That's Funny She Doesn't Look Autistic -Poem I wrote on this reality we call autism

That's Funny She Doesn't Look Autistic



We are in line at the store

My child and I;I standing still

It is a cold fall Day
She wearing a blue Cinderella dress
My child spins circles over and over again
Loud noises and sounds spill out into the air
All the while on tiptoes
The stares have begun
Commanding me to move into action
The Declaration:Me

"Excuse me, My child has autism"

Silence
I am used to Silence
Curious Frowns
They turn the head a little to the side
Their Declaration
"That's funny she doesn't look Autistic"
I hear this phrase quite often
I Inhale - Deeply
I Responding:
"You know now that you mention it - She doesn't look autistic"
Going on: " She looks like a girl"


I explain to the curious frown
that evidently there had been a mistake made
It is the public opinion
that Autism has a look,
a demeanor, and sometimes a odor.

Something is indeed rotten,
but it is not my child.
Spinning to a audience of onlookers
my child is oblivious
I try to see the world as she sees it
If only the world could join
I like to teach the world to see
like my Athena does. . .


Angela 2007