Prism*Vox and SABE summit

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Laughing Skies

It's been a strange month for Bard as of late. Change abound with working with new students and adjusting to new settings. I am feel that I feeling my oats and growing into a bigger shoes.

Mel from Aspie Rhetoric told me about a few weeks ago (late Aug) about a housing summit in MO hosted by various Self-advocacy groups on community support. From that seed I was invited by Ari to represent the Columbus ASAN chapter and help build initiatives for community living. This is a bit undertaking and I was more than thrilled to do this.

Here I am in the Central US in good ol' land of BBQ, Jazz, streetcars named Desire and corn. Hopefully becoming more than a snarky slightly bitter bard into a truly courageous and hard working adult. I am watching the skies laugh with lighting and I am glad that I had the opportunity to come.

Ari, Savannah, Paula, Scott, Elsia and Scott Robertson and myself had supper tonight preparing for the summit meeting with NLYN and SABE that is joining us. We discussed what it means to be in the community and what it means to not be in the community, accessibility, supports, choices, control and resources. It was really productive and (scored free milk) and this will set the tone for the upcoming meeting.

My goals are simply to set the gears in motion. Accessibility and resources are going to be my main stand points, I will also talk about being in the quagmire of bureaucracy and initiatives on how give the tools necessary for those with cognitive issues and non verbals, so they can find more equal footing with typical and passing peers.

I will be forthright and even downright assertive on this. I am hoping to prove myself to the rest of ASAN that I have goals and ideals but not just that. But the pit bull tenacity for change. After all, Tikaani's stubbornness is not a weakness but a positive trait ;)

Yesterday's news (poem)

I see animals living captivity
They call it a zoo
but when see man in captivity
and I call it an Institution
where the concept of humanity
is all but a figment of a former reality
like puppies that got to big
and tossed aside like yesterday's news
human beings locked away in
discontentment and division
where their value is place at negative 10
and where their souls tear and rend
but is there an end?
There is no end

Ladies and gentlemen
I'll give you straight facts
no lies or bias here
stories need to be told
and spoken here
injustice is a foot my friends
and we must not be blind in ignorance
I have heard the tales of children being shocked
with burns on their legs and arms
tied down in leather straps
lock in a night dark room
halls scented of piss and vomit
little girls being raped while the nurse is away
parents lied saying it's ok
when the state is involved everything goes to hell
rights are stripped away from the most needy
and left to die I their own feces

humans with cognitive delays are not the enemy
not some obscene sort of tragedy
pretend you can't talk, and world is strange thing
would you want to say something? To have a choice to be protected?
Is easier to pretend that the retard locked in sterile halls is not human
would be better for you to turn you head away
default your responsibility
I wish I could tie you down watch every fucking second
of a Down Syndrome boy screaming as he left alone
in a dark and empty room
I want you to suffer like they suffer
I want to you to bleed like they bleed
I want you see what I see
I am not just hero without a cause
I have seen the mouth of ethical hell
state funded institutions are not homes
just another word for a prison
but at least prisoners have rights
what right does 'bifida girl have
besides being left alone in her wheelchair
the autistic boy is always tied down he screams for his mom
but mommy ain't here
I will champion for them my friend
after all it could be your kid
locked up in that zoo

thrown away like yesterday's news

Yesterday's News