By Ashley Baxter
I am a person like everyone else — I have a voice.
Why should I be looked at differently or treated differently because I live in a group home? Am I not human? Do I not have emotions like everyone else?
Listen to me like you would others. I am not alien. I am not a baby. I am 18 and I have the right to be listened to like you or anyone else.
I may be in care but I have something to say. Would you not listen to me because I don’t live with my family? Would you ignore me because I am not always happy? Who are you to judge me when I don’t judge you? You don’t know me or my past.
I am not your child or a baby. I have a life, a voice, a right. I live fully and you will treat me like you would treat others. Do I even look like a child?
I could be younger than you but do I crawl or cry? I know for a fact that I am mature for my age — for you to treat me differently is not mature.
I am not you but I am me, and for that you should not think of me differently.
