My DD10 has experienced being different in a number of ways. It was celebrated in pre-K. She was ostracized by her teacher for it in K. Other years, it has fallen in between the two extremes.
DD recently purchased a new journal, and she proudly displayed the cover to me, which says, "Why bother trying to fit in when you were born to stand out?" After I read it, she said something to the effect of, "Well, I'm a weirdo anyway, I might as well embrace it."
And that's the thing... that "weirdo" label can, in a society that celebrates individuality, be a positive one. In my DD's case, it helps that she has a Python-esque sense of humor, since that lends itself to the positive side of weird. There's a big difference between someone saying "OMG, you're such a weirdo!" while they're spraying milk out of their own noses, than when they're saying it out of anger or disgust.
So there's a strategy... embrace the difference, but change the context of what it means to be different.
