Poem: "Between the Normal and the Abnormal"
This is the linkback perk poem for the October 2, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl, originally hosted by DW user Dialecticdreamer. It's spillover from the August 7, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from DW user Peoriapeoriawhereart. It fills the "between" square in my 8-7-18 card for the Fairy Tales Bingo fest. Each fishbowl linkback in a different online venue will reveal one verse of this poem.
Between the Normal and the Abnormal
Having a variable disability
means forever living between
the normal and the abnormal.
It means people giving you funny looks
when you can do something but
complaining when you can't.
It means never being able
to make plans in advance
because you don't know how
your body will behave that day --
or you do it anyway, and deal with
the recriminations of how unreliable
you are when your body goes out.
It's always having to juggle
cost-benefit analysis of
adaptive equipment like
a hearing aid or a cane,
or worse, compare them
against each other when
you can't afford both.
What can you do without?
Walking or listening?
Well, doing things yourself
requires walking (or else
a wheelchair) but listening
can be avoided if you also
avoid other people.
And that's how the disabled
become so isolated -- because
interaction is either obnoxious or
simply priced out of their market.
Solutions exist, but they are
often unavailable to those in need,
and most often of all to those with
disenfranchised needs because
of fluctuating disabilities.
This is something that society
could fix, but most societies
choose not to do so.
Caught between
the normal and
the abnormal, they
belong to neither.
* * *
Notes:
Variable disabilities are challenging due to their unpredictability and other people's disbelief.
Between the Normal and the Abnormal
Having a variable disability
means forever living between
the normal and the abnormal.
It means people giving you funny looks
when you can do something but
complaining when you can't.
It means never being able
to make plans in advance
because you don't know how
your body will behave that day --
or you do it anyway, and deal with
the recriminations of how unreliable
you are when your body goes out.
It's always having to juggle
cost-benefit analysis of
adaptive equipment like
a hearing aid or a cane,
or worse, compare them
against each other when
you can't afford both.
What can you do without?
Walking or listening?
Well, doing things yourself
requires walking (or else
a wheelchair) but listening
can be avoided if you also
avoid other people.
And that's how the disabled
become so isolated -- because
interaction is either obnoxious or
simply priced out of their market.
Solutions exist, but they are
often unavailable to those in need,
and most often of all to those with
disenfranchised needs because
of fluctuating disabilities.
This is something that society
could fix, but most societies
choose not to do so.
Caught between
the normal and
the abnormal, they
belong to neither.
* * *
Notes:
Variable disabilities are challenging due to their unpredictability and other people's disbelief.