Photographers, artists, poets: show us EVERYDAY.
Watch the little boy playing
He is swaying back and forth and humming a tune
The same tune for hours and hours
The same movements for hours and hours
His game is the always the same
Something round is turning and turning
Sometimes it is a record, always the same
Now the little boy is shopping with his mother
He loves the supermarket
He can touch everything
Pull things from the shelves
Climb the counter and sit on the ledge next to the glass
Protecting the food, the meat
An elderly respectable man and his wife see the little boy
The man grabs the boy and scolds him
He is not well raised
He is not acting respectably
The wife nodding in agreement
The mother is lost for words,
Offers an apology
“I am sorry, but he is handicapped “
“Rubbish, he needs a firm hand to show him what is correct”
At the same shop a week later
The little boy is running around the shop
Annoying the shop assistant stacking the shelves
She shouts at the boy
“I am sorry” says the mother “but he is autistic”
The mother realises her mistake
Never say the word autistic, the shop assistant and many others do not understand
The answer “I do not know what he is, but he should be taught to act normally
Needs a firm hand to show him right and wrong”
Life is difficult when your son is not “normal”
But are the people who complain also normal?
Just a couple of situations I remember when my son was still a child.
He is swaying back and forth and humming a tune
The same tune for hours and hours
The same movements for hours and hours
His game is the always the same
Something round is turning and turning
Sometimes it is a record, always the same
Now the little boy is shopping with his mother
He loves the supermarket
He can touch everything
Pull things from the shelves
Climb the counter and sit on the ledge next to the glass
Protecting the food, the meat
An elderly respectable man and his wife see the little boy
The man grabs the boy and scolds him
He is not well raised
He is not acting respectably
The wife nodding in agreement
The mother is lost for words,
Offers an apology
“I am sorry, but he is handicapped “
“Rubbish, he needs a firm hand to show him what is correct”
At the same shop a week later
The little boy is running around the shop
Annoying the shop assistant stacking the shelves
She shouts at the boy
“I am sorry” says the mother “but he is autistic”
The mother realises her mistake
Never say the word autistic, the shop assistant and many others do not understand
The answer “I do not know what he is, but he should be taught to act normally
Needs a firm hand to show him right and wrong”
Life is difficult when your son is not “normal”
But are the people who complain also normal?
Just a couple of situations I remember when my son was still a child.
Autism is still poorly understood by many people, it's easier for them to believe it's just a badly behaved child.
ReplyDeleteNormal? What is normal? There are as many different versions of 'normal' as there are people.