Poem: "Two Ways About It"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is the second freebie for the May 1, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl thanks to new prompter torc87. It was inspired by a prompt from peoriapeoriawhereart.


"Two Ways About It"


Being twice-exceptional
means never being believed.

The people who focus
on what you do well
have no sympathy for
what you do poorly.

The ones who stick to
the things you can't do
don't see all the things
you do better than them.

Every failure becomes
a reason not to let you
try anything at all.

Every success becomes
a reason never to help you,
turning into another failure.

People only see half of you, and
it's the half they choose.

It doesn't matter
how good you are
or how bad you are at
anything, when their minds
are already made up.

They tell you that there's
no two ways about it,
you're either smart
or you're not, but
that's the thing:

when you are
twice-exceptional,
your whole life has

two ways about it.

* * *

Notes:

Twice-exceptional refers to people who have some area(s) of great ability and some area(s) of great difficulty. Often what happens is that one obscures the other, or they seem to cancel each other out, so the person misses some or all of the extra support they need. Neurotypical people believe many wrong things about twice-exceptional folks. There are tips for parents and teachers to support twice-exceptional children. Also, people tend to forget that twice-exceptional kids grow into twice-exceptional adults, for whom there is little if any support -- even though many still need it. Here is some advice for twice-exceptional adults.

Comments

[kellan_the_tabby]

AUGH *insert a lot of frustrated flailing here* THIS

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

*hugs offered* My sympathies.

[torc87]

I'm not sure how you choose which poem to post, but I'm so glad my joining led to this one being posted. It's kinda a perfect reminder for me. Ty.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I'm not sure how you choose which poem to post, <<

* Things that get sponsored will be posted as soon as I can get to them.

* Ways I choose freebies:

** Most are sub-epics.

** But I do look for things prompted by new people.

** And if it's fanfic, it has to be a freebie. Most of the epic freebies are based partly or wholly on someone else's work.

** Anything unlikely to get sponsored is more likely to get put up for free.

>> but I'm so glad my joining led to this one being posted. It's kinda a perfect reminder for me. Ty.<<

Yay! I'm glad this resonates with you.

It fits me too, in case you didn't know. I've capped out tests in many categories, but have handicaps with math. I got nearly no support for any of that in school, with a few exceptions, so you can see where I'm coming from. Unlike most people, though, I didn't conclude there was something wrong with me. I observed that most of the adults were simply STUPID.

[thnidu]

Yes, thank you indeed. Largely from reading your blog, and the comments and blogs of many of your other readers, I have in the past year or so come to recognize myself as neurovariant: not nearly as much as many of your characters and blog-readers (Ysabethans?), but between the skills and test scores from high school and before on the one hand, and the extreme ADD that wasn't recognized till much later on the other, I find myself here in good company.* And I have just read and downloaded "Advice for 2e Adults", for even in my seventh decade I still have a future to look forward to rather than dreading.


* as in "people who are like me", as well as very much in the other sense of "people I enjoy spending time with"

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Yes, thank you indeed. <<

*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service.

>> Largely from reading your blog, and the comments and blogs of many of your other readers, I have in the past year or so come to recognize myself as neurovariant:<<

I'm glad we could help.

>> not nearly as much as many of your characters and blog-readers (Ysabethans?),<<

:D

>> but between the skills and test scores from high school and before on the one hand, and the extreme ADD that wasn't recognized till much later on the other, I find myself here in good company.*<<

That makes sense.

>> And I have just read and downloaded "Advice for 2e Adults", for even in my seventh decade I still have a future to look forward to rather than dreading.<<

I hope it helps.


>> * as in "people who are like me", as well as very much in the other sense of "people I enjoy spending time with" <<

Precious friends, indeed.

[stardreamer]

I know someone who struggled for years with the misconception that being smart meant you had to be smart about EVERYTHING, and that therefore not being a computer wiz meant that she was "stupid" even though she made it thru college and grad school, in a medical field, with outstanding grades. Unsurprisingly, she is no longer on terms with her relatives, most of whom were either instrumental in messing her up or enablers for those who were doing it.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I know someone who struggled for years with the misconception that being smart meant you had to be smart about EVERYTHING, <<

I got a lot of that growing up. I just decided that anyone dumb enough to make that mistake in the face of conspicuous evidence to the contrary was too stupid to believe on any topic. So a lot of teachers got demoted to the status of talking furniture.

I reserve the right not to be good at everything. After all, everyone is better at some things than other things. I can do some stuff that other folks can't even figure out what I'm doing, let alone how. The fact that I suck at math is something that can be compensated for in other ways.

>> and that therefore not being a computer wiz meant that she was "stupid" even though she made it thru college and grad school, in a medical field, with outstanding grades.<<

Wow, that sucks.

>> Unsurprisingly, she is no longer on terms with her relatives, most of whom were either instrumental in messing her up or enablers for those who were doing it.<<

That's sad, but a wise decision. I'm very close with my parents, but the rest of the surviving family is mostly not a good fit. I regret that, but me wishing it were otherwise doesn't change anything.

[mashfanficchick]

Yup. 😥 😡

Thanks for this. ❤️

(And, sorry I haven’t said stuff to you. No words lately. 😥😑)

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Yup. 😥 😡

Thanks for this. ❤️ <<

You're welcome.

>> (And, sorry I haven’t said stuff to you. No words lately. 😥😑) <<

That's okay. Feedback is always welcome, but never required. Comment as much as you wish.

[daisiesrockalot]

YEP