Sharon M. Draper's Out Of My Mind

Nancy Mairs, a feminist writer who has Multiple Sclerosis, defines the terms in which she interest the most with the world. Nancy Mairs will name herself a cripple and not be by others. She will choose a word that represents her reality for example in the beginning of her story she mentioned about her being in the bathroom trying to come up with a story about cripples. She was in the handicap bathroom and when she tried to open the door she fell, landing fully clothed on the toilet seat with her legs splayed in front of her and she said “the old beetle -on-it’s back routine.”

Mary Mcaleese, one of the former presidents of Ireland, works as a current affairs journalist who truly researches her topic. In fact, she once spent a day in a wheelchair in Dublin, one of the most unfriendly wheelchair cities in the world. She once said, “people with disabilities have abilities too” (Mcaleese). Many people throughout the world develop stereotypes, and those who have disabilities make up a great number of these stereotypes. These people need to understand that their body has limits, but their mind does not.

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. Humor- Mairs lives with multiple sclerosis, and when the reader realizes this it immediately makes them feel sympathy for her.

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.

Mairs opens her writing by saying “I am a cripple.” which instantaneously creates a serious tone. Mairs continues with her serious tone which keeps the reader engaged. Mairs supports her tone by addressing her issues with terms kin to cripple from simple ones such as: “handicapped” and “disabled” to the more uncommon yet euphemistic terms such as: “differently

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.

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.

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.

Leaving people who have a disability out of things and forgetting about them hurts their feelings. For instance, in Mairs’ essay she says “…you might feel as though you don’t exist, in any meaningful social sense, at all” (14). No one wants to feel that way, but people who have a disability go through it all the time. The media’s influence may convince people who have a disability to feel as if they’re an outsider since they have a “shameful” part of

Throughout the centuries the growth in special needs children and adults have increased dramatically. Although there isn’t many statistics nor many records of how many special needs people there were in the early 1930’s it’s still apparent that they were there. The book “Of Mice And Men” written by John Steinbeck he uses the characters Lennie, who appears to be special needs, and George, Lennie’s caretaker, to show the contrast between the two mental capacities and the role of dependency on another. In Steinbeck’s “Of Mice And Men” the character Lennie Smalls shows that the actions and consequences differ from people who have special needs or mental disorders from those who don’t.

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”.

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.”

In the article, “When Wheelchairs Are Cool”, the author, Ben Mattlin discusses why he believes it is okay for able bodied people to ride around in wheelchairs and take on the look of a disabled person, but it is not okay if you are making fun of disabled people. It is also not acceptable for people that are bound to wheelchairs to take advantage of able bodied people’s sympathy for their situation whether it be through accepting free things or getting a discount. The main strategy Mattlin uses to persuade his reader is pathos, particularly humor which creates a light tone throughout the article. Also, Mattlin proves his credibility and proves his point by planning the time at which he published his article. Mattlin’s main claim in his article is that being in a wheelchair is not as bad as it seems.

To her, identifying with the word “cripple” makes her tough, like a cancer survivor. She throws the idea right back at American society that she does not want to be identified as “handicapped” or “disabled”. She

While doing so, Mairs uses logic, humor, and an optimistic tone to break the societal attitude towards people with disabilities, portraying her success and the positivity throughout her life with multiple