Here is an acrostic monologue I wrote for my NCS group’s showcase, spreading awareness of our campaign: Look Past The Label, which was created initially to support those with severe disabilities.

Loathing, loathing myself, loathing this disability, loathing what it makes me

Opportunity, all the opportunities you’ve lost, just because of one little label

Owning me, my brain, my body, my future, never allowed to be myself

Knowing that it’s never going to change, stuck in this

Pathetic mind, nobody sees, they all see me as less than I am. I am

Alone, with nobody to see what it’s really like; all the colours, shapes and

Sounds, just noise, always the same, questions, answers, explanations, never once stopping to ask how I really feel

Tired of all the expectations, I can do it, I can

Try to do it by myself, I can try to explain but you’ll never understand

How it feels to be restricted, stuck, alone.

Everybody just walking past, too scared to reach out their hand and help

Lost amongst society, constantly changing, constantly watching them live their “normal” lives, but I am still

Alive, I am here, do you not see me> Or do you only see the outside, the

Broken parts, but I don’t need fixing, I need

Explanations, I need someone to try and see, try and understand, to

Look past my label. And then maybe I can look past yours