Disability & Identity

Poems that give voice to lived experience, especially through the lens of disability. They challenge perception, celebrate strength, and reflect on how identity is formed through adversity and empowerment.

  • View of the sea under a bright blue sky, with white wind turbines on the horizon. In the foreground, green fields and a stone wall.”
    Disability & Identity,  Nature & Symbolism

    Out Of Reach

    I sit on my mobility scooteron Traeth Gele, watching waves roll infrom Liverpool Bay. The wind finds its rhythm—steady, unseen—turning blades on the horizon,white giantsharvesting what can’t be held. Nature,translated into energy. I sit there,watching,listening, as words come flying out of my mouth—too fast, too many—scattering like spray. I reach for them,try to catch each one,but they slip through— and I can’t hold them all. My words tumble and crashlike waves against the shore. They break on rocks I didn’t choose,scatter into pieces I try to gatherwith hands that don’t always dowhat I ask of them. I collect what I can—fragments, edges, almosts—but the picture never comes togetherthe way people…

  • an interior of a busy bus with lots of passengers.
    Disability & Identity

    Holding Refrain

    I held my tongueboarding the bus,when you took the seatopposite the wheelchair space. Not all disabilities are visible.I am proof of that. I thought about saying something.I didn’t. The bus moved.People scrolled.Nobody looked up. My voice stayed where it was,caught somewhere betweenthought and sound. Do you listen,or just hear noise? I held refrain.The moment passed.Nobody noticed.

  • Colourful digital interference and glitch patterns resembling a disrupted signal, symbolising delayed processing and neurological interference.
    Disability & Identity

    CP Standard Time

    Click. Click. That’s a second —but not as you know it. That’s my body’s timeas it does aControl, Alt, Delete,hits restartand waits for my system to re— What was it I was asked to do—sorry, could you repeat thatfor the 1000th time? It’s not me being forgetful,it’s my body, see.I have Cerebral Palsy.I’m wired up worse than Frankenstein(although he was kind of cool…) Sorry?You want me to do the washing up?Ok, give me a…………… shit. I haven’t taken the recycling out,or emptied the bins,or put away the milk from this morning—oh god, I need to go to Tesco.Right. Where’s my shoes,keys,coat,bag? I’m here now.What did we need? Let me ring—…

  • Disability & Identity,  Emotion & Expression

    Voice

    What is a voice if it can’t be heard?A whisper lost, a silent word.Heard where? At home, on stage, in halls?Or nowhere—bouncing off the walls? We hear so many voices near—Parents, siblings, those we hold dear.Grandparents’ wisdom, friends who care,But what of those in power there? Teachers, medics, those in blue—Do we listen? Do we valueWhat they say, or turn away,Ignoring words they speak each day? And what of leaders, those on high—Councillors, ministers, spinning lies?They preach of cuts, they talk of debt,Yet do they hear our voices yet? When does a voice stop being true?When words are staged, rehearsed anew.Debates, old lines, the same refrain,We’ve heard it all and…

  • Disability & Identity

    Llais

    Beth yw llais os na chaiff ei glywed?Sibrwd coll, gair a beidiodd.Ei glywed ble? Gartref, ar lwyfan, yn y dorf?Neu unman—yn adleisio’n gorff? Clywn lawer llais o’n hamgylch ni—Rhieni, brodyr, teulu’n cri.Doethineb neiniau, ffrindiau’n rhydd,Ond beth am leisiau sydd â grym? Athrawon, meddygon, a’r heddlu glas—A ydym yn gwrando? Neu’n troi’n mas?A ydym yn gweld eu geiriau’n glir,Neu’n gadael iddynt fynd i’r gwynt yn rhydd? A beth am arweinwyr, uchel eu gradd—Cynghorwyr, gweinidogion, llawn rhagrith a thrach?Siarad am doriadau, cwyno am wlad,Ond a glywant ein lleisiau ni o gwbl erioed? Pryd mae llais yn peidio â bod?Pan fo’n sgript, yn syniad ffôl.Dadleuon gwag, yr un hen stori,Yr un hen sain,…

  • Disability & Identity

    Life Sentence

    A learning disability—a life sentence, they say,Hear me out, let me explain the way.   Life’s not a box, but for many like me,It’s four tight walls, no space to be free.   No places to go, no people to see, Confidence shattered, no self-belief.   The world moves fast—9 to 5,But we just want to feel alive.   We want to Stay Up Late, to break the mold,Yet mountains stand, high and cold.   We climb, we push, but there’s only so far,Without a guide, without a star.   A Gig Buddy won’t fix it all,But they’re the hand to catch our fall.   A friend to walk beside, not ahead,To lift our spirits, not leave…

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