It happens all the time, but I'm not usually there to watch. My daughter walks up to the picnic table where her soccer teammates are chatting and laughing together. As she approaches, they move their soccer bags to cover the seats and tell her "there's no room." But of course, thirty seconds later "Sophie" arrives--they call out greetings and immediately move the bags to fit her in. My daughter walks past them to another picnic table, where she sits alone, pretending to watch the game before hers, holding back the tears. We've raised our daughter to be a team player. When she gets on the field, she passes the ball to other players, cheers for them if they do well, high-fives them (when they'll let her), says only positive things about what they do. But they don't reciprocate. She's an excellent player, but when she scores, no one cheers and there are no high fives. Most of the time they won't even pass the ball to her, but if they do, and she makes a mistake, there is no forgiveness. My daughter is autistic. Unusually, for someone with autism, she is a superb athlete and she has adored soccer since she first started playing at the age of five. Over the years she has honed her skills until she can hold her own with the very best players in the area. But that doesn't mean that they have anything but contempt for her. Perhaps they don't realize how remarkable her accomplishment is. People used to say about Ginger Rogers that she did everything Fred Astaire did, "only backwards and in high heels." My daughter can do anything those other girls can do--only with the field dancing in front of her eyes in changing colors, and a cacophony of sounds swirling around her. Would it make any difference if they did know?