Imperfect, Defective, Lost,
Is that all that I am?
Do I only take up space,
that another kid can use?

My name is Shelby,
I watch all my classmates,
communicating, learning, laughing,
Why am I always pushed aside and ignored?
Do they think I’m missing something,
that every other normal kid has?
I’m not missing something, instead I have extra of something,
Isn’t extra good?

I sit there with my mom at my parent conferences,
and listen to the teacher list what I’m lacking,
Like the skills that I may never gain or even understand,
and standards that are set too high for me to reach.
Why do people insist that I can reach them.
They don’t understand it takes me a longer time,
Why do they want me to do new things,
when they don’t know what I can already do.

I can jump rope for 10 straight minutes,
which is impressive considering I still struggle with walking.

I can read at my age level,
better then some “normal” kids in my class.

I can shoot a basketball from the foul line,
and make it in... 1 out of 10 times.

But whenever I tell my teachers about things I can do,
they smile, not because they’re proud of me,
but because they don’t understand what I just told them.

I can’t speak as well as others my age.
I can’t ride a bike.
I can’t understand my peers,
My peers can't understand me.

I understand I can’t do a lot of things,
but my family doesn’t understand that,
At night, I struggle to put my pajamas on,
I get extremely frustrated and throw myself on the floor,
I scream at my sister to help,
she but tells me that I can do it myself,
she doesn’t understand,
I can’t,
She sits down on my bed,
‘Try again’ she says, ‘I’ll watch’,
I do it,
I button up my shirt,
one button at a time,
When I finish,
I receive a smile and a hug.

I can do anything I want to do because I got,

Extra love,
Extra hugs,
Extra smiles,
Extra needs,
Special needs
My name is Shelby and,
I have an extra chromosome.

People can say whatever they want,
I’m convinced that extra is good,
it sure makes my family crack a smile,
from my crazy dance moves during my favorite songs,
to the painful giggle I receive whenever I do splits.

I like routine,
I don’t like changes,
but my sister says that change is sometimes for the greater good,
but that is something that I think will take a while for me to understand,
like how can my sister leaving for months at a time be a good thing?
the only change I like is changing in and out of multiple outfits a day.

I am complex,
it takes others time to get used to me,
I am misunderstood,
people think I’m less capable at achieving greatness,

I am Shelby,
and that is the best thing I could possibly be.