The Cure Mentality

How often do you hear it?
The cry as intense as a congregation to their preacher,
A message mixed into every other fundraising campaign,
Pamphlet,
Shout out for research-grants
And every attempt to appeal to the quick fix dreams of those
Who are disadvantaged.

We need a cure!
A cure for autism!A cure to help those totally abnormal kids become normal.
A cure against nature,
If they invented one for polio why can’t they invent one for this?
And how many…
How many…
How many people
Flock to this calling?
There are a couple of things
I would want to know first,
Before I jumped on this ill-conceived band-wagon.
What exactly is it that is being cured?
The spectrum of autism has grown exponentially
Periodically
What you would have called quirky in the 60s is now autistic
Introverted is now Aspergers
Quiet now antisocial,
Neuro-typical is now A-typical
Anyone who makes their way to a psych-evaluation will be evaluated as
having 1-3 disorders because those in that profession are trained to see
What they expect to see
And I want to know how you find a cure
For a line in the sand
Arbitrarily drawn by who knows who
From who knows where
And how do you expect to ever cure
What it is you can’t even define?
But despite this all, I do I agree
We do need a cure.
We need a cure for ignorance,
Ignorance by those who would presume to make decisions for an entire
population without being educated as to their needs.
We need a cure for labels
The notion that one characteristic of a personality means one is disabled.
We need a cure for the viewpoint
That those who don’t do as well in the artificial construct of a culture with
arbitrary rules and regulations are somehow inferior.
We need a cure, for the lack of compassion.
We need a cure for the concept that a cure is the answer--The notion that the
next new pill, the daring new breakthrough will some how bring an answer
Simple-wrapped in a box that will take this burden off our shoulders
because humans have been burdened since the dawn of time
And humans have been waiting for an easy solution
And humans have invented everything that could be imagined or couldn’t be
imagined
And now they have everything that they always said they always wanted
And still manage to find a way to be miserable
And blame the person to the left or the right
for why things aren’t just fine and dandy.
We still haven’t cured the sick
We still haven’t fed the hungry
We still haven’t used our shiny little tools to bring happiness.
Why play doctor
Why imagine ailments in people
Why try to practice medicine
When you don’t even understand the concept of disease
If we are all so concerned about making a strong lasting
Mentally healthy society
Why don’t we start focusing on our own
mental
physical
and spiritual Health
first.___________________________________________________________________

This was published in Perspectives, Poetry Concerning Autism and Other Disabilities Volume 2.
www.perspectivesanthology.com