The Miles Between Me by Toni Nealie

Author:Toni Nealie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781940430812
Publisher: Curbside Splendor Publishing
Published: 2016-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

NOT SO LONG ago in Chicago, I took my young son to a drum recital in a musty meeting room at a local church. After a dozen boys and girls had beaten their way through Led Zeppelin and Nirvana solos, a young man played “Freedom Train” on the piano. His family was as proud as any family. The man clearly had an intellectual disability, and as he belted out “making us feel proud and true,” I wept, my face turned down so no one could see. Perhaps if my brother grew up now, he would be celebrated for his abilities. It really doesn’t matter if someone hoots and shouts while playing the piano, as long as they get to experience it. It won’t frighten the children.

After my brother’s death, my sister was given a report about him. It contained inaccuracies, crossings-out, white-outs, black-outs. His diagnosis was not as clear as we thought. No one was really sure what the cause was, whether it was hypoxia or autism. It saddened me that he was born when so little was known and therapies were inadequate. It seemed that if he had been born in a later decade, he might have stayed at home with his family.

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