“I write because there is a voice within me that will not be still.” – Sylvia Plath

Somebody recently asked me why I love to write. I replied, “writing is the only way I can be fully understood.”

I have always relied on speaking devices to say what I need to say. I am grateful for how speaking devices enhance my communication and social skills.  I am not afraid to speak my mind or start a conversation. I have struggled to present my true voice though. People could not understand the emotion of my words. The use of exclamation marks or hyphens does not affect the speaking of the preprogrammed female voice on my speaking device.  I believed that my voice would be trapped inside me forever until I turned to the craft of writing.

People have understood my feelings and thoughts better ever since I started using my words creatively. My voice matured with me as my vocabulary flourished. I love being expressive when I am telling a story. Thesauruses like Roget Thesaurus of Words for Writers has helped me to do so. The more descriptive my words are, the more enthusiastic my voice is. For instance, I’d describe my disability as a “vexation a pusillanimous individual would hate to deal with.” Complexity is a part of most of my personal experiences. Traveling by airplane is more nerve-racking than traveling by a three-legged blinded horse because my wheelchair gets treated like dispensable luggage. A guy once brought my wheelchair up in pieces. You would think that Hulk appeared and smashed it. Yet, I was not born to be a risk-taker. I will explore the world no matter what the causes might be.

Whether it is travel writing or fictional writing, I am always trying to make my mark. Most of my fictional characters have a piece of me. They might have different struggles than me, but they usually have the same attitude as me. Expressing myself through writing not only allows me to be heard, but it gives me purpose, such as inspiring other disabled individuals and their families. A couple of families put their daughters in school once they learned about my story. As long as I am breathing, I will never stop writing.