Katie Breland Hughes

The story I choose to highlight for the purposes of this paper is that of Katie Breland Hughes. According to an article published on Today News, Hughes is a young woman who was paralyzed after a car accident (Kim, 2014). The article states that Hughes “…missed a stop sign while driving home from an appointment. A truck hit her vehicle, and Hughes went flying through her windshield. She landed in a ditch and, seconds later, her burning car landed on top of her…” (Kim, 2014). As one might think, this caused immense damage to Hughes, for the article states “…Hughes knew she was either paralyzed or that her legs were amputated because she couldn’t feel either one” (Kim, 2014). The author of the article then discusses how Hughes worked with a physical
Placing individuals with disabilities into a dichotomy of those who tried hard and those who did not negates barriers that some individuals with disabilities may face, such as cost of treatment or “suffering severe pain in order to be normalized” (Frederick, 2015), and legitimizes discrimination by perpetuating stereotypes of being dysfunctional and the need for a “cure”. It is never outright stated, but Hughes’ attempt at normalization by trying to walk looks very difficult and painful. Yet her need to normalize herself is so great that she pushes onward. The idea of the individual with a disability as being the problem is also portrayed in the article. Instead of questioning Hughes’ environment and whether it was accessible, Hughes and the author remain focused on the idea of a cure, of being able to walk. This article also touts the stereotype of a disabled person as if they are unworthy of love. Hughes states that she was “…initially worried about meeting him [Odie] again now that she was in a wheelchair” (Kim, 2014). As Paul K. Longmore writes, “Disabled characters may be quite capable of physical lovemaking but spurn opportunities for romance because of a lack of self-acceptance, a disbelief that anyone could love them with their ‘imperfections” (Longmore, 2003). Although Longmore is referring to fictional characters, we can see how this
The majority of the article’s focus is on Hughes’ attempt to walk and how it was inspired by her (soon to be) husband. According to the article, Hughes opened a gym (Kim, 2014), yet this is only mentioned as an aside. In fact, Hughes being featured on an episode of the bridal gown shopping show Say Yes to the Dress received about a paragraph of mention. The sentence that mentioned Hughes’s gym did not give its name. All of this information illustrates that Hughes is being objectified because it plainly shows that Hughes is not being thought of as a complex being, but is instead being showcased because she “prevailed” against her disability in her quest to be a normal bride. A story of a normal bride would probably not have made national news, but because Hughes has to “fight” her disability, she has suddenly cast in the role of hero. Even though there are indubitably more facets to Hughes, we have not been shown them because they do not make her story more interesting to the reader. Knowing that Hughes is a gym owner would probably not make the readers feel better about