Nancy Mairs has multiple sclerosis, and therefore refers to herself as a cripple. Mairs does now view cripple as a negative word. Instead, in the passage, she describes the word cripple as "a clean word, straightforward and preside." In the passage, Mairs presents herself a "tough customer, one whom the fates/gods/viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely. "She uses this metaphor to show people how tough and strong she still is after accepting her life as it is.…
“About Being Considered ‘Retarded.’” by Amanda Baggs gives a great perspective on how those who have a disability are considered to be inferior or less human due to them being different from the societal standard of “normal”. To Baggs the way she looks and processes information is normal however compared to standards that society has placed she is different. To me Baggs is conveying the message that we label individuals who are different in this case those who have a cognitive disability and segregate them being considered normal due to the label of retarded.…
In the passage, Mairs brings forth a tone of seriousness, while also explaining her reasoning as to why she calls herself a "cripple." She has accepted of her state of well-being. "As a cripple, I swagger," she says knowing that she is in a condition where she does not have control of some of her limbs. She does not let her disability her in a negative way. Mairs does not prefer the title, "disabled"…
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.…
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…
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…
This is best portrayed in the 1997 film Gattaca, where a futuristic dystopian society displays extreme segregation between the genetically-engineered “valids” and the unwanted “invalids,” those born of natural birth. Even after several years of exercise and studying, Vincent, who was born of natural birth, could not change the fact that he was an invalid and resorts to literally changing his identity in order to be accepted into Gattaca. Today’s society is beginning to resemble Gattaca in the sense that the physically and intellectually competent are sometimes looked upon as having more worth or value than one who is not. Although a disabled man might not be able to contribute to a society as much as Albert Einstein did, it does not change the fact that he is still a human being who is just as capable of being appreciated and loved by others. Therefore, labelling a person with disabilities as being “retarded” or “mental” and treating them as an inferior is being dangerously…
The word ‘cripple’ is an offensive word in societies eyes, people often gesture towards lighter words; such as handicap or disabled. These are all very powerful words used to define the incapable people living within society. I have two cripple parents who both cannot live a normal life due to their chronic disabilities. When people see my mother or father I’m sure they automatically associate the word handicap in order to define them. Yet, my parents are in fact cripple not handicap. The word handicap means they can do the same exact things as normal people but it takes them longer to do so, which is not the case. When in public people do one of the three things. Either people are so scared to say the wrong thing in fear of offending them; or people say way too much and try to help them in anyway they can. Or most often people just stare and say nothing at all. My father calls it all pity, he has both legs amputated above the knee. Because of their disabilities people are very sensitive when choosing what to say to my parents. When reading the essay “On Being a Cripple” written by Nancy Mairs she states, “I am a cripple. I choose the word to name me…. People -crippled or not- wince at the word ‘cripple,’ as they do not ‘handicapped’ or ‘disabled.’ Perhaps I want them to see me as a tough customer, one whom the fates/gods/virtues have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth…
Early in the essay, Mairs wrote about how depression, “which may or may not be physiologically related to MS but are certainly its logical concomitant,” affects her almost daily. This depression results from the sadness that she will never run again, the fear that people only put up with her because, “of the way that she is,” and the anxiety that her condition will only get worse as time goes on. Even though she lives every day with this knowledge, she continues to keep living as much as she can.…
In this article “Screening Stereotypes: Image of disable” Paul Longmore speaks on how the media portray disables and also how they place numerous stereotypes on them. One of many claims that Longmore speaks of about in the article about disables is t "disabled people resent the nondisabled and would, if they could, destroy them."(134)…
The film clearly portrays society’s harsh attitude towards individuals that are different such that of Charlie, and their unforgiving and oblivious nature to the fact that he suffers from a condition in which it is not his fault, so has no choice but to cope with it. This is particularly demonstrated through dialogue, when neighbours ask Thomas “Why's your brother a spastic?” and also when the boys at Thomas' school call the students on the special needs bus “freaks”, “retards” and “spastics”. The use of stark coarse language is that it gives an abrupt and nasty effect, allowing the responder to immediately react to what has been said. This shows a lack of compassion and society's negative attitude because they refuse to use words that are politically correct and respectful as they don't see people with intellectual disabilities as equal.…
I remember crying in my father’s lap, sobbing, saying I didn’t want to do it. The nurse came over to me and said Do you think you could you drink this for me? What is it? I asked. It's sugar water he replied. I drank it so fast not realizing how bad sugar and water could taste mixed together. The next thing I remember was a woman coming to my bed asking me about colors. She said I could pick three. I saw my two favorite colors neon pink and dark purple and I knew those were the ones. Those are the colors I’ll spend the next three months looking at as I am bound to a hospital bed with a metal bar between my legs. I was six years old.…
The word “retarded” can never, in any form, be used “correctly”. Everyone says it. My best friends, my family, superiors, even families with a special need children. However, that doesn’t make it right. Strongly against the use of the word - stands John McGinley, Special Olympics Ambassador. In his Huffington Post Blog, “What Really Happens When We Use The R-Word,” the firm activist explains why this now commonly used word is always meant as a “euphemistic put-down”, and how it should never be used to define an individual with a disability. Instead, the word should be disposed of, and replaced with an alternative “with greater reliance on love, compassion, and grace.”…
While we may except that disability is a personal characteristic it is important to consider that it is not a unitary concept like race and gender (Shakespeare, 1993). There are many different types of disability and with these come different experiences of disability, oppression and the psycho-emotional dimensions of disability (Reeve, 2002). Also the concept of disability is not linear (Reeve, 2002). People can be disabled when completing one task yet not disabled when completing another (). For example a deaf student may be disabled when asked to listen to a cd and write down how it makes them feel but not if they are required to look at a picture and write down how that makes them feel. So treating disability as a linear dichotomy is to…