Wtf is wrong with kids these days?!

As many of you know, my little brother has Autism. He is mildly Autistic, and fully functional. He's eleven, and has an IEP because he isn't severely Autistic.<br><br>Now, let me go into some background here of how different kids act these days from when I was a young child.<br>I am almost completely deaf in my left ear. It's nerve damage from a severe middle ear infection from when I was 2. No one found out until I was in 3rd grade and I had slammed my ear against a table when I fell over, and they gave me a hearing test.<br>I am about 98-someodd percent deaf in my left ear. My 3rd grade teacher sat me down in front of my 20-something kid class, and had me answer questions about my new hearing aid, and what it does, and why I need it. And, hell, they thought it was -cool-. They were asking questions, coming up and asking to use it, etc. Fourth grade, I come down south, and I see how different it is. I was already a little different- the things I found humorous irritated people, which then made me laugh more because they were irritated from it. I had a weird accent. I still draw out my A's in words like walk [they sound like O's], and my O's in golf [they sounds like A's]. And then I was what my friend calls a "chicken nugget", because he's mean to me ): But, I was short and pudgy, and a bit of a late bloomer by the time I hit middle school. Hell, I still haven't lost most of the baby fat I carried around in middle school. It just moved to other places in my body and evened itself out.<br><br>My little brother is afraid to take regular classes because he has been and is afraid that he will get made fun of because he is a little different. Because he gets outbursts. Because he rocks back and fourth because the motion soothes him. Because the only thing that really interests him are Legos and Halo. He's starting to hit that pre-adolescent age where he's gaining weight around the middle, growing, hormones are running rampant, etc.<br>And he's still getting made fun of, even by kids with disabilities [Which, honey, you aren't perfect either, that's why you're in a "special kid" class, so back off].<br><br>I just think that it's kind of sad that the difference between when I was a kid to now is awful.<br><br>My parents and I were eating at a pizza place the other day, and a kid I know from school works there. My dad said "thank you" to him, and he didn't reply "you're welcome". Someone sneezes in class, and only one or two kids say bless you. I don't care if I don't like you. If you sneeze, I say bless you. If you hold the door open for me, I say thank you. If you pick something up for me off the floor, I say thank you. Me and my brother both, it's always yes ma'am and no ma'am and yes sir and no sir, thank you and no thank you.<br><br>The cafeteria ladies work their asses off to keep the food going. The people at the cash register say "hello, how are you today....thank you have a nice day." and no one ever replies to them. I always greet the lady [it's normally the same one], ask how she is, tell her I'm fine, and thank you, you too.<br><br>I swear, we have to be the last of a dying breed. It's only getting worse.<br><br>Anyhow, the point of this is that my little 11 year old brother, Autism and all, should be accepted by anyone with half a brain. Regardless of how much he irritates me, it's not right that my brother is afraid to set foot in a normal classroom. Honestly, I sat there on the phone with my mom about half an hour ago and bawled my eyes out because of it. You have some kids who understand when people are different, when some people are a little bit special and have issues understanding things, but the majority don't. The majority want you to suffer, it seems.