Angelo is my name and I am an angel. An Angel-man. A Happy Puppet.

When I sit at my computer I amaze people. They are amazed. I am amazing.

I cannot speak. I am 13 years old and have never spoken.

People think I speak with my hands. My hands wave around. People think I wave at them. People think I am so happy.

I am not so happy.

I am not so happy but I am smart. I know what Angelman’s Syndrome is. Not many 13-year-olds know what Angelman’s Syndrome is.

That’s because it’s never in the paper. I read the paper everyday. Since I was six. Everybody thought it was cute that I was pretending to read the paper. But I was reading the paper. I was not pretending. It was still cute.

My mother taught me letters with cards. But no-one understands how I write by myself with a computer.

I sit at this computer and write. My teacher is Mrs. Christie. She sends me homework in an email. My Dad opens the email for me and I read it. Then I remember it. Then I write my answers. Then my Dad emails it to Mrs Christie.

I can’t send my own emails because I have hands that want to wave about. Only when I am reading or writing can I control them at all. People think I am stupid because I can’t use emails or the Internet. Internet always has a capital letter. The Internet is dangerous.

Mrs Christie writes that my language levels are five years ahead of my age. Five years is a lot, I think. I am not good with numbers.

Mrs Christie asked to meet me at Christmas but I said no. She is in another city most of the time. I do not like other people being in the same room as me.

When I go to the shopping centre with my Dad, kids stare and point and laugh. The laugh at my hands and my face, and because I dribble a bit.

I still want to go to the shopping centre every day, because of the fountain. The fountain is the best place. It has lots of water jets, and you never know which one will go off next. My Dad always lets me look at the fountain for ten minutes.

One day the fountain was turned off for cleaning. I asked my Dad if we could wait. We waited for two hours until they turned it back on. Dad was in a lot of trouble because he was late for work.