Feel Like Me

A poem about autistic identity.

I don’t see what you see.
That is the problem for you.
You want my mind’s eye to match,
To be exactly like you.

It is impossible for me to be your twin.
I cannot change my speaking,
Nor my actions at your every whim.

My mind is a puzzle,
You cannot understand.
I am smart and kind,
I am more than you think I am.

I may not speak,
I may not cry,
I may not scream at you,
When you tell a lie.

But I feel just as deeply,
I listen just as much.
I know that you are faking,
I will tell you so.

For I am autistic and the depths of my mind you will never ever know.

Author note

Recently, the continued myth of autistic people being unempathetic is bothersome. We wanted to write a poem about our autistic way of thinking because we DO think differently.

Nevertheless, thinking different is not a bad thing and we embrace it. We just hope that someday the world will do the same.