Me and My Brother

by Lilly Clark and Emyln Pendragon
(Cardiff, Wales)

You see me and my brother are very much alike.
He is autistic and I'm dyslexic.

We both get confused very easily.
And we aren't as good as everyone else.

We both try our very best, and give it our all.
We don't want people to judge us like they do, it's just not fair.

It's not our fault that we don't function
As well as the other children.
We try 110% every time.
But it looks like we are not even trying to you.

Other children do see my brother how I do.
They don't understand him as much as me.
They say he is thick, just like they do with me.

It's not just children that judge me and my brother.
Adults do too.
I think they should just look a bit deeper.
And realize we ain't just playing up and being lazy.
We just can't cope with as much information
As the other children in our classes.

You see me and my little brother, we are very much alike.
We both have a brilliant imagination.
We just can't explain what goes on in our head too well.

We both have the same ways of thinking,
And we both aren't very good at learning.

So the next time, before saying "you're so slow!"
Or before saying "you're as thick, as a brick wall!"

Take the time to stop and find out about us.
We have feelings too.
We get upset easy, especially when we have tried
As hard as we can.
And you just throw it back in our face;
Tell us we are useless,
And that we haven't bothered trying.