10 year-old Benjamin Giroux was given an open-ended homework
assignment by his teacher. When asked to write a poem, Benjamin decided to use
it as an opportunity to show other what it’s like to live with autism.
Being autistic, Benjamin has always felt ‘different’ when
compared to his peers. While he wishes he could be treated the same as everyone
else, he understands his autism makes him come across differently.
In a poem titled “I Am,” Benjamin tries his best to
illustrate what his life is like. When his father Sonny read it, he was
overcome with emotions. Once you read his poem, it’s easy to see why.
Imagine reading lines such as “I feel like a boy in outer
space / I touch the stars and feel out of place” or “I say I ‘feel like a
castaway’ / I dream of a day that thats okay.” As a parent, hearing these words
from your child will choke you up.
Sonny tells the Huffington Post that he and his wife were
proud of their child for writing such a poem, but they didn’t realize he felt
this way. “We were both so proud, and yet so heartbroken, that this was how he
felt.”
The poem has gone viral on the Internet since it was first
posted. The National Autism Association highlighted Benjamin’s poem and shared
it with all of its followers. Now, people all over the world can get a better
understanding of what it’s like to live with autism.
This is all thanks to Benjamin and his touching poem!
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