Somewhere in Pakistan tonight,
Breathing into a hospital tube,
Lies a man with one extra chromosome,
But one less kidney,
Clawed out of him by savage ‘normal’ hands,
The rest of his Down Syndrome body thrown back into the street,
An organ donor while still alive…
It is they not he – the lesser human
Somewhere in California tonight,
Lies a father incarcerated for 212 years,
For collecting $6 million in insurance money,
By driving his 2 autistic children off a LA pier,
I wonder what he told them before setting out for that final car drive,
Did he say they were going out for vanilla ice cream, a view of the beach?
Did he cuddle them close, and promise to love them for life
It is he not they – the lesser human.
Somewhere in the UK tonight,
Lie the dead and some still living,
With Do Not Resuscitate orders next to their beds,
Their bodies special needs,
Their minds disabilities,
In times of a pandemic,
Simply not worth being.
It is the decision taker, the order maker not them- the lesser human
We tell ourselves, our hands are caring, our words soft and kind,
We tell ourselves we are good people, “normal”, sane of mind,
But until our own superiority, our need to grow taller,
Makes the space for others smaller,
Until our need to prove our own strength,
Lies heavily on the most vulnerable,
Until our thoughts are safer, kinder; our communities inclusive, wider,
Until then, it is we, us, who are “lesser humans”, than the ones we could choose to be.
March 2021
Zainab Kizilbash is a parent, writer, economist and Our Small Wonders founder
