The Short Bus Jathon Mooney Analysis

In today’s world, as soon as someone enters the place we call home, the person is labeled for what he, she looks like, or how he or she acts. Some labeled for the better while others, hated for the worst. In a short story written by novelist James Hurt, “The Scarlet Ibis” involves a main character with similar problems faced due to his disability. Doodle was a child that was immediately placed into a hated label, one for outcasts. Even his brother disliked him and what he did throughout his short life. Although, brother begins to feel remorse and terrible about how he treated his brother throughout his life. As an adult, the narrator began to understand Doodle and himself much more fully, and he now recognizes how his own selfish pride led

“Only 50 years ago persons with intellectual disabilities were scorned, isolated and neglected. Today, they are able to attend school, become employed and assimilate into their local community” (Nelson Mandela). Prior to the later part of the 20th century people with intellectual disabilities were often ridiculed, treated unfairly, feared, and locked away in institutions. According to Rhonda Nauhaus and Cindy Smith in their article Disability Rights through the Mid-20th Century, The laws of any nation reflect its societal values. The real life issue of discrimination towards people with intellectual disabilities in the United States and Australia is demonstrated in the novel, Of Mice and Men by showing how this issue affects one of the main characters, Lennie Smalls.

In Margret Atwood’s “Lusus Naturae,” set in the 1800’s, a period where a multitude of people remained annexed by those they loved due to ailments that were deemed uncommon; to illustrate this phenomenon Atwood engages us through the intertwining story, told by the protagonist, who is kept unnamed. The protagonist is not only affected by her physical disease, but also the psychological affects from remaining isolated from her community. The tale is crafted to criticize how severely society treats others in the face of diversity and disability. The protagonist not only accepts the abuse, but she also agrees with it because instead of viewing herself as someone who has worth, she only sees herself as an inhuman burden. Through obstacles our narrator faces, because of her disease, we can see how truly cruel society can be. Atwood calls the audience’s attention toward the damaging behavior demonstrated by the community of the healthy population when faced with someone with disability due to no fault of their own.

In Hannah Greendale’s review about The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, she argues about how the transgender community or those who identify as agender are being mistreated. She writes her review base off of a sociological lens. One of the main characters struggles with there sexuality while the other one is presented differently due to his race. Sasha is the name of one of the characters, and she identifies as neither male nor female. Sasha was born as a male named Luke, but as she grew up, she realized that she enjoyed wearing skirts instead of clothing that boys would typically wear. While the other character is named Richard who is an African male who is an all-round good kid but is seen as dangerous due to his neighborhood environment. Both characters in the book live in Oakland, California. However, they don’t attend the same school. Sasha is a Caucasian who is born in the upper middle class and is considered to be living in the more wealthy neighborhood of Oakland compared to Richard. The book gives background information of these two characters and how they ended up meeting and causing this accident. Greendale review talks about how the story helps “raise awareness about the unprecedented level of violence inflicted on transgender people.” This story is set to show the need for representation of the transgender people. The scene in which the reviewer uses to describe the mistreatment of the agender community was the scene in which Richard sees Sasha sitting on the bus.

“2.2 million people in the United States depend on a wheelchair for day-to-day tasks and mobility. 6.5 million people use a cane, a walker, or crutches to assist with their mobility”. Every single day, people varying in ages, struggle to live their lives due to conditions out of their control. Whether it be life threatening or not, it can have effects that are both socially and emotionally harming. Although some of them may change appearances on the outside, other people cannot forget that all people, not matter the disability, have brains and personalities of their own that may not be seen to the human eye. The book Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, shares the story of Melody, a girl who is much more than her cerebral palsy: she is brilliant.

In the essay, “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs uses humorous diction and a positive tone to educate people about life as a cripple and struggles of people with disabilities. She does this to show how hard it is to be disabled and how it differs from the life of someone without a disability. She talks about the struggles and the fears that disabled people must deal with on a daily basis. Mairs use of rhetoric creates a strong sense of connection and understanding for the reader. Nancy Mairs is successful in using detailed imagery, diction, and tone to educate her readers about the difficulties of living with a disability.

