Do I Even Exist?

Do I Even Exist?

I do not have numbers for physically disabled students, and I’m not sure if the College makes that information public.

Amherst believes that the number of students with physical disabilities is small enough that providing a graduation rate risks those students’ privacy.

—Two Amherst College officials

How often I’ve railed

At this wheeled apparatus

For marking me in the crowd.

How often I’ve given thanks

That it gets me there from here,

Engaged, not cowed.

You won’t know me.

Gentle hills surround

The campus where I live:

I make no sound.

With a silent number

I’m ether.

Are they kind

To hide me? But from whom?

Is what they feel

A secret shame?