Tag Archives: helping hands

A Poem Called “The Choice”

(TRIGGER WARNING: The use of oppressive language may trigger some, be cautious before reading this poem)

The Choice,

by theamazinJ

The Choice is yours,
live one way or live another,
choose light or choose darkness,
choose anger or choose relieving that anger,
choose crying or choose sobbing until it stops with the tears that heal,
we can hurt our whole life or we can choose to diminish and maybe even stop the pain,
oppression is real and it hurts,
it hurts us all no matter who we are,
whether we are disabled or not,
any oppression hurts badly.
Oppression causes:
an attack on the person for their disabilities and any other different unique attributes,
then it causes a domino affect of pain and anger
eventually causing more heartaches and wounds.
The wounds bleed heavily and profusely,
as we get into a cycle of heavy bleeding of emotions and blood.
The cycle of oppressions is so strong and vengeful,
it causes hurt and pain,
though there is only one way
to stop the cycle of oppressions,
stop reacting and start attracting,
attract relationships you thought you would not have had,
attract everyone who walks into your life,
distract from the pain causing more pain
cause by distracting from the pain,
we become more productive,
we broaden our minds
opening up to other minds,
and living a universal neurodiverse community
all around the world.
The Neurodiverse community
that shapes our foundations of action,
that shapes our relationships,
that shapes our spirit,
and that shapes our communities across the world.
The choice is yours,
go with a direction of hope or go with a direction of never seeing the end.
Choose the direction down the rabbit hole into wonderland
or choose a direction into what will always be the same.
Wonderland can be wonderful,
but what we have already is wars against each other,
so choose wisely,
choose war and you get pain and anger and more pain,
choose wonderland and you attract relationships you never seen coming to you before.
The choice is yours,
the choice is forever,
the choice is not written in stone,
whatever you choose, choose wisely,
or learn to choose wiser in the future,
because in the end,
it is on you,
the choice determines your future,
the choice can change if circumstances change,
and choosing pain can change to choosing life,
because finally,
we choose how we feel at the moment,
we choose what we want,
and we choose a golden opportunity
to either seduce ourselves to the dark side,
and we attract emotions and bad feelings;
or abundantly attract beauty in everything,
and by attracting abundance,
we attract neurodiversity
to fulfill love, beauty, and kindness all around us.
Everything changes when attracting neurodiversity wonderland
and that makes all the difference
in a world that could forgive, teach, learn, build, and understand each other
for better than we were in the past,
leading to communications between ourselves and all around nature
toward acceptance of the supports and self-determination
everyone is born with.
Make that choice.

A Poem called a “Humbling Heart”

Humbling Heart,

by theamazinJ

It’s humbling,
It’s my life,
It’s what I was always taught,
from the beginning when I was born
to the time I am alive right now,
I was born of a humbling heart.
I was taught to fight for my rights,
I was taught to never give up,
I was taught not to let anyone rent space in my head,
I was taught to be stronger than I actually am,
I was taught to speak up and say “Excuse Me” sometimes,
I was taught to be as self-sufficient as I possibly can,
I was taught to speak up about the supports I need
to get everyone to understand who I am, what I do, what I want, and what my needs are,
I was taught never to settle for anything,
Most importantly, I was taught about love
and the meaning of connecting with those who care about me,
I was taught than when I get hurt by any one,
to leave behind those who have caused me pain,
sometimes it can be hard to leave behind
because I have an innate sense of connection
with everyone to bring about peace, forgiveness, and honor.
Everyone deserves a chance to learn about love,
even those who cause pain.
Everyone may not understand love the way I was taught,
but I have that innate light to try anyway.
This may upset those others who care,
this may frustrate all the others about me.
My strength and determination is:
never hold a grudge,
never not love,
never give up on me,
never ever stop connecting,
never ever ever stop teaching about love
even if it takes a lifetime or
time at the other side to learn about the love
so many may not understand,
and love is:
genuinely not seeing things in black and white,
not being polarized,
being open minded to everyone,
forgiving all and everyone,
fighting for everyone’s civil rights no matter what
to live the life the way an individual citizen knows how,
love is letting go of all the pains we feel from the past,
and most importantly,
accepting everyone for what its worth,
love is incredibly amazing,
love is self-care,
love is for everyone to take responsibility without blaming others at any time
thinking about the pain you cause too,
love is understanding the different languages and ways to communicate
that you may not do, but need to learn to listen to,
love is about stimming and moving differently to show and express ourselves,
love is accepting and conversing with any one even when you disagree,
love is a journey for many to learn in a lifetime,
while some may learn a lot sooner than others,
love is not being angry at any one or situation,
love is not only loving certain people’s ideas and selves,
love is not fighting with violence with any one,
love is not cursing others, any one, or people who do things wrong,
and love is a spiritual calling
for ‘one for all and all for one’
to see the love we see in the mirror
every day,
love means not being jealous,
while love means supporting everyone
and listening to everyone
between their ideas and yours,
love means giving equal love to everyone
without giving more to another,
because in the end,
it’s all about the love
we have for each other
as part of the human race
and as a part of building community
around the world
interconnecting interrelatedly,
that’s all about love
and all about faith,
so let’s stop, think, and let go
to the boundless efforts of love
even if I am a disabled activist
in love with disability studies
and the social model,
and you may not be.

