A Poem About Pain. 

 

Expendable

Undesirable

Unworthy

Difficult

Autistic.

 

They kill us – we are forgotten

We are too difficult,

Our future too bleak

Better if we don’t experience it

They call our murders “mercy killing”.

 

We are left in the heat

Locked in a car

No way out, no way to call for help

How many times has this happened before?

No one seems to care enough to stop the abuse.

 

Shocks and torture

Are said to be unacceptable

The world reacts with rage

If done to prisoners or animals

Why are they silent when it happens to my people?

 

And then we succeed

We are loved and nurtured

We avoid the pity looks

We are even respected by most

Until…

 

We need something big

That will save our lives

But rejection comes fast

Strong words of a sentence:

We are not worthy the effort.

 

As if this is not enough

We are looked at with suspicion

If a crime so horrendous happens

They say it is one of us

The weird, the loner, “the autistic”, they say

 

The media does not care

The policies are outdated

Doctors misinform

The public is not educated about

Who we really are.

 

Misconceptions spread

It is either pity or hate

Misunderstanding or neglect

It’s always disrespect

 

If some of us dare to speak up

Against the abuse, the unfounded allegations

Perpetuated by the majority

We are labeled as angry and hateful

Rebels without a cause.

 

Expendable

Undesirable

Unworthy

Difficult

 

As long as these words are associated

With autism and autistic

We are not safe

We are not respected

We are not seen as part of humanity

 

The truth is:

We are not hateful

The truth is:

We are a minority

We want to be heard

 

You are the majority

Ask us. 

 

 

 

Copyright 2012 by Amy Sequenzia