Cynthia Campbell

Special Ed is Down the Hall: Disabled and Proud Cynthia Campbell

Poet Marlin Thomas was seven years old when he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy; he wasn't expected to live past the age of seventeen. After Marlin died at the age of thirty, his mother, Cynthia Campbell, compiled this collection of poetry as a tribute to his life. Marlin's poems reflect his life, dreams, hopes, and commitment to the Disabled Rights Movement. He wrote his first poem when he was seven years old and continued to write until his death. His powerful poetry provides fodder for not only thinking about the experience of being disabled, but to feel it as well. In the poem "the little things," Marlin describes his feelings of loss with the progression of his disability: "I miss the gravel of a new driveway / crunching beneath my feet. / I miss jumping jacks and putting / my hand against my heart. / I miss the hated chore of Joy / dishwashing liquid scrubbing plates."Packed with emotion and written in modern free verse, Marlin's poetry provided an outlet for him to shout about inequality, to laugh about the absurd, to love intensely and passionately, and to ponder life's complexities.