When Dawn Cavanaugh’s son was told by a little girl she wouldn’t play with him because he was disabled, the mum-of-one was tremendously hurt.
But the heartbreaking comment cut even closer to the bone for the 42-year-old, who has autism herself and was bullied throughout school.
Her son Jack, 16, has severe autism, epilepsy and ADHD. At the age of three, he could not talk and was having 25-30 seizures a day.
Dawn, who was only diagnosed with autism last year, said: "I don’t think there was a period of my life where I haven’t been bullied, that's why I'm protective of Jack."
Like many people who have autism, Dawn likes routine and can find noisy, busy environments and bright lights distressing.
"I was on the train recently and the tannoy wasn't working - it didn’t sound right and I was getting more and more upset and I put my hands in my ears - you feel like you're going to explode," she added.
"Anxiety is more me than I am."
When her senses get overloaded, she has had to adopt coping mechanisms - which sometimes can cause problems in the process.
"At the end of an interview once, the interviewer slapped her paper down and said 'it's so disappointing, you were so great on paper'.
"She started mocking my body language. But my body language was like that because I wasn’t coping with the interview.”
She was also made fun of throughout primary and comprehensive school as well during her university years - with the signs she displayed being brushed off as "being weird" or just "OCD tendencies".
She added: "I just thought I’m different and I’m an outsider."
But after reading up about autism, she went to her GP before being referred to specialists and later diagnosed with autism.
Many women are not diagnosed with autism until they are older because many do not display stereotypical signs of autism or "mask’" their condition.
Dawn, who lives in Pembrokeshire, describes it as being an invisible condition - often saying that people telling her "oh, you don't look autistic".
However despite the hurdles she has faced, the PhD student said her first-hand experience helps her understand her son Jack when he is upset.
"He is verbal now but he's very repetitive - he asks questions over and over again and he’ll follow me around saying them over and over again.
"It’s very demanding.
"Some people don't know quite what to do - Jack can be very extreme."
The National Autistic Society praised Dawn for candidly speaking about her experiences - which comes amidst autism awareness week.
A spokeswoman said: "A lot of people mask their autism - especially in females - and those who are aware of their disability will mask it more.
"There is a lot more awareness of children's autism because of various campaigns. Adults are needing an extra push."
World Autism Awareness week, runs from April 1 to 7. More information is available on the National Autistic Society's website.
