Speech By Nancy Mairs

In The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez, Maribels brain injury is what brought the Rivera family from Mexico to the United States. Early on we learn that Maribel received a brain injury that changed her life completely. Arturo and Alma made a great commitment to leave their home, friends and culture behind to save their one and only child. As we explore and learn the experiences the family faced in their new home, we understand that different people have distinct views on Maribels injury. Arturo and Alma believe that their child will never be the same, Garrett believes that she is just an object he can use, and Mayor believes that Maribel is a wonderful woman. These three different perspectives really tackle the question of how to treat a disabled person. Does protecting Maribel more mean that they accept that Maribel is disabled, or is treating her as if nothing is wrong the best way to her recovery? What is certain is that facing a serious injury

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.

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

A life of severe disability, is not a life worth living. Therefore, an infant born with a severe physical or cognitive impairment should not be allowed to live. Or any person for that matter, regardless of age who suffers from a severe cognitive disability should be lawfully killed. At least that is a belief held by a certain professor at Princeton University. Harriet McBryde Johnson, a disability advocate and lawyer had the opportunity to debate these beliefs with Professor Peter Singer. In “Unspeakable Conversations” she details her experience. Harriet McBryde Johnson effectively uses the rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos, along with her uses of first-person narrative and descriptive language, to support her argument that contrary to stereotypes, a person living with a severe disability can live a happy and fulfilling life.

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 this essay Nancy Mairs presents herself as someone who is crippled. Out of many others possibilities of names to be called Mairs states that she prefers being called "crippled" because it is more straightforward and precise. In addition she states that she would like to be seen as a tough person whom fate/gods have not been kind to. The word "crippled" also evokes emotion from people which is also what she would like.

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.” not only does she make fun of herself, but she also has a great sense of humor. The little details she puts on her stories will make you picture it in your mind. She just doesn't want her readers to see her as a handicap person, but a person who wants the world to see her as a tough woman. One whom the fates, gods, viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her disabilities.

I appreciate Lisa Blumberg, sharing her views on her experiences of being a child with a disability. Consequently, she wrote the article solely based on her own experiences and needs as a person with a physical disability. However, Lisa's beliefs may not offer an accurate interpretation of every person that has a disability wants and needs. For instance, when she says, “excessive praise for doing something normal is not a spur to further achievement. Instead, it just makes a person feel like a freak." I would argue that excessive praise is not healthy for anyone. However, I don’t agree that everyone praised or

In "On Being a Cripple", Nancy Maris focuses on how her life changed after she became a "cripple", and how society sees people with a disabilities. She starts out by explaining why she calls herself a "cripple", because she believes that it gives the best definition that best describes her. It also gives her confidence, and empowers her to face the hand that she was dealt, with “swagger”(29). She shares some of the hardships that she endured after she found out that she had multiple sclerosis. She mentions that her family has been a big part of her life, the support that she gets helps her get thought the day “Fatigued and infuriated, I bellow, I’m so sick of being crippled! Anne …There now… do you feel better… Yes I do”(34). She also talks

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 describes herself as a “cripple” and only that. In the passage, she describes her reasoning behind her fondness of the word “cripple” and not other terms more openly used by others such as “disabled” or “handicapped.” To achieve getting her message out she uses different tones and specific words.

In the passage Nancy Maria prefers to call herself “cripple”. She finds “disabled” and “handicapped” to be inaccurate of her condition. Nancy Mairs uses tone, word choice, and rhetorical structure to convey feelings on the term “cripple”.

Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt and The Crazy Horse Electric Game by Chris Crutcher are two great examples of literature that include realistic portrayals of characters with disabilities. In Donna Adomat’s paper about the Issues of Physical Disabilities in Cynthia Voight’s Izzy, Willy-Nilly and Chris Crutcher’s The Crazy Horse Electric Game, Adomat views Isobel’s friends as being superficial after the car accident which leads Izzy to discover the true meaning of friendship.

Jillian Weise was born in Houston, Texas in 1981. Her first collection of poetry was The Amputee’s Guide to Sex which was published in 2007. This collection of poetry is very fitting for Weise because she herself is an amputee. Weise was born with a birth defect which then made her an above the knee amputee. This idea of disabilities and being disability advocate can also found in many of her other poems.

Have you ever thought of what a disabled person thinks ? Being isolated or rejected because you 're “ different “ ? People with disabilities are treated unfairly because of their abnormality. People that are disabled are constantly isolated and excluded from certain things. There are many stereotypes that are set around people who are disabled and often lead to people believing that they are true. A common stereotype is “ They’re all the same.” .