Blogging Against Disablism Day 2012

It’s Blogging Against Disablism Day 2012! As usual, my contribution is an original poem:

Listen To The Silence

Please listen to my language, if you can
It sounds nothing like yours, though I’m still a man.
It’s not the language of love, of a cat or of a dog
It’s a language called silence, and no, I am not a frog!

I’m a girl like any other
With a bright smile for my mother.
My electric wheelchair is my new toy
Sitting in it, my eyes light up with pure joy.

Do you notice the joy in my eyes, as I drive my brand new wheels
Does the thought fill you with surprise, that right now I understand how passing a driving test feels?
Or can you understand the truth in my smile
At the thought that now I can drive, even if it is only at one mile
A minute?

Our speed limits are worse than yours by far
Oh, how I wish I could have your sports car!
Or, even better, I long for your feet
Wheels, you see, are no use in snow or sleet!

But enough about my chair
Lovely as it is, I’ve more to say, much more to share.
Five thirty five on BBC1
Neighbours theme tune blares out as I wait for my fun.

With a light in my eyes and a smile on my face
Ramsay Street is a beautiful place!
Closely followed by Summer Bay
Six PM? It’s time for Home and Away

Turn off the TV, for there’s homework to be done
I’m just like you, and I don’t always find it fun
So I put it away, cause I long for a detention
Please stop laughing, for I hate special attention.

Next day I’m wheeled into English class
The only one I know I’m going to pass!
The girl on the other side of the room
Does she know I’m watching her, or that my heart’s going BOOM
In the process?

Does she understand my silent smile?
Or only see my chair and long to run a mile?
Does she understand the strength of my love
Or does she think she’s far above

The boy in the electric chair
Who’s life is just so unfair
Unfair it is, but you can change
That when you understand that we’re not strange

We speak a different language, but then who does not
A written vocabulary we haven’t got
But we understand yours, maybe better than you do
We answer your questions with smiles of friendship true.

Please stop and take the time to read my face
I’ll take you to a beautiful place
Comfort me with words when you see that I’m in pain
You might just make me smile once again.

Return a smile to share my joy
Tell me that you love me and make me feel like a boy
Not a stranger from a foreign land
Please, listen to the silence, and try to understand.

I’m just like you
It may be strange but still it’s true.
I’m not a stranger from a foreign land
Please, listen to the silence, and try to understand.