Contents:

• On Being Different (essay)
  View of disability and difference.
• The View from Inside (poem)
• Strangers (poem)
• I Will Not Walk in Your Track (poem)
  The experience of an Aspie at school

The View from Inside

I will never run with the herd
From my own mind be deterred
I am my own very self
One item alone on the shelf
Above all things divergent thinker
From the well of Autism, a drinker
So go on, say what you will say
I will go on in my way.

Strangers

They are there, the others
In the world I am unsure of.
Cabal communicating in there ignorance
Of my existence, let them keep their distance.
Mutual mistrust, the terms of our acquaintance

I Will Not Walk in Your Track

Standing next in line
A passion not of mine.
Pacing circles, grooves ground in the floor
Running on rails of my own making
I will not walk in your track.
If you scold me I will answer back

Waiting for my turn.
Knowledge I will spurn
Want it now, not in indeterminate
Time not comprehended of

Speak to me? no speak to you.
I will not do as you want me to.
Break the bonds of your unreason
Substitute my own sense for your non-sense.

Mould me in your model, if you would.
I don't think you ever could
I'd crack in the cast
Defiant fighting to the last

I will not walk in your track.
If you scold me I will answer back.

Originally compiled by Anna Hayward on behalf of the alt.support.autism newsgroup, November 2000. Original site design and HTML by Kalen Molton. Please address any general queries to Mike Stanton. Broken links and problems of a technical nature should be addressed to John Muggleton by entering details in the comments box of the form here. Any opinions expressed in this article are personal and should not be construed as medical advice. We are not representatives of any of the companies discussed, nor do we receive any form of commission.

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