A Letter I sent to President Obama

Dear President Obama,

I really appreciate all that you try to do to help make this country better after all the years of negative hype from previous Presidents. It’s a tough job for you and would be for any one. You have always inspired me to do more in my life and be the best I can be. I am an Autistic Adult trying to earn a living like any one else. I know the economy is not doing well and you are trying your best to bring it back up with the help of Congress. I know Congress is the ones who dominate, but my hope is one day every one in Congress can let their guard down to start helping people. Isn’t that what life is all about anyway? Being ONE!!

I just want to tell you that I BELIEVE IN YOU!!

You are a great man who is humble and willing to learn. I really appreciate your hard work and dedication to the job. I can not speak about your critics, but like I was always told “not every one will like us”. In fact, that is what makes life interesting.

Every one has to step to the plate to make some kind of positive legacy to help themselves and eventually others.

I continue to work on my hobbies in artwork designing and writing to help others.

Please continue to work hard at what you want to do and stand your ground like you did in the first election. Every one will see that you are a great legacy who will do great things. People just are afraid to admit and resist the unknown.

However I believe the more you stand your ground and keep on fighting for American’s rights hence Human rights, the more everyone will see what you’ve done to help.

Thank you and keep on fighting for US!!

By the way, I am a member of the Adaptations program at the JCC in Manhattan and a Human Rights/Autistic Rights Activist. I am open minded and strong activist fighting for the rights of every one.  Adaptations has been a great program for me. It has helped open doors for me that so many other Autistic Adults should be able to benefit from too. However it is only in New York City.

I will continue to fight for the people as do you and my many friends in the Disability community!

Best regards,

theamazinJ

(For Obama and the rest of all Americans around, remember this: “Love is a Wonderful thing!”)

Autistics Speaking Day: How to find your voice!

“Autistics Speaking Day” (ASDay)… What does it mean? Well, it means a few things: 1. Speak up when you feel uncomfortable about what is being said to you, 2. Let your voice be heard when someone is arguing with you, 3. Speak up so your thoughts & ideas are presented, 4. Speak up with confidence so your voice will be acknowledged, 5. Speak up because you are a very important person. These are just a few reasons to speak up to tell other people, “Hey I have rights too, y’know.” and “I am not a shmuck or schmo” or “I am here and no body will push me around.”

I thought I would tell the story of a man who once stepped all over me like I was dirt and mud on the ground, but I’d rather not rehash the negative. Instead I have to move forward in my quest to have my voice heard & I want others to be able to do the same.

Finding a dream we want, finding our way to be who we are, or finding who we ‘Aut’ to be can be a difficult process in our lives. “Autistics Speaking Day” is a start to allow and give us a format to be heard. Although the individuals who are high profile in the autism community have the privilege of large numbers of people to hear their voices. That does not diminish or silence our voices.

