The Barriers We Face,

by theamazinJ

What am I,
I am me,
I am who I am,
told to be who I am,
act as who I am,
told to be different than myself,
How does it end,
Barriers
creating distance
blocking me from my dreams
working hard toward my activism
in making disabled people
feel like equals
just the way
the Able bodied feel
just the way
Able bodied have opportunities
that disabled people are told we can’t have:
we can’t have limitations,
we can’t say we can’t,
we can’t say we can,
we can’t have our own career and network,
we can’t have enough income
to live our life as others can
and if we do have enough income,
we’re told we are not disabled,
we can’t say how we feel,
we can’t speak our own voices
because we are told are voices are crazy,
we can’t develop naturally
without society telling us
what or how to develop,
we can’t be who we are,
because society wants to try to find a cure,
Society can be hurtful,
society can cause a lot of pain to many cultures,
society even tries to repeat history
even when there was horrible things
that happened in history,
the barriers I face
are not unique to me,
they are unique to thousands
of disabled people everywhere
who face similar things,
facing the damages society
causes about disability:
being vulnerable to being looked down upon,
being vulnerable to being stared at,
being less able to have our voices heard,
being more vulnerable to having silenced voices,
being more vulnerable to being violated with bullying
and corruption ,
being more vulnerable to other disabled people
bullying each other,
being more vulnerable to lack of privacy,
being more vulnerable to psychiatric care,
being more vulnerable to being blamed
as the problem,
being more vulnerable to teasing and name calling,
and being more vulnerable to
therapies that can harm development,
Things are changing,
many people are starting to see
and change their past thinking,
many people are soothing to disability culture,
many people are starting to understand
disability culture is a part of human culture,
many people are just beginning to view
disability cultures with dignity and respect,
yet, the pain from the past
is still there,
the healing takes time,
more time from a lot of damages,
so many disabled people are still angry,
so many disabled people want retribution,
however, disabled people can also
be the perpetrator
like the Able-bodied community,
disabled people can also be irrational,
disabled people can also be over emotional,
disabled people can also be over thinking,
disabled people can also be bullies,
disabled people can also put blame on others
constantly pointing the fingers like Able-bodied people can do,
because we are all human
and as human beings
we are vulnerable to all of this,
we are vulnerable because we are human,
we are imperfect because we are human,
and we need to see it both ways,
we need to look through a wider lens
as far enough away to see
everything in our relationships,
everything around us,
and everywhere we can look,
without just seeing one thing,
and seeing the whole picture.
When one person tells their story,
we must listen to the other side as well,
we must watch and observe and read between the lines
of both sides of the story,
when the three little pigs cried for help
from the wolf,
the wolf cried for help
to be with a community
may be because the wolf wanted more,
may be because the wolf wanted to interact
and be friends, but didn’t know how,
may be the three little pigs who were scared,
needed to open up their minds from the unknown wolf culture
different from pig culture
to share and exchange,
may be the wolf was lonely and scared,
may be Able bodied culture need not be scared of disability culture,
and disability culture need not be scared of Able bodied culture,
may be we all need to understand
that we are all a part of humanity
that we are all learning,
that we can all share our cultures
whether it is disability or race or gender or sexuality,
no matter what you believe,
we are all human and are able to share,
and need to be open to sharing,
open to communication and dialogue,
open to discussion,
without being afraid
without being horrified,
without struggling with specific cultures
and their language, movements, and ideas;
because in the end,
Thou is up there and here,
thou shares and exchanges,
thou knows how we all feel,
thou is unknown
and knows how to break barriers.
the main barriers we all face;
is the struggle of the unknowns.