The novel Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes effectively explores the complex human experiences of disability and the impact that it has on individuals and society through its three major themes; Self-realisation , Alienation and loneliness and treatment of the mentally disabled by society. Through these themes this response will highlight the difficulties experienced by people with disabilities and the people in their lives.

Nancy Mairs forces a sharp-witted and blunt tone on the reader in her essay, “On Being A Cripple.” A new perspective is explored, on being disabled as well as the word “crippled” which is found offensive by most of society. While keeping the piece light and relatable, she shines a light on the guilty pity thrown on the disabled, treatment no one asks for. Although it is a generally light piece, Mairs uses humor, anecdotes, and diction to improve the treatment of physically disabled.

Scott Hamilton once stated, “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” Disability is only an obstacle in a person's life, but it does not set the identity of that person. John Steinbeck's novel shows how disabled people are treated differently by writing about their heartbreak and sorrow. Many individuals with disabilities feel that a disability is a wall blocking them from achieving their goals. In our society, people are told what to be and what to do with their disability, but one should have the choice to carve their pathway to success. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrayed a political statement by looking at mental and physical disabilities through different characters such as Curley's Wife, Crooks, and Lennie.

Waist High In the World is a novel that focuses on the importance of accepting everyone with dignity and respect despite their disabilities and differences. The author of the book, Nancy Mairs purpose when writing the book was to create awareness and share her experience as a “cripple” in order to create consciousness and understanding of those who are going through the same process. Mairs uses different persuasive strategies to convince readers to want a world with people like her in it, this includes the use of pathos, logos and ethos.

Throughout the centuries the growth in special needs children and adults have increased dramatically. Although there isn’t many statistics nor many records of how many special needs people there were in the early 1930’s it’s still apparent that they were there. The book “Of Mice And Men” written by John Steinbeck he uses the characters Lennie, who appears to be special needs, and George, Lennie’s caretaker, to show the contrast between the two mental capacities and the role of dependency on another. In Steinbeck’s “Of Mice And Men” the character Lennie Smalls shows that the actions and consequences differ from people who have special needs or mental disorders from those who don’t.

Murphy lacks mobility and sensation in his lower body other than the feeling of occasional muscle spasms, and has limited movement in his upper body below the neck including his arms. Murphy writes the story as it recounts events throughout his entire life, from childhood onwards. He was sixty-two when he wrote the novel. The story provides Murphy’s anthropological commentary on the life of a person with a disability and how society views and treats people with disabilities (Murphy, 1990).

Can you ever imagine a world of unaccepting individuals, constant fight, and the loathe differences and disabilities? Could you imagine a world where no one could get along? Unfortunately, we as a clique and community are reaching nearing such a world. Adversely but sadly true, some communities and countries have already begun to discriminate against young adolescents and adults with special needs, or different views, turning into a constant fight for survival. James Hurst's short story, The Scarlet Ibis and Ray Bradbury's, A Golden Kite, The Silver Wind, Hurst and Bradbury discuss themes of allegory, rivalry, vanity and pride through characters in both stories, The narrator of The Scarlet Ibis and The Mandarin of The Golden Kite, A Silver

Individuals, who suffer from any type of disabilities, sadly live a different life due the societal stigma attached to it. The film When Billy Broke His Head and the reading Deaf Matters Compulsory Hearing and Ability Trouble both illustrate the hardships and struggles disabled individuals go through as a result of stereotypical misconceptions created by the media and the larger society. Firstly, exemplified in the media through a portrayal of disheartened characteristics like constant anger and bitterness about life, a misconception of an unapproachable individual starts to become produced. Through a continuous loop of negative illustrations of disability, an unawareness and lack of knowledge about certain disabilities, a stigma of this unfamiliar

I have experienced being under many labels. With all of these labels the excruciating painful times were harder when I was just finding out that I was adopted wondering “do my birth parents even love me”, “who is my real parent”, and “why didn’t she want me”. When I was in elementary school I was labeled with a speech disability. School became a big issue in my life. I was so hurt when I had to present in front of the class. Students would make fun of me but what left a laceration on my heart, mind, and soul was when my teachers would say “you will never make it” and “you are retarded”. Teachers would exclude me from activities because they thought I wasn’t smart enough. Have you ever been lost and hurt at the same time?