Thank you for the response! It’s been oddly validating reading other people’s shared experiences. One of my first responses to reading supplied material my therapist later provided was a solid facepalm because it was legitimately word-for-word the issues I brought up in the first session.

I was briefly in a special needs program early on during school which I did enjoy. We’d go on excursions away from the standard school schedule. My parents were looking out for what they thought were my best interest - despite how narrow-minded it may be. I always try to remind myself that family rarely if ever acts out of malice but misguided views