Rhetorical Analysis Of Nancy Mairs

Nancy Mairs has long been renowned for her essay on disability, providing a powerful insight into the struggles of living with a disability. Having multiple sclerosis herself, Mairs uses her personal experience to paint a vivid picture of the physical and emotional difficulties those with disabilities face in everyday life. By discussing her experiences, Mairs allows readers to gain a more profound understanding of what living with a disability is truly like. From the physical toll her disease takes to the mental health problems it brings, Mairs' essay serves as a reminder of the hardships those with disabilities face and serves as a wake-up call for society on how to better interact with people with disabilities. Throughout her essay, Nancy

Mairs uses her work as a way to impact others and realize how disabled people may feel about their actions. She writes,” In most ways I'm just like every other woman of my age, nationality, and socioeconomic background. I menstruate, so I have to buy tampons. I worry about smokers' breath, so I buy mouthwash. I smear my wrinkling skin with lotions.”(paragraph 4). The author uses this text to explain she is just like anybody else without disabilities. She goes on to explain her personal experiences with social media workers. One example of this is, “I once asked a local advertiser why he didn't include disabled people in his spots. His response seemed direct enough. ''We don't want to give people the idea that our product is just for the handicapped,'' he said.”( paragraph 5). Nancy continued this conversation by adding,”If you saw my blind niece ordering a Coke, would you switch to Pepsi lest you be struck sightless? No, I think the advertiser's excuse masked a deeper and more anxious rationale: to depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it might enter anybody's life”( paragraph 5). To further explain, Nancy sought further clarification on the lack of representation in media from an industry professional, wondering whether a disabled person advertising a product would promote the idea that only disabled people could use it. He felt that such a situation highlighted an underlying truth - the exclusion of diversity in media. Puzzled by such a gap in representation, Nancy continued to explore the impact such an unequal status has on our collective understanding of the world. Nancy is vocal about the dearth of representation for those in the media industry with disabilities, which is a significant issue in need of an innovative solution. Balancing complexity and succinctness, her approach