Entry 3: Currently, in the 21st Century, society has become very fixated on the body. How a person looks, their body shape, how they dress, communicates, and even how one walks. The media bombard us on a daily basis on how to attain the perfect body. Consequently, what does this mean for the person with a disability, but only more exclusion. Judith Butler (2010) states that society has a cultural aversion to disabled people. Again, I am puzzled why this fear or pity prevails within us in the 21st Century. The Italian philosopher Umberto Eco in his podcast on Beauty and Ugliness posits that there is a link between ugliness and fear. Society fears it within themselves or from the world around them. According to Eco, ugly people are …show more content…
What then is the essence of inclusion? According to Miller and Katz (2002) who describe inclusion as: “.. a sense of belonging: feeling respected, valued for who you are; feeling a level of supportive energy and commitment from others so that you can do your best.” In the Young Offenders, it was disappointing to see that the same old rhetoric of portraying people with disabilities as evil and sinister. In addition, the language used continues to normalise these very perceptions. Does this make it right if done in the name of art and what does this mean for us as a society? How can we change these cultural beliefs and fears of disabled people? Rather than our own individualisms, we need to socially relate more for a more inclusive society. As highlighted in ‘Going for a walk’, Butler instructs us that people with disabilities have gained a social acceptability. This is due to there being more physical access offered in the community. For example, kerb cuts on footpaths, automatic doors, and accessible toilets. Therefore, there are more disabled people out in the world, making this now the ‘norm’. Consequently, society has learned how to interact with them more, leading to more access that is social for all
More recently than ever, the treatment and the representation of the disabled has become an important topic of discussion, with many disabled persons speaking out on the stereotypes of disability and lack of proper portrayal in the media. In her essay “Disability,” author Nancy Mairs describes her life as a woman living with multiple sclerosis, and she examens the lack of accurate portrayal of disability, especially in the media. Similarly, Andre Dubus adds to Mairs’ argument in his essay “Why the Able-Bodied Still Don’t Get It” by elaborating on how his life changed after becoming disabled, an experience that allowed him to understand why the disabled are still stereotyped and how this causes the abled-bodied to not fully understand what it’s
Claim: Beyond conventional sense, there is pride and beauty to be found in disabled bodies despite traditional societal contempt for such bodies. In conversation with Waldemar Januszcak: Indeed, the timeless artistic style that was used in sculpting Allison Lapper is criticism of long-standing exaltation of impossible physical ideals. It is the contrast in Lapper’s form and the idea of misrepresentation that exemplify the desperate human struggle towards a certain notion of beauty, and an equally subjective notion of ugliness. The irony is that in a sense, both types of bodies are exceptional: one because it can never be achieved, and one because it will never be desired, leaving humankind caught in the middle.
A disability can make someone look at a "disabled" person in a specific way, even though they are just as capable as others of doing things. Some people don't realize the impact someone with a disability can have on the world because they are limited and criticized for their issues. People without disabilities can show what they have, and those with disabilities will never even get past the starting line because of people's biased views on disabilities. After listening to the Ted Talk by Keith Nolan, a private cadet, he established ethos, logos, and pathos through his educational speech on the deaf in the military. In the Ted Talk, Keith Nolan backs up his story with emotion, statistics, credible information, and real-life experience.
Peter’s highlights how even though Tracy was the victim of a crime of murder, her disabilities served to make her the problem. This approach worked to devalue people with disabilities and reassert able-bodied norms; it also represented a step backwards in the promotion and understanding of the rights of persons with
Society perceives disable people as unable of doing the daily duty’s that a normal person could do. But in fact, they are wrong. Nancy Mairs describes how she was able to teach writing courses and teach medical students on how to give neurological examinations, making reader able to see that although , she was a “cripple” , she was able to perform some of the work of a professional person in the work- field. According to Mairs’essay “with only one usable hand, I have to select my clothing with care not so much for style as for ease of ingress and egress, and even so, dressing can be laborious”(3). Making it almost impossible for Mairs to dress up, she was to put on the necessary clothes that she needed to be covered by a piece of fabric clothing.
Through all this work, Justin Dart came to the conclusion that the judgement towards disabled people created a toxic relationship disabled and abled individuals and decided to end this. In his explanation for why the ADA was so significant for the disabled, Justin said “It will proclaim to America and to the world that people with disabilities are fully human; that paternalistic, discriminatory, segregationist attitudes are no longer acceptable; and that henceforth people with disabilities must be accorded the same personal respect and the same social and economic opportunities as other people.” (Paragraph 7) The fact that at one point disabled individuals were treated with disrespect, really shows through this quote and emphasizes that this was a great injustice that needed to be ended. The injustice that occurred was that people with disabilities in America were treated poorly and did not have equal rights.
Critical Disability Theory examines of the representations of people with disabilities throughout literature and the construction of ‘normal’ bodies. Avery negatively represents disabilities by
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). Murphy’s performance patterns both support and inhibit his occupational engagement.
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.
Andre Dubus was once able-bodied, who then lost both legs in a car accident. He has experienced both ends of the spectrum, pitying for the disabled and rejecting that pity placed on him. He begins his essay, Why the Abled-Bodied Still Don’t Get It, with two contradictory anecdotes: “I read the newspaper story about a 34-year-old man...he is a quadriplegic.” (Dubus). He then juxtaposed to “I was hit by a car...lost my left leg above the knee; my right leg was too damaged to use.” (Dubus).
n Nancy Mairs essay, “Disability”, she illustrates the lack of representation of people with disabilities in the media. While disability plays a major role in Mairs’ life, she points out the various ways her everyday life is ordinary and even mundane. Despite the normalcy of the lives of citizens with disabilities Mairs argues the media’s effacement of this population, is fear driven. She claims, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about the disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life” (Mairs 14). Able bodied people worry about the prospect of eventually becoming physically impaired.
“The term “inclusion” replaced all previous terminologies, i.e., integrated special education; reverse mainstreaming, previous to the early 1990s in hopes that the word would mean more than placing children with special needs in the regular educational classroom, including a sense of belonging, social relationships, and academic development and learning.” (Odom, Buysse, & Soukakou,
This shows how society has accepted physical trait that is considered different because people with disabilities are now embraces into society and a re even
In this essay I will provide a clear understanding why suffering from a disability can turn into a good thing, the stigma of having a disability, but also understand that suffering can ultimately bring us closer
And a disabled person’s ambition is like all other human beings, the looks of pity and compassion negatively affect that ambition. People should embrace the disabled person and give them a helping hand, and they should have laws, which defend their rights, which should be respected. However, most societies do not have laws that ensure an equal life for the disabled population. It is a shame that the rights of the disabled people has turned many times to mere slogans.