cashart10 and tmg4me both wrote that "it's about them, not you". That is so so true. Please remember that and that bullies are often among the most self-conscious people around.

Making fun of a person with a mental illness is downright ignorant, cruel, and stigmatic. I can't imagine such a person would make fun of someone with cancer. Or would they? Would they mock a person with cancer for having a bald head because of chemotherapy? If they would, there is just nothing more to say about such a person other than what was written above, or maybe even their own fear itself. I know a quite famous person who mocked a reporter who had a disability. That famous person was at a rally in front of thousands of people. Believe me when I say that famous person is the one that was the SAD individual.

Your interests are wonderful because they help to make you happy, spark curiosity, and many other positives. Obviously, they don't understand about what draws you to your interests. As was said by a poster above, they just can't see what you can see. They said we are all different, and that is obviously true. It's wonderful that we are all unique. If everyone was the same, that would be boring, I'd think.

From my experiences (I'm heading into my late 40s now), intelligent people don't usually go around calling people unintelligent. Or again, maybe if that person is intelligent they themselves are self-conscious about their own intelligence. If not, then they are arrogant. Arrogance is not a good feature. Anyway, we are all intelligent and talented in our own ways. Maybe that person even believes you are intelligent, but is just trying to hurt you with something they perceive you are self-conscious about. Or, they flat out lied. I remember as a teen someone telling me I was ugly. That was ridiculous! I feel I'm actually a rather attractive woman and was as a teen. At least a heck of a lot more guys called me attractive in my life. Only that one guy called me ugly. Actually, I even think he deep down had a crush on me. That, oddly, is sometimes the case. Juvenile, but not uncommon.

One bit of advice I'll give you is this. Always take the high road. I don't recommend fighting vitriol with vitriol. What works better, in my experience, is to dismiss such things, unless you're actually threatened. Dismissing can frustrate the aggressor more than anything else. Do walk away from them. You don't need to stand and listen to such crap. In fact, you can tell them straight out that they are full of it and you don't need to listen to such ridiculousness. They can get lost! Or you can look at them with a big smile and be humorous in response.