Nancy Mairs 'Body In Trouble'

And if “Had anyone been there with her, she’d have been still and faint and hot with chagrin, (Mairs 259).” Instead of pitying herself, Mairs is able joke about her hardships in her day-to-day life despite having physical incapabilities. She then continues with a steady, yet uplifting tone as she explains the reasoning behind why she labels herself as a “cripple”, stating that it is a “clean word, straightforward, and precise, (Mairs 260).” She believes that words like “disabled” or “handicapped” are words that are “moving [her] away from her condition, to be widening the gap between word and reality, (Mairs 260).” By using these euphemisms for her condition, people tend to view her as something she isn 't. She believes that these words characterize no one because "Society is no readier to accept crippledness than to accept death, war, sex, sweat, or wrinkles, (Mairs

“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.

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 reason why it is a rarity to see disabled people in advertisements is

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 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.

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.

As an individual who developed a serious case of multiple sclerosis, Nancy Mairs begins to see herself in a different way, not as a normal person but as a “cripple”. As she opens with “I am a cripple.”. The disease ripped away her ability to walk. The disease allowed her to realize the deeper meaning of derogatory terms, such as “disabled” or “handicapped, especially the term “cripple”. The disease redrew her personal sketch, becoming something though physically lacking, yet resilient beyond comparison. By combining rhetorical strategies with rhetorical appeals, Mairs presents herself in a way that invokes an emotional response from the reader.

In the passage Nancy Mairs calls herself cripple. She uses different rhetorical mode and devices such as similes to the reader an emotional appeal. In the passage cripple is used to symbolize handicap and disabled. This gives the reader an emotional appeal to how she’s feeling. Nancy Mairs being called handicap lowers confidence, making her feel weak. When people hear handicap they think not able to care for themselves. Nancy wants to be known as a tough individual able to take care of herself. The reader can feel the agony of what Nancy is feeling. The tone of this passage is determination and agony. Nancy feels that cripple is more stronger word than “handicap” or ‘disabled.” The word word cripple gives Nancy hope and strength and makes her a strong individual. But her having to go through agony and pain of being called handicap or disabled, doesn’t give her the confidence she needs. Even though Nancy calls herself cripple to give hope and strength. Cripple symbolizes weak, meaning not being able to take care of herself but in this passage cripple symbolizes confidence and strength.

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.

Nancy Mairs, the author of “On Being a Cripple”, suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, a degenerative neurological auto-immune disease. In her essay Mairs writes how in the end her life did not really change all that much. In fact aside from banging around the kitchen a little more often and being slightly more clumsy, her life was just great. Her family was supportive, and she was able to easily come to terms with her disability, she was able to move forward with her life needing only minimal adaptations. And that is just great.

“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 . I don’t have time for BS.” - Neil Cavuto. In “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs discusses the language of American society while including personal accounts of her struggle with multiple sclerosis (MS). Mairs presents herself as a proud individual through her utterly defiant personality, her word choice in deciding to identify as a cripple, and explaining why other socially accepted euphemisms do not define her.

Nancy Mairs describes herself as crippled and she goes on to tell us that she “would never refer to another person as crippled. It is the word I use to name myself.” Her statement proves that she understand how disabled people feel about the word, but she, herself does not fear it. Mair decided on the word crippled because she wants the world to see her as someone who “fate/gods” has treated harshly, but

In the passage, Nancy Mairs introduces herself as crippled but confident. She explains who she is as a “cripple”. She is a liberated and brilliant person who is bold in what she believes in. Throughout the passage she uses every word to depict her disadvantages as a “cripple”.

Nancy Mairs, “On Being a Cripple” was an interesting article. The word choices she has used plays an important role in her article. Her article is very detailed oriented and used different examples to explain her situation about being a cripple. Mairs had no excuse about her situation even after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and she continues to be the best at her job of parenting and wife. She had really emphasized her struggles that she went through and how she had coped with the fact that her life will never be the same. This article can turn out to be an inspiring article for people who are suffering from multiple sclerosis or other disabilities. Mairs begins her introduction with a hilarious event which is an attention grabbing for a reader. Then she

Eiesland, Hull, and many others draw attention to the harmful side of Scripture’s disability imagery; while this imagery can be used to express spiritual healing and hope, it is all too often is at the expense of those living with disabilities. This, then, presents a crucial issue: how are modern people, particularly Christians, to interpret passages about disability? Especially passages persons with disability label as damaging and