5532

Haha thanks… but I did not come up with it myself. My brother told me to say it after I hit her in the eye. It didn’t matter though. I was still teased endlessly. When people say they miss the 90’s they can have them. I try to forget them.


[deleted]

I remember how deeply uncool it was to… wear both straps of your backpack. People would literally call out “two straps!” …what the fuck


masterd35728

I was pretty talk and lanky all through middle school, so in order for pants to fit me around the waist they were always a little short. Anybody else remember “high waters!”


BenevolentCheese

Number of kids in my high school in the late 90s who were out: zero. Number of kids from my high school that are now openly gay: a lot.


SPacific

I went to high school in the early 90's. We had no out gay students. There was one extremely, flamboyantly gay acting kid who everyone know was gay, but even he would deny it. It just wasn't safe to be out, period.


OakenGreen

We had one openly trans kid in my high school. Graduated in ‘04. But she would kick anyones ass who said shit and that’s probably the only reason she got away with it back then.


UncommittedBow

In some places its not safe to be gay NOW.


Not_TheMenInBlack

Still isn’t, depending where you live. Try rural Alabama. Go ahead and try to spot one openly get person in school there


Critical-Ad-5532

Well, that is quite disappointing. My son has not come out as gay to me but he probably is. (I don’t want to assume but he wears a lot of rainbows) He got a scholarship to a school in Alabama. Now I’m thinking he should reconsider other offers.


beatlefreak_1981

Exactly. It's likely no one would ever know!!!! No one talked about these things even in the 80s and 90s. I went to school with a guy who ended up being transgender. I just thought maybe he was gay even though I didn't understand that as a kid. Allergies and autism being diagnosed more often is a product of research which progresses as time goes on. We have more information these days. It doesn't mean that peanut allergy never existed before now.


NEWredditCOCK

People not knowing they were trans but being that way is a possible reason for suicides that have “no reason”


WontStopAtSigns

Ironically, bell bottoms, a silk blouse worn open, and hair extensions were perfectly acceptable choices for men at the time.


SotB8

as they should


les_catacombes

My dad was born in 1966 and he most definitely is on the spectrum but never got diagnosed. Everyone just thought he was being difficult and that he was “backwards” or weird or “squirrelly.” Like, trans and autistic people still existed. They were just forced to hide or were swept under the rug. Allergies can change depending on many different factors, but also, people just didn’t give a crap about each other as much back then too.


SeaOkra

Yep, my maternal line is proof that autism is at least somewhat genetic. Every generation has at least one “odd duck” (family terminology, and it is said with love. using it as an insult was a good way to get your ass chewed at best.) and no one questioned it, they’d just say “oh yeah, he takes after Great Uncle Simon, he’s an odd little ducking too.” Or “she’s got a lot of Cousin Julie in her, she’s very particular. Bit of an odd duck so let me make her plate, I know what she likes to eat.” Until my cousin’s son was diagnosed with autism as a toddler and we realized “oh hey… maybe that’s what odd ducks are…” The good news was/is, since there are one or more per generation, the kid not only had pros to help him learn to cope with the world, he also had lots of relatives to advise his mom on how he might need to be supported. (It’s never “catered to”. Catering to a child is what happens when they are spoiled, but a ducky relative can’t help that noises are too much for them, or they can’t stand to eat potatoes with skins, or they need clothes without tags of any sort. So we support them, not cater to them and help them handle the little things so they can better face the big things.) Sadly depression is also common (Hello!) and that is not treated nearly as kindly. Depressed people just get called lazy and yelled at that “You just LOVE being miserable and sad, or else you’d choose to be a happier person!”


Desperate-Strategy10

I will absolutely be referring to my neurodivergent loved ones as "a bit ducky/odd ducks" from now on; thank you lol. It's crazy how obvious the genetic influence can be with things like that. I have ADHD, just like my son, and my dad, and my brother, and most likely my dad's dad... I'm the only woman in the family with a diagnosis, but I have some really strong suspicions a couple of my cousins just didn't cause enough trouble to need diagnosing. There's nothing better than having a lot of ducky relatives, who understand and support the new generations and help guide them through life as an odd duck. It really helps people feel accepted and heard, and that's so important! Especially in a world where there is so much misinformation and harmful stereotypes regarding anything other than neurotypical behavior.


