Frida Kahlo: A Life With Disability

Cripple Intro. and First Body Paragraph “I don’t know if many people know this about me, but I have multiple sclerosis. So I don’t have time for a lot of shades of gray .

In American society, if American’s do not look the same as society’s ideal image, then they are not considered normal. Those non normal American’s are treated as if they have a plague and are left on the outside always looking in. The people who have something that sets them apart from the norm, such as a disability, should not be treated differently than the people who are society’s version of normal. In “Disability” by Nancy Mairs, the problem of judging a book by its cover discusses individual examples relating to people who have a disability.

It is something I didn’t and I’m sure a lot of people don’t know much of, like the author points out. It didn’t surprise me because with her overcoming what she did it makes sense that she would want to help and be sympathetic towards others with handicaps, especially those becoming handicap because of the class they are in. I feel like the answer to why her adult life isn’t in public memory is answered in the reading when it says, “her conversion to socialism caused a new storm of publicity – this time outraged” (Loewen 14). The public, and I’m sure the government, didn’t like that she became a socialist.

She never let her autism hinder just how special her mind was. She had a gift, and used it as such. It was really inspiring to know she didn’t see herself less than anyone else just because of her autism. She says “different, not less” and there is so much truth to this simple quote. No one is less than anyone else, but we are all different in our own special way.

Frida Kahlo created many glorious pieces. One of her most intriguing pieces is The Two Fridas. The image is quite symbolic and meaningful. Kahlo was a Mexican artist greatly known for her self portraits and the pain, passion and feminism of her paintings. The name of the piece I choose to analysis is Las dos Fridas, also known as The Two Fridas.

She is instead left alone in a sense and forced to overcome this obstacle, which is arguably more difficult to handle than the physical disability

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.

In The Disabled God, Nancy Eiesland articulates a persistent thread in the Christian tradition concerning how persons with disabilities are viewed. All too often, she notes, they are seen as either “divinely blessed or damned: the defiled evildoer or the spiritual superhero.” These polarizing portrayals do not emerge out of thin air, but rather can be linked to various texts in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament which have helped form prevalent attitudes and assumptions regarding disabilities. John Hull’s “Open Letter from a Blind Disciple to a Sighted Savior” exposes the danger of interpreting Biblical texts without consideration for how those interpretations impact persons with disabilities. One example of this is when Hull takes issue with Jesus’ use of metaphors to diminish those with disabilities, a trend which often continues into the present day:

The appearance is not important for our lives. Most people would say that yes. Appearance is important, but it’s not everything to know who they really are. Lucy Grealy in, Autobiography of a Face, has cancer on her face, and she has to remove the part of her face. That ruins her childhood. In her college years, she learns the way how she looks is not the only thing to her life. Nancy Mairs in, On Being a Cripple, suffer from a disability, and has uncomfortable movements. Although Grealy and Mairs suffer from their illness, at the end, the way how Grealy and Mairs look is not everything to them. No matter how people view their illness that cause their appearance doesn’t change who they are.

Elsie Newcombe English 101 Professor Costello 27 September 2015 What if Invisible wasn't Invisible?b “I wish I had the luxury of being sick instead of having to go to work every day.” (Copen[CNN]). But for so many people being sick is their full time job. Imagine waking up every morning and being just as tired as the night before, imagine taking a shower and being down for the count— when you live with a chronic illness this is a day to day normality. Living with a chronic illness is exhausting.

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.

Words are very powerful. They have enormous power to convey with a purpose of insult which may have a devastating impact. The most astonishing characteristics about words is they can mean completely different from one person to another person. In Nancy Mairs, "On Being a Cripple" she uses the words cripple to describe herself. Nancy is a powerful women who insist that this word is her choice and a way of accepting the fact of her disables. She has multiple sclerosis. In the essay she describes the struggles of her condition and knows that it causes her to have limitation in everyday societal procedures. She blunt choice of word to describe only herself and no other. After reading her essay, the word "Cripple" is neither informal, accurate, nor realistic. It is derived from the Old English word cripple, to crawl, and is considered offensive. I define the term for being

Throughout history, art has been used to explore the identity of individuals and of society. Two artists who encapsulate both society and their own identities through their works are, Frida Kahlo and Cindy Sherman. Frida Kahlo (1907- 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her "surrealist" self-portraits. Kahlo's paintings "The Two Frida's" and "Self-portrait with cropped hair" embody Kahlo's personal struggles with her identity throughout her life. Contrastingly, Cindy Sherman (1954- ) is an American photographer and film director knows most famously for her controversial portraits.

Although she detests surrealism, her work was influenced by surrealism and had an enormous impact on Latin American art. European art movements have always influenced Latin America and inspired

In “The Social Construction of Disability,” Susan Wendell briefly discusses how the fast pace of American life impacts the social construction of disability through an inability for people with “disabilities” to maintain expectations of a high-performance level. Wendell also claims that the pace of life causes disability in many people’s lives, but quickly moves on to another topic, referencing chapter four of Barbara Hillyer’s Feminism and Disability in the footnotes as a place for more information on this argument. In Hillyer’s chapter “Productivity and Pace,” she writes to the feminist and disability communities, analyzing how the pace of life affects them both in similar ways. Through an analysis of how people with disabilities are forced to set their own daily pace, Hillyer hopes to encourage others to learn about the necessity of slowing down.