Siblings are the most important yet the most neglected people in the lives of our children with special needs. After the diagnosis while we as parents go through the emotional upheavals and go through the cycle of acceptance at our pace, we often forget that the life of a little boy or girl has been changed too. He/She too will have to accept certain things in life which were never part of the original plan.
Siblings too take time to accept and quite often are not given the kind of attention they need to deal with their emotions or questions. When my son wrote this poem for her sister, I realised how much she meant for him. He was ready to fight and question the ways of society when he himself is just a young boy.
Wanted to share this poem with you all. Hope you’d like it as much as I did.
People say they are different,
I say they are just like you and me,
It is all in the head if you think about it,
Disability or no disability,
It’s not their mistake they are special,
You don’t decide how you want to be,
You are you without your contribution,
You could have also been them, you see?
Think about how they live their lives,
Step into their shoes for just one day,
How we make their lives miserable,
And they never get to say.
‘Cause we never listen,
We’ve given them a name,
The name that’s all they are to us,
And we don’t care. What a shame.
Down Syndrome is not a curse,
That’s just something we labelled,
That’s what we all have created,
But it’s time facts are updated,
And beliefs are repainted.
We have the same blood
We have the same soul
We are better than the animals
That’s what we have been told
Even those who walk on fours
Treat their slow ones equal
Are we worse than those we keep
What have we become, Oh people.
It’s time we stand together,
And together take a vow,
We’ll not think of them as different,
Anytime, ever starting NOW.
Hope you like the poem 🙂
image : Photo by Annie Sprat on Unsplash
