Both Bethany Hamilton and Aimee Mullin had to accept the fact that they weren’t the same as before. Aimee Mullin joined track and field at her school. This is important because she got back out there and didn’t let her disability stop her. Similarly, Bethany Hamilton went back into the water and tried to surf again. This event in her life showed me that you have to keep trying. In conclusion, the girls approached their problems in similar ways.…
In her essay, "On Being a Cripple", Nancy Mairs reflects on her life as a "cripple" due to multiple sclerosis (MS). It is truly admirable how she is able to remain in such a positive attitude despite her unfortunate consequences. Instead of asking for people's sympathy, Mairs wanted herself to be identified as a cripple instead of a handicapped or disabled person. She even believed that her condition helped to enrich her life and define the person she is. It is truly remarkable how she can face such an event with so much courage and confidence. Her essay certainly teaches a lesson about how one should not feel sorry for his/her disadvantages, but rather live it to the fullest…
Nancy Mairs author of Disability- a self-claimed “radical feminist and cripple” with many accomplishments and degrees under her belt, Nancy is known to “speak the ‘unspeakable’” in her poetry, memoirs and essays, especially in Disability which was first published in the New York Times in 1987.…
In the essay “Disability”, writer, public speaker, and self-acclaimed “radical feminist, pacifist, and cripple” Nancy Mairs examines how the general public responds to individuals with disabilities as well as how the media portrays these aforementioned individuals (Mairs 12). She begins her essay by describing herself as a crippled woman with multiple sclerosis, speaking about her condition, and stating that she has never noticed a cripple woman like herself in the media. When the media does portray someone with multiple sclerosis- or a like disability, it’s focused almost entirely on the disability rather than the person’s character, indicating that their condition “devour[s] one wholly” (Mairs 12). Despite the fact that such disabilities…
Nancy Mairs's essay “Disability from Carnival Acts describes how the speaker, Nancy Mairs, lives every day with a disability. She reveals her view on the handicap and disabled. Nancy Mairs has multiple sclerosis, weakening of the bones, and she feels as if she is being judged and is inferior to everyone else. The audience is definitely aware of how she feels. She is very blunt about her feelings and everything else. She wants to make a stand for all the disabled people. The essay displays desperation, as well as hope. She is desperate to be equal and to no be judged; She has hope that one day all handicap will be equal. Nancy Mairs is a true symbol of how handicap people can persevere, stand through anything, and triumph over adversity. She lives a competent life filled with judgmental people looking at her poorly, simply because of her disability.…
Nancy Mairs starts her essay by describing herself as a crippled woman with multiple sclerosis. She talks about her condition and how she’s never seen a crippled woman like her in the media. Then she mentions some television shows about disabled people that focus almost entirely on disabilities and neglect the person’s character. Mairs states that although disability changes a lot in one’s life, it doesn’t kill him/her. She for example, can do what every other woman her age can do. And although she’s a great consumer, advertisers never choose someone like her to represent their products publicly; and the reason for that, according to Mairs, is that people cannot yet accept the fact that disability is something ordinary. The consequences of this situation are hash on disable people, for they might feel like they don’t exist. Finally, Nancy Mairs says that anyone might become disabled. But if one sees disability as a normal characteristic then it…
In the essay, Disability by Nancy Mairs, a feminist writer who has multiple sclerosis, defines the terms in which she will interact with the world. She will name herself--a cripple--and not be named by others.…
Throughout the essay, “Becoming Disabled” by Rosemarie Garland-Thomas, her main claim that she argues is that she wants the disabled community to be politicized in the eyes of society. First, Garland-Thomas talks about politicizing disabilities into a movement. She compares and contrasts movements for race and sexual orientations to the movements about disability (2). Disability movements have not gained as much attention as race or sexual orientation movements because so many Americans do not realize how prominent disability separation is in America. She wants people to start recognizing that disability is just as important as race and other movements. Next, Garland-Thomas speaks about different types of disabilities and how they aren’t always…