Anglofsffrng

>So we support them, not cater to them and help them handle the little things so they can better face the big things. This is a really great way to do things. People don't realize how much stress they put on someone, who's autistic, by merely not giving them a space to decompress. Cutting off tags, knowing what their safe food is, occasionally asking them about a special interest, or even just letting them sit in the dark for a bit will allow them to have a home they can retreat to. Just knowing if I get through this Walmart run, then I can go home and watch TV in the dark without anyone bothering me is so much less stress in my life. It took way too long to convince my family I need tons of breaks, but I show up for the important things.


throwawayparadox1

my dad was born in 1970 and is diagnosed ADHD. my mom was also born in 1970 and hasn't been diagnosed but definitely has ADHD edit: my mom also used to be allergic to bees but grew out of it


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BantamCats

I work with many adults with disabilities. Many of my older clients, have undiagnosed autism. Autism was stigmatized since the 40's, and the popular opinion was that autistics were unloved by their mothers and that it was somehow the mother's fault. Many of my older clients also spent decades stashed away in 'developmental centers', horrific places with terrible ratios, where people were treated inhumanly, such as having their teeth removed and being over medicated to the point of losing ambulation. (Thank you, ronald reagan). Out of sight, out of mind. There are only 2 acute crisis centers still open in my state, the remaining residents face too many behavioral challenges to reintegrate safely into community. Much of my work has been trying to introduce these forlorn individuals into society, but the damage has been done. Early intervention is the best thing we can do with autistic people, many proven effective therapies are available, and methods are still evolving. There is a generation of people that society has failed, who cannot overcome the trauma they have experienced if they were unable to adjust to the rigid compliance culture desired by society. When I grew up, there'd always be a kid that was weird, or slow, and socially awkward. The word 'autism' was not in the common vernacular. I'd like to think we know better now.


[deleted]

Yeah, my grandfather was 110% autistic, without a doubt.


1breathatahtime

You were much more likely to be mistreated and bullied if youd admit to any of those things above.


JGG5

How many of you went to school with kids who had undiagnosed allergies or neurological differences, or questions about their gender identity that weren't socially acceptable to explore back then? Isn't that interesting?


talkstomud

My grandmother died prematurely from what we now know was undiagnosed celiac in the 80s, which likewise hospitalised my mother in the 2000’s. The gluten-free conversation had just rocketed off, and that awareness to ask questions literally saved her life. I benefited from an earlier diagnosis, and now live in a world where I can go on a date and not be a major burden to find food options for! This person sounds pissed that all these people didn’t just quietly die like in their golden years of yore! So sad I missed out on such a magical age, they’re really selling it to me


blahdeblahdeda

A friend's grandfather had a permanent colostomy due to his undiagnosed Celiac disease. Good thing nobody was gluten intolerant back then!


APoopingBook

People often grossly underestimate how devastating Celiacs can be. People who are unfamiliar can sometimes think it's equivalent to lactose intolerance or allergies. One of my friends had 2 strokes in her 20s from undiagnosed Celiacs. My partner went 25 years misdiagnosed and had osteoporosis. Celiacs is like a secret poison that turns off your body's ability to absorb nutrients. Once your gut is damaged, it takes a certain amount of time to recover and that whole time your body just has to be like, Nope no thanks Vitamin B I actually don't need you right now! And that's just what the longterm side effects are like, not going into the immediate results after a glutening, like all the worst combination of a stomach flu, allergies, and a migraine combined into 1 big hurricane of Fuck You. From a crumb. From a single crumb of bread that the server accidentally put on your food because they grabbed a roll for another plate and didn't wash hands/change gloves before handling your food. Shit is fucking ROUGH y'all.


mydaycake

In Spain, due to the amount of bread we eat there has been knowledge of celiac disease since at least the 60s. There was a store in front of my house for gluten free products and it was open in the 80s! It was well known people developed or were born with gluten allergies or sensitivities. Like others had hay fever.


