In a poem, a young American with Asperger’s syndrome confides in his suffering. Relayed on social networks, his poem moves the web.
“I hear voices in the sky, but not you, it is not fair”, “I feel like a castaway, I dream that it will happen one day”: these are the words of little Benjamin, 10 years old, reached of Asperger’s syndrome. In a poem, the young American puts words on his suffering. Like one in 68 children in the United States, he suffers from autism.
His poem, relayed on Facebook by the National Autism Association, has toured the web and emotion has spread to the web.
“I don’t feel in my place”
At the origin of this poem, a school exercise where the young boy had to complete the words “I am” by trying to present himself as well as possible. He decided to share his daily suffering in the face of the feeling of strangeness and exclusion that Asperger’s syndrome causes him. “I am strange, I am original,” he wrote before continuing, “I am like a boy. which floats in space, and which touches the stars. I don’t feel in my place ”. The boy implicitly mentions the difficulties he faces on a daily basis, especially in his relationships with others, “I fear what others might think, I cry when others laugh, it worries me”.
The canvas reacts
Posted on April 10, Benjamin’s poem has been “liked” more than 30,000 times and 21,500 Internet users have not hesitated to share the publication. A hastagg has even been created in support of the little boy: #oddtoo, which means “foreigner too”. Some Internet users also accompany these words with “Benjamin, you are not alone”.
For its part, the National Autism Association wanted to congratulate the boy by posting on his Facebook page “It’s a very good job, Benjamin. You are totally at your place among us because we are #EtrangerAro ».
What a moving poem … we’re all a bit #oddtoo! Let’s celebrate eachother’s oddities! https://t.co/9dqil4gCmA pic.twitter.com/ioa8tRxzqJ
– Special Olympics WA (@SO_Washington) April 18, 2016
“I am odd. I am new” @NationalAutism #OddToo a chance to see inside the thoughts of autism in this sweet boys poem: https://t.co/fiQrHd0FnY
– Melissa Ponzio (@ MelissaPonzio1) April 18, 2016
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