Disabled?

This is a poem about my experience as an adult with a learning difference 

 

 

 

Disability ? / ability? 

 

Dis / Dys it’s a prefix which denotes lack 

 

 

A 5 and an S look similar if badly transcribed. The source of the error can hard to see is it the transcription or something inside me.

 

A constant struggle to hide in a world of ableism 

 

The able do not see the ism , cause there preconceived idea is that everyone is like them. 

 

QED

 

Quad erat demonstratrum 

 

ableism is hidden just as my disability is hidden it does nt show on the surface 

 

I am not neurotypical nor are the people I work with our expressions are different 

 

like those born into a foreign culture we see the world differently 

 

This happened in the womb during our formation at a genetic level our brains processed differently

faster in some regards slower in others

Just different not better or worse 

the pathways  create new Neuro connections

give us new and different expression 

 

I am on this spectrum of existence grouped with us neurodiverse bunch of whom I am proud to be associated with some of us are non verbal

But what I have learned from my none verb kin is expression does nt have to be limited to  language it expressed emotionally , creativity in many tender and human ways

It’s exciting to look at the world though new eyes 

 

Art and the art of living can nt be contained by such limited definitions as able / disable cause where others see lack I see humanity reaching exploring finding new ways of being 

 

In community 

In nature 

With use of technology 

All in creative and diverse ways

Expressing are total selves in totally unique ways 

 

Finding away in a maze not of our making 

Making a life 

Expressing our spirit

With our wired different brains

 

I hated my label at school 

Labelled thick 

But now I embrace it 

Viva la difference 

Because those who think differently 

Add new ways of seeing to the wonderful world in which we live