Karen Garratt
Bio
Stories (2/0)
Let Me Speak
From age five until I was roughly ten years old I lost my voice completely. Literally, no sound. Something inside me told me not to speak because speaking words meant I would protest, and that would have meant dangerous, dark consequences adding to an already tenebrous existence. Not only were my foster family abusive, they were also deeply religious; the type believing in the wrath of god and Armageddon. Because we were all allegedly living in ‘the end of days’, education was only tolerated up to what was required by law, but no further. I’m not sure why, but perhaps I stopped speaking to escape the spartan brutality selectively meted out to me. School was a refuge, but general overwhelm rendered me unable to articulate words with my own sounds. Instead, I listened, I read, and I wrote things down. Despite the countless books I voraciously devoured, I’d become accustomed to my aphasia, so I reposed within the solace of words and stories whilst my voice, literally and figuratively, continued to elude me.
By Karen Garratt3 years ago in Education
Let Me Speak
From age five until I was roughly ten years old I lost my voice completely. Literally, no sound. Something inside me told me not to because speaking words meant I would protest, and that would have meant dangerous, dark consequences adding to an already tenebrous existence. Not only were my foster family abusive, they were also deeply religious; the type believing in the wrath of god and Armageddon. Because we were all allegedly living in ‘the end of days’, education was only tolerated up to what was required by law, but no further. I’m not sure why, but perhaps I stopped speaking to escape the spartan brutality selectively meted out to me. School was a refuge, but general overwhelm rendered me unable to articulate words with my own sounds. Instead, I listened, I read, and I wrote things down. Despite the countless books I voraciously devoured, I’d become accustomed to my aphasia, so I reposed within the solace of words and stories whilst my voice, literally and figuratively, continued to elude me.
By Karen Garratt3 years ago in Humans