Don't Feed Meat To Sheep
Imagine you see a cow eating grass on a hill far away. You tell your peers about it. They can't see the cow, so they conclude that you have lost your mind. You tell more people and they all can't see the cow. One person concurs that there is in fact a cow eating grass, but she is super nice and you wonder if she is just being nice. The crowd considers you insane because they clearly can't see the cow at all. When you apply for college, they think you are the insane guy who saw a cow that no one else could see. When you apply for jobs, they think the same and do not hire you because you are stupid and crazy.
It is only normal for people to marginalize you and discriminate against you if you have a superior vision. No one wants to think there is something they don't see or understand. They think what makes them feel nice and comfortable. And you will never succeed so long you are trying to work with them, because they can't see what you can. You will have to find people who also can see the cow.
I remember I used to have a hard time speaking to my teachers in school, my professors in college, and recruiters who would show up on campus with stupid questions like "tell me about yourself." I wish I could reply, "there is no static self. What you consider 'yourself' is simply a summary of how you have interpreted and reacted to things you went through." Every major question in interviews was severely broken. I used to feel weird that they were interviewing me. In a normal world, I should have been on their side. I came up with responses that would not make me look crazy and them look stupid. To "tell me about yourself", I used to reply "what specifically would you like to know?" Another stupid question was "tell me about your strengths and weaknesses". Of course, there are no such things as strengths and weaknesses. Only skilled and unskilled exist. But I had to come up with normal responses to neutralize their stupidity. Most times, they did not hire me anyway.
Therefore, do not do what I did. Quit wasting your time on people who do not see what you can. You can't feed meat to sheep. Always work with people who are at your level, who can see the cow. If you can't find these people, then finding these people should be your very first goal.
