Been two years she said
Since I’ve been
Out there
Since my wheelchair broke.
Can’t be fixed any more
Can’t find a way out
Of my house.
World out there looks different now
Full of strangers
Forgetting who I am
I don’t know their faces
When they walk by my window
They don’t know mine
Maybe they never will.
I can’t fix it
Not my wheelchair or
Other things
That don’t work
Out there
Because they can’t don’t won’t see
People like me.
Copyright 2007 Ruth Harrigan
I live with someone who has cerebral palsy and is severely disabled and this poem describes what I see. John is trapped in a wheelchair people see the chair and is body spasms, they do not see what I see I see a wonderful young man who has taught me humility, patience and love. they see the chair I see the man. We have been to Disney parks and people have jumped over Johns feet as if he is not there. They soon find out as I catch their ankles with his plate on his chair, I am not invisible just because I sit in a chair