Great poem Bobby.  I enjoyed it very much, but more importantly it made me
think.  Ponder the subject PC names & games.

This verse:

"The name you use to denote me
Is but a particle of who I be
So a rose by any other
Would smell like no other."

I'm glad this is true for you, but I find the name used to denote me can
change me.  That is to say, if I'm addressed in a cruel way, I find my
defenses up.  Defenses that wouldn't exisit, if I hadn't been born disabled.

The verse:
"Geek, cripple, niggers are feeble terms
Thrown about by ignorant worms
They should not harm or even bend
The real live human within."

Again, they SHOULD not harm or bend a person, but I'm afraid they often do.
It's not the actual name, but the malice behind it.  Most of these words
started out fine, it was the misuse of them which made them derragatory.
Would I be who I am today if the doctor didn't flub up a breech birth 34
years ago?  What would my outlook on life be if I'd skipped all the
operations, therapy, braces, and humilation of being made sport of throughout
school?

The truth is, being called "names" during my formative years DID bend me.  I
learned to BEND, not break.  This made me stronger.  In my own circle of
friends (who are not disabled) I seem to be the one who can deal with life
best.  Most of my friends can't handle "curve balls" from life, tradegy minor
or major.  They do get over it of course in time, but it seems to harm them
in ways it can't touch me.

Should the use of a name matter?  No.  In a perfect world it does not.  But
we don't live in that world.  Are the people who use cruel (non PC terms)
ignorant?  Yes.  That's the point!  If we (as society) are ever going to
change our attitudes and see the similarties not the differences, we have to
start someplace.  If people use PC terms in the work-place and the
class-room, as I said in previous post, it's not going to change the adults,
but maybe it might change the children.  If children learn from the start
being different from the dominant majority is fine, perhaps someday, we will
be closer to a perfect world.

Like I said before, we have come pretty far in a short time.  The disabled
aren't immediately put in institutions or hidden in attics.  The crop of
"Strange Fruit" no longer grows on trees in the south.   I hate being PC
because I'd like to think names don't matter, but they do.  Anyway, I did
enjoy Bobby's poem very much.  This is a tricky subject no matter what we
call it.  Take Care- Denise.