I AM THE VOICE OF AUTISM

I thought that sweet songs will make up for all the times my girlfriend thought I was ignoring her when it took me forever to realize that she was talking to me, but they didn’t. She left me. I tried so hard to remember every frame and every moment that I shared with her but I was denied the completeness of my memory. Some parts were faded like old sheets in the basement of a deserted house. I remember the number of times we counted the purple hibiscus in the gardens when they blossomed.

I remember how we stumbled upon a red rose blooming in defiance of the hibiscus, and how you told me being different was a privilege. But you also remembered that acceptance was a choice. Love me whilst I still have living breaths, whilst I still have warmth lingering in the corners of my pale chocolate skin.

Love me whilst I pick my hair, eat dandruff, chew on my skin, eat my fingernails, dip my hands in my food. My disorder is not always a rose, acceptance is. Remember when you looked at me like the first time a mother sees her new-born for the first time; I wish you’d treat me like that every day.

If I were to tell you a story, I would tell you about my daily struggles, and how that is a Privilege. I will not apologize for being who I am.

By Kwame Ebbs of The Voice GH