Animals speak, why can’t I? by Rochelle M. Anderson

A large tree in the middle of green woodland. Large white text reads: Animals Speak, Why Can't I? Smaller text reads: Discussing disabled characters in fairy tales and folklore.

Listen carefully to these words.
 
The Big Bad Wolf to Little Red Riding Hood.   Mama,
Papa, and Little Bear to Goldilocks.  Puss in Boots to
his young master.  Several fairy tales have animals talk
like actors in a Shakespeare play, reciting their lines.
Disabled people are understudies with stage fright, frozen
on stage.  The animals laugh at them, and they become
silent and still.  The damaged ones just watch the
performance as if from a distant alien world.
 
A different fairy tale, without words, just shadows
and sorrow. Aphasia stole their cracked brain, and threw
it down into a deep, cold, wet and dark well.  Broken
switches, misfired rifles, the lone soldier.   A long battle
ahead, they must overcome multiple obstacles.  Many
changes lead to a new beginning, but hard work will
set them free.  Through the thick tree canopy, the sun peaks.
 
A happy fairy tale ending is within reach.

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About the author: 
Rochelle M. Anderson lives in Minnesota, USA.   She is an attorney who had a severe stroke in 2007 and almost died.   She is still disabled with difficulty walking, and because of aphasia struggles with reading and writing.   Ms. Anderson has been published in four chapbooks, and several online poetry journals.  Writing poetry has helped her recover, and dictation fuels her words.