Analyzing Mairs 'Cripple'

On being a cripple: the lesson of losses and gains.
In spite of the rapid medicine progress in the last centuries many different incurable diseases still threaten human society. Some of them are deadly; the others develop slowly but restrain the life of a human in various ways. Often sick people just have to put up with the hope to be cured and to accept their situation. However, they do have choices to resign themselves to the disease completely or to look for the ways to cope with it and continue living. Handicappped people can adjust to the life of the society or cut themselves off of it. It is not easy to find alternatives for things that are no longer available to sick person because of his or her inabilities induced by a disease. The
On the contrary, she sees that as a way to escape the harsh reality. As she notes, "[t]hese words seem to me to be moving away from my condition, to be widening the gap between word and reality"(Mairs 31). Mairs emphasizes that such choice of the word "cripple"not only reflects her physical state, it also lets people see her specific difference and her courage to confront the problems. She doesn't allow herself to call any body else cripple for the society is not accepting it. Using nice smooth words in this case is pretending that there are regular differences between healthy people and herself. Probably, paying too much attention to the names is not that important, but this close analyzation of the words gives reader the impression of Mairs as a tough person who is able to face the hardships of the
The disease only started bothering her at the age of 28. Before this time Mairs had a regular active life which she remembers "from experience, infinitely more pleasant and useful than to be crippled; and if that knowledge leaves me open to bitterness at MY loss, the physical soundness I once enjoyed (though I did not enjoy it half enough) is well worth the occasional stab of regret"(par. 5). Although, being attacked by depressive emotions, Mairs considers herself not very unhappy person. The disease has not affected too much her usual activities such as "teaching, raising children and cats and plants and snakes, reading, speaking publicly about MS and depression"(Mairs 33). In general, her world stays the same because her preoccupation has nothing to do with sports or music concentrated on some physical performance. Lucky for her, the interest in reading and writing is not constrained by MS. Moreover, she even takes teaching and editing jobs whenever possible. Of course, there is much support provided by her husband and children. A common problem handicapped people face is that their relationships with spouses, children and friends are exposed to a challenge. Not all of them survive through the hard times. As for Mairs, she is pretty much comfortable with her family as they are with her : " I've been limping