Mighel Akando

I don’t talk about it much but I was actually born with a speech disability. Went through about a decade of speech therapy. Used to get a disability check monthly. My parents for a while was the only ones who could understand me when I spoke. As you would imagine kids and sometimes adults don’t always have the best decorum. I would always get made fun of for how I talked, one time my 5th grade teacher made fun of my disability in front of the entire class when I tried to pronounce a word. It was one of those moments where the teacher forced you to participate openly. Normally I would just avoid participating if I couldn’t pronounce the answer correctly. But that wasn’t up to me in the moment. As everyone in class answered I knew next would be my turn. Ears burning, heart beating fast, and a strong sense of dread as the moment came near. I knew I would have to pronounce a word that I always struggled to say. I just wanted to get it over with. It was quiet at first then the teacher of all people mocked how I said it and the class couldn’t stop laughing. I was poor, 4’11 in middle school, quiet, shy, with bad teeth.. there was already enough to make fun of me for. I suppose I was quite the easy target to begin with.