FamilyHome: The Language of Us/Them thumbnail

September 30th, 2015

FamilyHome: The Language of Us/Them

I won’t say too much about this poem – I’d rather let everyone experience it and see what your own reactions to it are.  To say the least, the impact on me was profound.  It gave me a way to see things from a different perspective and led me to some deep personal reflection.  I hope it is as impactful on you as it was on me.  Enjoy. (Katie Hagedorn, FamilyHome Coordinator)

The Language of Us/Them – Written by Mayer Shevin

We like things

They fixate on objects

 

We try to make friends

They display attention seeking behaviours

 

We take breaks

They display off task behaviour

 

We stand up for ourselves

They are non-compliant

 

We have hobbies

They self-stim

 

We choose our friends wisely

They display poor peer socialization

 

We persevere

They perseverate

 

We like people

They have dependencies on people

 

We go for a walk

They run away

 

We insist

They tantrum

 

We change our minds

They are disoriented and have short attention spans

 

We have talents

They have splinter skills

 

We are human

They are…?