Benjamin Giroux is a 10 year-old autistic boy who recently brought tears to his teacher’s eyes when he wrote a powerful poem for a homework assignment.

Benjamin put a lot of thought into this homework assignment, and it shows by just how emotional the poem ended up being. Here’s the poem written by this brilliant little boy:

I am odd, I am new

I wonder if you are too

I hear voices in the air

I see you don’t, and that’s not fair

I want to not feel blue

I am odd, I am new

I pretend that you are too

I feel like a boy in outer space

I touch the stars and feel out of place

I worry what others might think

I cry when people laugh, it makes me shrink

I am odd, I am new

I understand now that so are you

I say I “feel like a castaway”

I dream of a day that that’s okay

I try to fit in

I hope that someday I do

I am odd, I am new.

Benjamin’s poem perfectly shows the sense of alienation that millions of autistic people feel every single day. It was so good that the National Autism Association highlighted it as something that should be shared with others as a way of helping people understand those who have autism.

We applaud Ben for creating this poem and opening up to the world in this way. It is clear that Benjamin has many years of success in life ahead of him!