Every mark conveys a meaning usually changing depending upon the text . In cutting edge times, being called a cripple In any case, in the paper titled, "On Being a Disabled person" by Nancy Mairs, the maker legitimizes calling herself a debilitated individual, clearly insinuating a low self-respect at first look. Mairs contradicts that idea, also plotting her puzzling individual, social, and societal buildings in life. At the end of her article, she tells the group that she is an apt, driven, and shrewd woman who can manage both her degenerative contamination and the hardships of life, far from the slight, adolescent person who abhors herself.
At the end of her chapter, “Body in Trouble”, Nancy Mairs notes that all too often individuals with physical disabilities are excluded from moral life. In her words, she says “people don’t generally expect much of a cripple’s character” and describes the difficulty of helping in normal charitable activities (such as serving at a soup kitchen). Mairs is realistic about her ability to contribute to certain charitable activities—she cannot chop vegetables or scrub dishes. If a life of service is a Christian calling, like the church affirms, how can we expand our idea of what “service” is so that all people can engage with it? What ways can those with disabilities provide care for non-disabled people, so that the direction does not strictly flow
“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 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.
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.
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.
"We're born alone we live alone die alone. Only through love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone” Orson Welles. In John Steinbeck's novel, “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck focuses on the struggle of having a disability while struggling to get by during the American Great Depression on a Californian ranch life. Even though one may have to live around their disability, they do not let that become a big stepping stone in the life, whether they know about it or not. In John Steinbeck's novel, “Of Mice and Men”, Lennie Small, Carlson and Crooks are three great examples of how they keep living their lives despite the facts that they each have a disabilities to their lives.
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).
Being in the Congo forces Adah to look at her disability in a different way—almost like reading a book backward. "Nobody cares that she 's bad on one whole side," she says, "because they 've all got their own handicap" (1.7.11). People in Kilanga are missing arms, legs, and eyes, and they go on about their daily business like it 's no big thing. We have a feeling she has the same view of her body as many people in Kilanga do: it 's just a tool, a vessel to carry her through this life.
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
Communication is one of the most important aspects of human life. Without communication, we would be a primitive society of wild animals, unable to cooperate and achieve great feats, such as building the Pyramids, landing on the Moon, or organizing a democracy. All people rely on communication to express ideas that motivate positive societal and political change. Yet not everybody communicates in the same way. There are several thousand languages that people speak; there are several hundred thousand people around the world that suffer from disabilities such and blindness or deafness that require special means of communications such as braille or sign language. Naturally, those who communicate differently or are different from other people in general are prone to stereotypes and widespread discrimination. Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a critique of and a unique story regarding the untruth of many of those stereotypes surrounding the visually impaired. Acceptance of people different from ourselves because of spoken language or disability is pertinent to understanding their lives and the world we live in, and through my personal experiences, I now understand that to the fullest extent. The theme of tolerance within the context of language and communication barriers rings loudly in Robert and the narrator’s encounter in “Cathedral”, my personal relationship to my late aunt, and my experience being the son of an immigrant, all of them teaching that those that are blind, or
The Religion of Disability: How Flannery O’Connor Uses the Concept of Disability in “The Lame Shall Enter First”