Autism Speaks Through Me

I am myself.

I am not a condition,

I am not broken,

Or tarnished,

Or less.

I am not an invitation for eery silences,

Or chilly commands,

Or voices dripping in sickly-sweet acid.

I have a voice with which I can speak,

Words of which I can often use.

And although many like me use them scarcely,

Or not at all,

We have a voice and a person,

We are whole and we are complex and we are beautiful,

Because even without sound autism speaks through us all,

And autism speaks through me.