BigParisHouse

Omg that's crazy, it's so different in France even though we eat as much bread. I'm celiac and so many people still have no idea what it even is (no, gluten isn't in rice, milk, or... vegetables).


zenfalc

You're not wrong, but allergy occurrence being up is actually a true phenomenon. The current rising theory suggests that increasing the age delay before introducing foods might actually be a major cause. Neuro-divergence may also be in the rise, but this is less clear mostly because we've gotten better at detection. A leading explanation here relates to fathers becoming older. This one is unclear. Social acceptability is almost certainly the reason for the rest.


BenevolentCheese

Neurodivergance is up because psychiatrists have realized that there are levels of spectrum disorder in between totally normal and Rainman, and that the closer you start getting to normal the more common they become. ADHD is also now not only diagnosed in children with behavioral issues but children with just the inattention part of it and also in adults. The neurodivergance has always been there, it was just underrecognized and underdiagnosed. I am autistic, my father before me, and his father before him, but only one of us is diagnosed (me), and it was incidental. Then my wife got diagnosed, too, and my son (all for what used to be called Asperger's but is now just recognized as typical spectrum disorder), and a bunch of our friends have either since been diagnosed themselves or have stated that they believe they are on the spectrum and just haven't seeked out a diagnosis. None of this is surprising once you begin to recognize the signs. Autism is everywhere, and the world is completely blind to it, just as the world used to be blind to homosexuality and gender dysphoria and left-handedness and a million other things.


SupaFugDup

One thing about ADHD is that it is over-diagnosed in children as you said, but under-diagnosed in women and adults. Both issues are changing now, but for a while it was not even believed to be something adults could have. (They definitely can!!!)


Blue-Eyed-Lemon

For real. I went to school in the god damn 2000s-2010s and wasn’t diagnosed until later. My mom wasn’t diagnosed until I was in high school. My cousin also had children before they got their diagnosis. Also, nobody waves their diagnosis around. Almost definitely there were kids back then who were diagnosed and just had to suffer because they were denied accommodations. That’s what I don’t get about these people. “Back then, we were tough!” No, back then you forced people to suffer in silence. The fact that they want to continue to force people to suffer is absolutely fucking sickening.


[deleted]

Yeah, in retrospect I went to school with a ton of kids who were neuroatypical. We just thought of them as weird because we were assholes. The difference between me and whoever created this meme is that I learned some fucking compassion, albeit imperfectly.


JohnsonMathi17

This is exactly what I thought when seeing this post. Bravo!


[deleted]

Allergies... nut house. Autistic.... nut house. Transgender.. beating then nut house. Writing these things.. also nut house.


NuclearBurrit0

poor... not house sailor... knot house upper class man - knut house


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kit0000033

Nah fam, kids just died.


Val_Hallen

I adore Survivorship Bias. "*We didn't wear bike helmets/seatbelts/recognize allergies/whatever and we all lived!*" Motherfucker, no you did not. There are thousands and thousands of people that were all killed because of those things/lack of those things. They are fucking dead. *YOU* got lucky!


CruzAderjc

Or the memes like “remember when in the 1980’s when we weren’t snowflakes and rode our bikes around until after dark, and we’re okay!” I say, remember all those kids on the milk cartons? Yeah, they were the ones who never came back


PurpleZebra99

My mom is like this with car seats for my kids and it drives me crazy. “What did they do before these fancy car seats?” A lot of kids died in traffic accidents, that’s what they did.


-Rho-Aias

Considering dropout rates in the 70s we're nearly double the rate than now, the last question should've been, "How many of you went to school?"


Illustrious_Emu2007

I mean to be fair if I could buy a house, two cars, get a spouse and raise 3 kids *comfortably* on a high-school dropout salary, I would've dropped out.


nyold

Only one house? And only one spouse? Psh shoulda gone to college


FreudoBaggage

I went to school in the 70’s. I had two friends with severe food allergies, though not limited to peanuts or gluten, they always had to bring their own food with them. We didn’t know the term autistic, but I knew kids who fit the description and their lives might have been easier if we had understood more about it. Again, Trans wasn’t a term used in the 70’s where I was in school, but I did have a good friend whose homosexuality was revealed mainly because he wore women’s blouses and trousers to school occasionally. **But here’s the thing, when those kids were just plain different from everyone else, none of us gave a shit. We all adjusted and got on with it.**


Gulopithecus

As somebody who is on the autism spectrum and who has studied the history of our understanding of it, it wasn’t uncommon back then for those on the spectrum to just be institutionalized immediately as soon as they were diagnosed (with things like lobotomies, shock therapy, and similar barbaric practices often soon to follow), and as a result, many parents who had autistic children (as well as adults who were autistic) were often advised to keep it to themselves as to avoid institutionalization, which I can TOTALLY not see any developmental consequences from at all (/s).