Being your own self-advocate and asserting your rights is not a natural ability for any one. You must be willing to learn to do it right. It’s important to speak your mind, however, you must listen to what the response is. Maybe there is a misunderstanding why the person had those thoughts, they may have made assumptions they should not have made. The good point is most people are willing to learn or at least that is my hope.

Think about it for awhile on your own using your intuition about how you will speak up in any situation. Its easy, first sit back, relax, and meditate for about 15 minutes or so. Clear the rest of your emotions and thoughts out. Now think how you can approach that person who does not treat you with respect and dignity. How would you be able to get your message to be heard by that person? It is not by lowering yourself to their level, cursing, or shouting. It is with well thought out words, calmly, and with poise explaining to them how hurtful they can be at times to you.

When we speak up to someone who disgusts us, we have to think about what we really need to say to them to get them to understand we’re not going to take it. The most important thing before you you speak up to this individual is to try and find an outlet to get rid of all those angry and hurt feelings that are festering inside. If you are unable to get rid of the negative feelings, you will continue to have those feelings which will become worse inside and you will feel ready to explode at any moment.

“Autistics Speaking Day” is really about being heard, but also about listening to how we speak to other people as well. It is a daily learning experience about becoming a self-advocate and the more we advocate for ourselves the more effectively we will be heard. In return, we will also learn how to listen to our counterparts who are learning from us. The more successful we become in speaking up, the more confident and comfortable we will be in society. Speaking/Listening is the first step in setting and accepting boundaries.

Do what you love, do what you can, speak your mind, and LISTEN!!

posting more soon, but for now Happy Autistics Speaking Day!!

OUT, J

Why is Interdependence more important than Independence?

We urge each other to live happily ever after by doing what counts in our life. Some people listen to their instincts while others try to fight their emotions in an emotional outcry to live independently. We live in an interdependent world for a reason because very few people can fully live with no support. Some people need more support than others although we all need some kind of support to help get through the basic needs of survival. We are connected to each other all the time now through social networks we crave like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and many other internet sites to connect with. Some people are lonelier than others, but most importantly every one becomes lonely at some point during a day.  Some people who say being alone most of the time does not bother them have decided to give up on finding a connection with a person. In any case, people will find any connection they can follow like even a connection with an animal to know they are not alone.

Being who we are and who we AUT to be is part of our life, but we also need to feel connected to someone who gives us support. It starts with family and branches out to other people we can connect with who are similar to family contributing to our needs. However we need to feel some part of the day that we can do some things on our own. Its important to adapt to whatever we are working or doing at the moment to determine if we can do it on our own or needing some kind of support. These decisions can only be made when we can intuitively know what situation we are dealing with. Sometimes our physical bodies can inhibit us and sometimes our minds slow us down from stress. It does not matter who you are and what your place is in society whether you are Autistic or Neurotypical, we always need some kind of support system big or small.

People often say they want their independence, but the path to success does not lead to the totality of independence. We need a good support system to be dependent on too. Recently, The Autistic Self Advocacy Network sent out requests for an ACTION ALERT: What Does Community Mean To You? Let Medicaid Know!. Community is important because the community you choose becomes part of your support network included with your family. Medicaid needs to understand the basic human rights every one has including those people Medicaid serves. Every one deserves to live in communities inclusively together so that any one can succeed in society and learn from each other. It is important for every one to live together and support each other. There is no room for segregation in this world. Besides segregation just inhibits a community from really bonding and contributing to help each other learn how to function in society.   Looking back in History many different kinds of people were often segregated, but it always failed. So why does the government want to segregate a group of people who have disabilities? What is a disability anyway?  Well, I feel the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network has started the right conversation in beginning to end segregation.

Whoever you are and whatever you do in this society, you still need some kind of support to help you through daily living sometimes. No body can always do it on their own and we all need someone to get us through our mistakes and mishaps.

(Just a small post which I can expand on later, posting more soon, Autistic Artistic Carnival coming soon too!)

OUT, J