With each deleted letter
She typed
On the computer
Her ire does grows
As the bitter flow
Of self-anger
And hatred course
Through her soul
Like a corrosive acid.
Destroying
Whatever self-confidence
And self-esteem
With each recalled
Memory.
Relentlessly teased
And ridiculed
On her writing skills
And spelling ability
By teachers and students.
Labelling her
Slow and lazy
At her incomplete answers
To her assign
Written core work.
And yet
If they asked
The same question
Verbally.
She dazzled them
With her detailed response
To the questions
Before her.
A faint ghost
Of a smile
Graced her face.
In recalling
One particular conversation
With a high school teacher
Regarding her planned
University study.
Questioning her ability
To understand and process
An entirely new language
And grammar system.
The teacher’s words
Waved before her
Like a matador’s cape
Inciting the hurt bull
As it charges forward.
Refusing to believe
Or to listen
To the words
That have boxed her
Inside a protective
But restrictive bubble.
Ironically
The truth is
It was English
And not Russian
That tripped her up.
As she struggled
With the essay
Driven courses.
Earning her dad’s
Undivided pride
And love.
In accepting
From the university president
Her B.A. degree.
Therisa © 2018
Author’s note: For the record, I have been moved in and out of special education classes, starting in the fall of 1975, when I started kindergarten, in a rural southern Ontario village. Until the end of my university classes, in August 1994, when I wrote my last exam to gain my BA, from Carleton University. During the school year of 1983-84, I was officially diagnosed, as having multiple learning disabilities, which affected all aspects of my life. The irony here, is the school officials told my parents, not to share the content of the education assessment with me.
Afraid, I would use it as a justification to slack off, in my studies. Never realizing, the validation that the report gave me, in regards to the earlier report cards and experiences, which scarred me. I wasn’t a lazy student, but one that the school system was failing to meet my educational needs.
If you asked me, what does a typical person with learning disability looks like, I would have to give you, a blank look. As there is no one look physically to describe a person with a learning disability.
For more information about learning disability, please click on the following link: https://ldaamerica.org/types-
