Wordgathering in an online journal of disability-related poetry, that seeks work from writers with and without disabilities. It also featur
Typer Nick Pentzell on his relationship to words before and after typing , going against stereotypes and why he types the way he does.
“Now that I was joining the verbal world I wondered why talkers moved their mouths around a paltry vocabulary when there were delicious terms with texture and bite that revealed the character and imagination of the speaker. Unwillingly, I had lived more than a decade with the frustration of being hidden; why did neurotypical, talking-people mask their personalities in dull, generic speech?”
“Making choices about what to eat or do was all right, but by choosing the style in which I communicated I gained the power to shape the way others saw me. I've always been exceedingly short for my age. My face is goofily asymmetric, and I have not outgrown childish mannerisms in my emotional responses. Often my body ignores signals from my brain and moves unreliably or unbidden or not at all. My coordination and body postures suggest that my mind is feeble, and people generally think if you can't speak you have nothing to say. Ka-blam!! Take that you doubters of my intelligence, no matter how nice or well-meaning you may be! I am going to blow your minds and shatter your misconceptions with the verbalizations that emanate from my fingertip.”