Tesco follow the legal requirements because in their stores they offer disabled car parking spaces they also offer mobility scooters and trolleys to less accessible people who can’t get around the store and need assistance in store. They also offer a service called loop hearing to customers who have disability problems with their hearing and that helps them function and hear the members of staff at Tesco which helps the customer out. Tesco also have in their stores accessible toilets so anyone with any disability problems can access that facility.…
A little girl may dream of becoming President, or becoming the first woman to step on another planet, or becoming a CEO. Many of these jobs come with discrimination, especially involving women at a great height of success. Some successful women stood up to this prejudice in hopes to fight for women's rights. Shirley Chisholm,the first African American congresswoman, spoke out on the immorality faced by not only women but African American women in “Equal Rights for Women”. In addition, Serena Williams, a Wimbledon tennis champion, spoke out on unequal pay at many tennis tournaments for woman in “Wimbledon Has sent Me a Message: I’m Only a Second Class Champion”. Both speakers convey the prejudice they faced regarding women's rights by using…
When we think of heroes, we think of heroes that wear capes, those who can lift up cars or smash through walls or fire lasers out of their eyes. But did you know that not all heroes wear capes? In fact, most heroes are ordinary people just like you and me who go on to achieve exceptional things. They are unique individuals who choose to live their lives regardless of the obstacle that may get in their way. Jacqueline Freney is just that, an ordinary girl who became extraordinary regardless of her being born with cerebral palsy. Freney is a 24-year-old Paralympic swimmer who has earned a spot in the Australian Hall of Fame and has become a hero to young girls and boys suffering from disabilities across Australia. Therefore, it is irrefutable…
Women have passionately fought to prove themselves as strong enough, knowledgeable enough, and tough enough to survive in the historically constructed system men have carved out: the association of sports and the manner in which it operates. Although their desperate attempts have allowed them to chip through the first few layers of this concrete barrier in which they are faced with, their attempts to delve deeper to ultimately reach the core of its existence has been a disappointing failure. Despite the increase in female athletes participating in sports at a college and professional level, the use of female athletes as product endorsers has been limited. Some female readers like my wife has suggested that there may be an obvious media bias against female athletes and other problems related to how women’s lack of being feminine is portrayed to the public. I feel that women athletes don’t get enough recognition compared…
The article titled “Caster Semenya An the IOC’s Olympics Gender Bender” by Jesse Ellison reviews the controversy over Caster Semenya, the now 21-year-old intersexed athlete, and whether or not she should be allowed to compete as a female in international competition. After winning gold at the World Athletic Championship in Berlin, Semenya was put through various testing, until finally cleared as a woman. The belief was that she had an unfair advantage, due to the amount of testosterone that she produced when compared to the average woman. This was not the first time that this problem had arose in competition, however, each time the topic had arose, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) struggled to find a clear cut answer in what defined a male and what defined a female.…
Previous research focusing LGBT lifestyles has given relatively minimal attention to race, class, and gender as systems of power. Through the multiple and often times complicated intersections of race, class, gender, location, capital, religion, and sexuality, this analysis explores interactional dimensions of power, privilege, and oppression in narratives of finding one’s sexual identity. A term created by Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality explores the systematic structures of dominance of race, class, gender and sexuality that affect those who are neither White nor male nor heterosexual (Mirza, 2015). Intersectionality highlights the ways in which multiple dimensions of socially constructed…
High ranking and talented athletes must be willing to stand out and speak up about the inequalities they face despite backlash, much like Billie Jean King did in the 70’s for women's tennis and their unequal tournament cash prizes. Big name companies, celebrities, as well as male athletes must come out and fully support these women, standing side by side with them until every last sport has “Equal pay for Equal Play” as a requirement. Looking back on past female icons who changed their individual sport, may be the stepping stones for which to change the whole entire industry of professional sports for the betterment of future children and…