Autistic People Are…Blue Zebras

A poem, by musical autist, Chou Chou Scantlin.

Autistic People are blue zebras, in a world of black and white.

They frolic and play, in their own way, and shine with their own light.

How wonderful, those stripes of blue! So lovely to behold!

And rare is the wonderful thing that they are, when they do their blue things, I am told.

Yet, some are so silly, and hate that they’re blue,

And try to paint stripes that are black.

Then, those sweet little zebras get sick from the fumes, as the paint slowly drips off their backs.

“Let’s prod them, and punch them, blue stripes are so bad! I think it must be a disease!”

“We must figure a way to make them like us! Only black and white stripes are really okay!”

The obvious choice, and the one that is clear, that good people all surely can see,

Is that zebras of all different colors are great, and all have a right to just be.

Be glad who you are! Be the best you can be! You’re lovely stripes are so funny!

I send you my love, and all that is me, and hope that your days are all sunny.

The reason I share this story so little, of the zebras of black and of blue,

Is that I may tell you a secret of mine…that I’m a blue zebra, too.

To learn more about Chou Chou, her autistic childhood, and her exciting life as an autistic musician, read her Huffington Post interview with Ariane Zurcher.