I wish I could have read Selah's story
when I was ten
Eleven
Twelve
When I was thirteen
and in grade 9 straight out of homeschool
Thousands of books and millions of words
in my head,
an alien child, an ugly duckling, the wrong clothes and a culture a hundred years out of step
More words: 'weird', 'freak', 'prude', 'brainiac'
Then later 'survivor', 'HSP', 'trauma', 'PTSD', 'broken', 'chronic pain'
At forty learning a word: Asperger's...
At forty-one trading it for Autistic...
Answers.
A community, a neurotype, a different-not-wrong, a welling up of
Relief
Understanding
Self-awareness
Joy
I wish I had read Good Different back then.
If you
Are
Know
Love
someone autistic
Buy and read and share
Cry and smile and feel
your chest open, your brain unfurl
Like dragonfire, like dragonwings.
Thank you, Meg.