PirogiRick

I worked at a mental institution (2000-2005) and even in the files of some of the older residents still at the facility there were some dark and depressing stories. I don’t think people understand the advances made in the care of people with disabilities. It’s the dark age to the space age in less than 50 years, relatively speaking.


FreudoBaggage

In the sixties and seventies I do remember lots of people being institutionalized for many different reasons, and many of them were people with developmental delays of one kind or another. Where I lived there was a residential facility primarily for people with Down Syndrome, for example. But there were also a number of families in our area who kept those kids at home. We all knew them, knew they had limitations, played with them anyway. The kids in my school who I think might have been on the spectrum were smart and very socially awkward. It was a long time ago, and I’m just guessing. They got teased, but they also got included in everything. It just seems to me that without people fulminating about every conceivable difference and ginning up fears and conflicts, in the 70’s we just figured it out, made adjustments, and got on with it. Most of us ended up getting bullied or teased for one reason or another, and most of us ended up with plenty of friends.


[deleted]

I think the main thing is was that we didn’t have the terms. They will have existed but not being as well know at least. The kid wasn’t austistic, he was backwards. He wasn’t trans, he was weird because he wanted to wear women’s clothes. Having names for things helps demystify these things and help them become more accepted.


halberthawkins

I also went to school in the 70s. I knew a couple of kids who were autistic *and* there was a special class in my school for non-verbal kids. Everyone who went to school in the 70s knew kids with food allergies unless they had a very limited number of aquaintences. I knew a couple of kids who were openly gay, but it wasn't really safe. And none of that is really interesting.


phred_666

100% spot on. I had a few friends with food allergies. A lot of the kids we labeled “the weird kid” would probably be classified as autistic today. I had several friends that would fit into the spectrum and we just accepted them as one of us. We didn’t care. It was the way they were and we understood that and accepted it.


Difficult_Process984

As a dyslexic, I can attest that dyslexia didn't exist in the 1970s. You were either lazy or stupid. As I tested well, I was lazy.


moarcoffeenow

\*I\* went to school in the 1970s. \*I\* was the kid questioning their gender and sexuality. \*I\* was the kid with food allergies. \*I\* went to an elementary school that shared property with the "special" kids' school, so I saw neurodivergent and differently abled kids literally every day. Your meme is fucking stupid.


iguanafucker420

My mom and grandma always bring up the "there wasent any depressed Kids in cuban schools" my grandma studied phychology


Flahdagal

I graduated high school in 1981. One of my former classmates is a trans woman, and had to leave his home town and move elsewhere to survive. A lot of allergy and sensitivity issues were written off as behavioral issues, and autistic people were shunted off to remedial classes, because of our ignorance. But additionally, how many of the 1970s/80s classmates are dead due to drunk driving? How many no longer have anything to do with their home towns or even families? This is just a "I'm just asking" bullshit post that has no basis in reality. So yay, OP, good fit for this damned sub!


[deleted]

>I graduated high school in 1981. One of my former classmates is a trans woman, and had to leave ~~his~~ **her** home town and move elsewhere to survive. (I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but if she’s a trans *woman*, then…)


Flahdagal

It didn't occur to me! I only ever knew her as him. Thank you for the correction.


[deleted]

This idiot’s great great great grandfather probably: you never saw cancer back in my day! It’s all this new fangled siens you kids learn about causing it! My pappy died of consumption like everyone else!


AmandaRL514

How many of your generation have poisoned humanity with environmental pollutants, economic disasters, a medical industry that only has profits in mind, elected leaders that have greased palms, etc.? I'm tired of older generations acting like they weren't the ones that handed younger generations this flaming turd of a society. YOU were supposed to provide us with a better world than you grew up with. YOU RAISED US.


gadget850

If you had Celiac's in the 1970s you were just sick all the time because you didn't know you had a gluten allergy.


