That felt good to get out. Yet the thought is still there of what people will perceive of me? What words will be there to define of me? Its become solid theory to think what others perceive of us is our lasting image. Our Portrait. Our Poor Trait. If that was my preface is this my authors photo? And if this is the glimpse that people will get of me what do I Want others to know? For the shortest page this has to be the hardest to reflect on. What do you want others to know? What makes up your image? I wish people knew that im not being ingeniune or intimidating Im shy and can't converse well. I stutter a lot and my smile feels like a slinky constricting in joy to meet someone new yet nervous on how to proceed. I can be comfortable I take a bit to extinguish my anxious flame. I want to make new friends yet I'm worried on how to be perceived. We have become numb to what sensitive means. My hypersensitivity to sound touch taste kiss friend talk. I want people to know I am caring I can be a bit too much when I am comfortable rowdy with laughter. A rodeo of enjoyment. My autism is the least interesting thing about me yet how do I lessen something that controls every wordevery look every cry every bite of food every breath. I want people now to get to know me before they know. To see if their reaction changes upon knowing. Their behaviour around me. We treat disability as a separate category to the point I feel like a subspecies. Like a scene discovery I don't want to be wowed at for breathing I want to be wowed for any good work my knowledge of music and the ability to admit I was being self-centred with saying that. I want to be me. I already am me but there is a disconnect of how we treat ourselves and others with disability. We are all humans yet there is a separation. Why? As a writer I don't want to be discredited or false credited because of a disability the needs to reflect myself as special and not my work Its hard to write dialogue when I struggle dialogue and in turn that is reflected in my work. I may not be able to turn on and off my disability but I can leave the lights on and thrive in the sun. When we learn to not care about the perceptions of others it feels brighter up there