This book, Brain on fire: My Month of Madness, is about the author Susannah Cahalan, a young woman who has a disease which no doctor could figure out and her journey to find a diagnosis. Susannah had many symptoms which ended up fundamentally killing her brain. Susannah gets put in a hospital after having another seizure and was labeled violent, psychotic, and a flight risk. Susannah had to stay in the hospital twenty-eight days before being released with the diagnosis, Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Susannah has been treated and officially cured, but still struggling with memory loss,using her experience to help others. Susannahs purpose for writing the book is to inform readers about Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. I am confident this…
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.…
The book Restless by Rich Wallace had an interesting conclusion which included motifs, themes, settings, new characteristics, and a big conflict that is resolved. These topics came together to create the ending of the story.…
The poignant story of Jean-Dominique Bauby’s life begins in December 1995, when he finds himself in a hospital, recovering from a severe coma, both paralyzed from head to toe and unable to speak. Though Bauby’s mind is still intellectually intact, he is diagnosed with what most people call today, “locked-in-syndrome”. Through his powerful words, Bauby, the author and narrator of this story, takes us on a journey filled with pain, loss and courage. I believe that though Bauby did indeed have a disability, he only fit into two of the three definitions categorized as having a disability; these being, function barriers (impairments) , activity barriers (Disabilities) and participation barriers (Handicap).…
On Being A Cripple by Nancy Mairs is about the author going through a rough patch in her life , have multiple sclerosis at a young age,…
Emily Stoten has Down syndrome and I specifically remember that the first time I was introduced to her, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t think she could relate to me like a normal person, therefore I didn’t realize that I could act like a normal person around her. But what is the word normal? There is no normal. Everyone is a human being, including Emily and I soon learned that even more just like me, she was a teenage girl. Emily loves the color pink and she loves talking about boys. She enjoys playing on a softball team, has a job, is involved in choir and is even an active athlete in the Special Olympics. The only difference between Emily and me is that she has a learning disability that she was born with. It isn’t her fault, and she embraces what god gave her to the…
Giftedness (genius) is a trait where the individual deviates from normality but tends towards being above average and not abnormality per se. In order to be able to understand the relationship between genius and abnormality both of which are deviations from normality; the text that I chose is John Nash’s biography by Sylvia Nasar, A Beautiful Mind. This book tells the story of John Nash in carefully documented detail, based on hundreds of interviews with friends, family, acquaintances, and colleagues, as well as a study of available documents. In “A Beautiful Mind” Slyvia Nasar the economics correspondent of The New York Times tells the story of Nobel Prize winner John Nash who had the same mental illness that affects 1 in 100 people across cultures: schizophrenia. (Jo Kadlecek, 2002) He has experienced many of the same symptoms as others stricken with the disease: delusions, frequent auditory hallucinations, illusions that messages are being sent to him through television or newspapers, a skewed view of reality leading to paranoia. (Jo Kadlecek, 2002) And like many who have…
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved” – said Helen Keller (http://www.msa.state.mn.us/sharedservices/doubleimpact/helenkellerquotes.asp). Helen Keller did a lot of things that stimulated people’s spirit worldwide. The most noticeable thing she accomplished, even though she was a deaf-blind person, she was always persistent and moved on to have a successful life. She devoted her life to help people around the world, and reach her dreams. Helen Keller proved the world that even with disabilities, we still can always reach…
True to life story of Christy Brown, who was born June 5, 1932 in Crumlin, Ireland diagnosed and suffered cerebral palsy, condemned by people and assumed to be confined in the convalescent for fear that the family, would not be able to care for him. Instead Christy’s parents took and cared for him at home, not only accepted him as normal boy but as part of the family. Inspired by this, He grew up and became a famous painter and writer later married a woman he loved. The movie My Left Foot, portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis was a very inspiring movie. It shows that nothing is impossible, no matter what the situation-difficulties are as long as you persevere and have a positive outlook in life. In Christy’s case, his physical condition and the Doctor’s diagnosis didn’t stop him from achieving his full potential in life. As Christy, suffering from CEREBRAL PALSY and near total paralysis except only for his left foot, a disease that no one can cure, yet can be cared for. With his family and friends love and support he overcame his fear, anxiety and depression. He used his left foot for everything that needs to be done. He may be paralyzed but he was not totally mentally retardate, he was taught how to read, then started to attend some programs provided for people with special needs and from there he self educate himself, learned how to paint to show his perception in life, used the typewriter to write stories that may depict a portion of his life experiences… all of these to express his emotions to the world that surrounds him.…
I began writing this essay without any idea what it would conclude to be about. I continued to trash my essay and restart time after time until I stumbled across a thought. I knew I needed to be original and informative, yet also entertaining enough to catch the attention of the reader. Instead of deciding to go on about how amazing I am, like many other writers have done and will still continue to do, I came to the realization that I would write about my handicaps which I've grown to live with.…
Even though she was handicapped like this, she didn't lost her hope and kept trying to overcome her disabilities with her teacher.…
Who am I? That is the hardest question to answer for a college freshman. In a sense my life has just begun. I am finally on my own trying to figure out who I am and what I want to do with my life. Does anyone find out who they are as a person at the age of eighteen? This is the age where a major transition is made from teen to a legal adult. I am going from being a child to being on my own making my own decisions. When I look at myself I see so many different things, some are things I learned in the past and I carry with me and others are things I hope to achieve or become. In Core 110 this year I learned that I could connect myself into what we were learning through studying psychology and science. At the…
Life’s journey can carry us on different roads and those roads can lead us to our destinies. My roads have sometimes been long and winding along the way to get to where I am today. There are more paths to travel to get to my future with each one having its own story. The road loved the best is that of being a mom to wonderful seven year old twin girls. On this particular path my heart has been softened and challenged as one of the girls was born deaf as well as blind. Taking the steps to get her what she has needed to grow successfully in life has taught lessons in faith, patience, persistence and courage. Having to be resourceful and making choices that would be best for my daughter has been tough but worth every minute. My heart longs to see the day she goes on to pursue many dreams in life along with my other daughter whom is also a great joy in my life. The desire is to portray to them…
Even though it seems like Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind and R.J. Palacio’s Wonder are extremely different, if you look beneath the surface, you see that the novel’s themes are very similar. This is despite the fact that the main characters have different afflictions, they’re treated very differently, and they aren’t even the same gender. Despite all of that, they both share the theme of not judging a book by its cover. Out of My Mind also has an extra theme, which is that you can do great things, despite your disability.…
Cerebral palsy changed Lexi’s life and my perspective of life. Before I saw what it was like for Lexi to live with this disease I took something’s in life for granted. At this softball game Lexi sat in front of the whole crowd in her wheelchair and just smiled at everyone. She repeatedly thanked everyone for coming to her game and then she attempted to throw the first pitch even though it barely made it out of…