Disabled Poets
I attended the One Question: Film Screening at 7pm in the
4th Floor Program Room on October 5th, 2016 and it was not at all
what I expected, mostly because it was more concerned with autism than any kind of film screening. I walked in and they handed my friend and I two slips, mine
blue and hers green. The presentation started with the question “If you could
change one thing about yourself, what would it be?” My mind began to scramble
with insecurities until the video began. It began with silly introduction
videos of people with Autism. It portrayed people of all ages with similar
disabilities of varying degrees. The interviewer posed the same question. “If
you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?” The people in the
videos were confused by the question. Some responded by saying that they wished
they could do things by themselves or not be a bother to others. These
responses were followed by copious numbers of them responding nothing. These
people, who others have labeled as different, cannot think of a single thing
that they would want to change about themselves. But the majority of the
students in that room could come up with a multitude of things to change about
themselves. Once the video was over, we turned our attention to a panel of
autistic Baltimore locals. They each described their daily life and
I began to
think about how Autism would affect the lives of those around me after the
experience of being singled out. I realized that anybody in history could have
their life dramatically changed by diseases especially ones that change mental
capacity such as Autism. Such an idea could be applied to Poe, Roethke or Yamada
might have prevented them from being able to write their works.
During Edgar Allan
Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” there is a parallel between the poems on the
ideas of freedom and confinement. In the story, freedom is a trade of between
characters. One will achieve freedom and the other will die. I wonder if this
is how the people with a disease such as autism feel about their caregivers. In
order for an autistic person to thrive, often they need near 24-hour
assistance. I believe that the idea of love portrayed in “My Papa’s Waltz by
Theodore Roethke is something that everybody looks for. Two of the people who
were on the panel at the event met through the organization hosting the event
and are now married. Everybody, wither they are disabled or not deserves the
comfortable and loving feeling portrayed in “My Papa’s Waltz.”
The poem
“Cincinnati” first caught my attention because of the form. It is written in
short, thin stanzas with minimal room for over expansion on topics. As the
speaker moved through the city, he also moved through time. He became more and
more comfortable with himself as he became more and more comfortable with his
city. I imagine this is the same way autistic people go through their lives. At
first they may feel ostracized because they are different than everybody else.
Soon, they begin to feel more like themselves in their own skin. I also watched
a video on a dance company in California that matches autistic children with
non-autistic children as pairs for dance and the result is beautiful. It was founded on the principle that people
are scared of things they do not know or experience. I believe the same can be
applied to any disability. As we become closer with the ideas that we are unfamiliar
with we become more comfortable with them and are better for the new
experiences.
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