Handicapable

Handicapped, Adjective

Having a condition that

Restricts one's ability to function

Physically Mentally Socially

An abnormality

 

Charlie, handicapped

An entire persona defined by one word

Personified by an image

Of stigmatized disability

And observed oppression

 

A word

Used by those who experience

The restrictions of illness

But perhaps more by those

Who designate others as less

 

Perspective counts

They see us as less stable

Or perhaps simply less healthy

And in extreme cases

We are seen as less worthy

 

Less human, almost

Not worth time or energy

Or money and funding

Perhaps even of life

As I have observed on occasion

 

Privacy is nothing

Personal and intimate lives

Are forced into the open

To examine the effects

Of living

 

Yet we fight this

Day in and day out

For a right to privacy

To dignity and humanity

To equality in the eyes of others

 

Charlie, handicapable

A fight for individualism

For a life liberated from labels

And stigmatization of disability