ipl-logo

Analysis Of Nancy Mairs 'Disability'

1280 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Why did nancy mairs write on being a crippled essay

There are thousands of people who face challenges that come with having physical disabilities everyday, and many do not understand this reality. Having a disability does not mean that one is weak and pitiful, but rather brave and admirable for having to adapt to the challenges that most do not have to face. Three authors who advocate for disability representation, Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, and Harriet McBryde Johnson, are able to elaborate on their views of disability representation in the world today. Through Mairs’ essay, “Disability”, she is able to convey her thoughts on the media’s inclusion of people with disabilities. Similarly, Dubus wrote “Why the Able-Bodied Still Don’t Get It”, and in his essay, he explains how his thoughts on disability …show more content…

The personal stories that Mairs discusses in “Disability”, regard her struggle with multiple sclerosis as well as the lack of representation she finds for disabled people in the media. For example, in the fifth paragraph, Mairs recalls asking a local advertiser why he didn’t include people with disabilities in his adverts, and he explained that he didn’t want people to think his products were only for disabled people. Mairs calls this an excuse and asks, “If you saw me pouring puppy biscuits, would you think these kibbles were only for the puppies of the cripples?” (Mairs). By including this question, Mairs is able to elaborate on her thoughts on the lack of representation in the media as well as the dismissive behavior that she receives from people in her everyday life. In Andre Dubus’ “Why the Able-Bodied Still Don’t Get It”, Dubus similarly describes how he recognizes himself being treated patronizingly by others. Furthermore, Dubus explains how prior to being hit by a car and losing the use of his legs, he had not understood the disabled community. While discussing this Dubus states, “I lacked the compassion and courage to imagine someone else’s suffering” (Dubus). This statement shows a perspective that is true for many people who do not understand how a disability affects one’s life, and Dubus is able to convey this message in his essay. Harriet McBryde Johnson also has a valuable perspective on disability representation and treatment that she argues in her essay “Should I Have Been Killed at Birth?”. As someone who struggles with a physical disability that caused her back to form a “S-curve”, Johnson describes how people “think they know everything there is to know, just by looking at me” (Johnson). Moreover, Johnson exemplifies a

Show More
Related
159 Words | 1 Pages

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”. Nancy Mairs tone throughout the passage was neutral. Statements like “I am cripple.

Read More
818 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

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. Harriet McBryde Johnson was born in 1957 with a neuromuscular disease. At the time of this essay, she had been disabled for over four decades. Born to parents who both taught foreign language, they were able to afford hired help but she knew it could not be for her whole life.

Read More
1642 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

The fact that disability is used as a way to determine who will be at the will of the Nazi’s, shows that people with disabilities are seen as a burden or liability rather than individuals with inherent value. The quote shows the injustices that people with disabilities face, and emphasizes the need for society to become more accepting of

Read More
233 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
1224 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

Only very recently has American society changed its views on the disabled and the dying. Up until the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, most buildings did not provide wheelchair access, and doors were not wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair in most homes. Disability exposes us to the fragility of humanity, a concept our society is deeply uncomfortable with. In the novel Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom presents the story of a disability that focuses not on the disability of the disease, but on the way in which Morrie’s character and status affects his experience of the disease.

Read More
1355 Words | 6 Pages

“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.

Read More
226 Words | 1 Pages

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.”

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
584 Words | 3 Pages

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”.

Read More
575 Words | 3 Pages

The words has been brought for ages as an insult it is often referred to someone who is slow and weak. Throughout history it has a negative connotation and Mairs has many comments to make about how disability does not fit well in our youth-oriented, physical-fitness-obsessed culture, and on how social expectations influence whether she adapts or fails to adapt. It simples represents Mairs

Read More
705 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1333 Words | 6 Pages

And a disabled person’s ambition is like all other human beings, the looks of pity and compassion negatively affect that ambition. People should embrace the disabled person and give them a helping hand, and they should have laws, which defend their rights, which should be respected. However, most societies do not have laws that ensure an equal life for the disabled population. It is a shame that the rights of the disabled people has turned many times to mere slogans.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Nancy Mairs 'Disability'

Related Topics

Open Document