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By Skie Sarfaraz
Sometimes having intellectual disability can feel like an exclusion,
Feeling inclusion can sometimes be an illusion,
Where bullies fake to be your friends,
That’s where the bullying starts to get real and never ends.
When you just want acceptance,
But you keep facing resistance,
You try to celebrate diversity,
But you keep facing adversity.
Being desperate for equality,
But the opposite is reality,
Socially we struggle to have stability,
Because of societal perceptions of our intellectual disability.
Community doesn’t give us much opportunity,
In my younger years I entered in a contest to show my ability,
To be laughed at, that tested my vulnerability,
Then I came first, proving my versatility.
At that instance my words broke the chains of their negativity,
I spoke with strength, turning my pain into creativity,
Showing the world that my voice holds endless possibility,
Proving that I can overcome the impossibility.
People with intellectual disability have a lot of resilience,
Due to the ongoing battles we experience,
We have so many capabilities,
If only minds could see our probabilities.
Even though when I was burning inside with a yearning,
To receive knowledge and continuous learning,
I was often turned away,
As they didn’t believe in me anyway.
If I didn’t have the opportunity to participate,
I couldn’t demonstrate then celebrate,
If only there was more awareness,
There would be abundance of fairness,
As a result there would be no carelessness.
But I have to say,
For the friends I do have today,
I am grateful life turned out this way,
Now I feel like I belong,
Nothing can ever go so wrong,
Looking forward to more opportunity,
Friendship, leadership, and unity, a better, truly inclusive community!
About Skie
Skie Sarfaraz is a Community Disability Team Leader, self-advocate and Lived Experience Researcher with intellectual disability. She is passionate about making information easier to understand and helping people with disability have a genuine say in decisions that affect their lives. Skie brings experience in co-design, Easy Read translation and supporting parents and carers of children with disability. Her perspective is also shaped by her First Nations identity and her experience as a wife and mother of two children.