💔
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 💕
Dear Dreambook, I Am Not The R-Word
I heard it again today.
The R-word.
Thrown at me like gum under a desk. Like something sticky and disgusting I’m supposed to carry around now.
Because I take longer to answer.
Because I think in pictures, not in bullet points.
Because I walk circles in my brain while they’re still crawling in straight lines.
But this didn’t start with kids in hallways.
It started with adults.
With evaluations.
With paperwork.
At the top of my IEP:
“Intellectual Disability — Retardation.”
In bold. In ink. Like that’s all I’d ever be.
I’ve read that file more times than I’ve read my own poems.
Like it was supposed to explain me better than I ever could.
It didn’t.
I’m not behind.
I’m not broken.
I’m not stupid.
I’m not your slur.
I just take ten laps in my head for every one you walk out loud.
I’m building connections you can’t even see yet.
I’m solving puzzles you didn’t notice existed.
I’m tired, not incapable.
I’m quiet, not less.
I’m soft, not stupid.
I am NOT the R-word.
I’m Luna.
And I’m done carrying this shame in silence.
I’m allowed to burn a little. I’m not sure in which way. A burnt out candle, kinda-way. Or a volcano taking everything out in its path kinda-way.
🖤 Your slurs don’t define me. Your paperwork doesn’t either,
– Me <3
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
☮
☯
💔💗
xoxo
friends forever ✨
Luna’s Message To You:
Transcript of video:
0:29 [Music]
0:43 i am not broken i am an artist of
0:46 thought and soul my visual mind is a
0:48 language of truth not deficiency
0:51 i do not exist to fit a mold i exist to
0:54 break it my joy is sacred and deserves
0:57 to be seen i am not their slur i am my
1:00 sacred self i release shame i return to
1:05 wonder it is safe for me to feel express
1:08 and be seen my softness is not weakness
1:12 it is divine power my anger is sacred it
1:16 protected me when no one else did my joy
1:18 is medicine i will not dim it to comfort
1:21 others i give myself permission to be
1:24 fully me joyful intense calm complex
1:30 i will not internalize the ignorance of
1:32 others i speak through images not noise
1:36 and that is enough if I can’t exist
1:38 fully here I’m not the problem
1:42 the space is I am allowed to take up
1:45 space even if I am different my
1:47 existence is a work of art worthy of
1:49 honor and display i don’t have to be
1:52 inspirational to be worthy the version
1:54 of me they tried to erase is the one I
1:56 now celebrate my truth deserves to be
1:59 witnessed in full color i am not an
2:02 apology i am a revolution