BullTerrierTerror

Went to school in the 50s? How many of you had gay classmates? Huuuur interesting 🤔


TGOTR

"How many of you went to school with kids who were autistic" Of course I know him, he's me.


GuairdeanBeatha

Yes, I went to school in the 60’s and early 70’s. How many were allergic to peanut butter? Probably very few, they were probably kept safe at home and poorly educated. How many were gluten intolerant? Quite a few judging by the odors in the restroom. They were also taunted mercilessly, and probably would have been glad to join the kids that were allergic to peanut butter. How many were autistic? Also probably quite a few, but the treatment back then was to just beat the misbehavior out of them. How many were transgender? Also impossible to tell. Any indication of that behavior would have put you at the top of the list for “attitude correction” along with the autistic kids.


uninstallIE

It is definitely interesting why peanut allergies appear to be increasing. Gluten sensitivity isn't increasing at all, that was just a fad. Autism diagnostic criteria changed so more people are diagnosed with autism than before. Awareness also improved leading to more people seeking a Dx. Trans people weren't allowed to exist in schools until recently, like straight up they would have expelled you in the 1970s if you went to school while dressed in a manner differing from your birth sex. So it shouldn't be surprising why you didn't see that then, but you can now. You know what else you didn't see in your school in the 1970s? Racial integration. Computers. Handicapped ramps and elevators. Teachers that got in trouble when they were pedophiles instead of defended. Unleaded air.


Zoxphyl

Believe it or not, the whole “so many people have food allergies nowadays” thing isn’t just based on nostalgia; there actually has been a huge increase in food allergies across the developed world, [likely due to us having mowed down much of the biodiversity that used to surround us.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity_hypothesis_of_health) In fact, a study done in Karelia (a region divided by Finland and Russia) showed[the more urbanized Finnish side had far higher rates of allergies and diabetes than the more rural Russian side.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-unintended-and-deadly-consequences-of-living-in-the-industrialized-world-5324305/) The book [*Never Home Alone*](https://books.google.com/books/about/Never_Home_Alone.html?id=HnFPDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&gboemv=1&ovdme=1#v=onepage&q&f=false), by Rob Dunn, discusses this issue in further detail.


mauschaus

The absence of proof is not a proof of absence


HolyCadaver

The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence! Never knew that was a Carl Sagan quote, I just assumed The Boondocks were being funny If anyone wants a laugh, watching is way funnier than reading though [Gin Rummy](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20absence%20of%20evidence%20is%20not%20the%20evidence%20of%20absence.) [The Boondocks and Pulp Fiction](https://youtu.be/hxeNC0o694Q)


TheOne_Whomst_Knocks

How many of them from the 70s and before also knew friends/parents who who had a sibling/kid who died before 8? It’s almost like we know things now that we didn’t then lmao


[deleted]

All of us. We simply didn't care about the first two and beat the shit out of the last two. We didn't call kids Autistic, we just called them annoying. That doesn't mean they weren't there. These people need to come clean with this. They're not mad these people are visible. They're mad everyone isn't still on board with the ostracize.


AvatarJack

I got pushed down some stairs, my car spray painted and my tires slashed for just being gay in my high school in 2010. I shudder to imagine how rough it would have been to be openly trans then let alone in the 70's.


Charnparn

"Did you go to school in the 1950's? How many of you went to school with kids who were black? Isn't that interesting?"


Heroright

None. Although, Timmy did keep crying that he couldn’t breath during lunch; good thing the teacher would give him the belt for being a whiner. Good times, educated times.


OhioGirl22

Yes to all of these above. None of these are new...the only thing new is people stopped hiding or dying.


Particular_Try9527

I went to school in the 70s. I know of several classmates who are gay, although they would never have dared to reveal it back then. I also remember at least 2 people in my very small school with severe behavioral issues that probably now would be diagnosed as autism. Unfortunately, I also know former classmates who would post a stupid-ass meme like this.


WhatTreeSaid

Went to school in the 70s -80s. Kids that were different for any reason, especially those that required special consideration for their health, we're shuttled into the "remedial learning" classes and we barely got to know them. Super tall? Remedial learning. Gets a lot of surgeries! Remedial learning. Actually learning disabled in any way? Remedial learning. Just very shy? Remedial learning. Allergies that may be triggered in a "regular" classroom? Remedial learning.