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Stigma of mental disability
Societies attitudes towards individuals with disabilities
Stigma of mental disability
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Can you ever imagine a world of unaccepting individuals, constant fight, and the loathe differences and disabilities? Could you imagine a world where no one could get along? Unfortunately, we as a clique and community are reaching nearing such a world. Adversely but sadly true, some communities and countries have already begun to discriminate against young adolescents and adults with special needs, or different views, turning into a constant fight for survival. James Hurst's short story, The Scarlet Ibis and Ray Bradbury's, A Golden Kite, The Silver Wind, Hurst and Bradbury discuss themes of allegory, rivalry, vanity and pride through characters in both stories, The narrator of The Scarlet Ibis and The Mandarin of The Golden Kite, A Silver
In today's world there are many people with differences, but people may not always accept them. For example, I have a friend named Reece. Reece was in a car accident when he was 5 years old. This crash took away his ability to speak and he was paralyzed from the waist down. Since then he has had multiple surgeries to try to help, but sadly they have not been able to make him walk and talk again.
(The oxford english dictionary: Oxford languages 2018) The first similarity is that both oppressed groups here cannot change the things about them that make the two groups targets. You cannot choose to be trans or change your race. Secondly, how do these minorities face social rejection?
The main arguments that Davis Lennard has placed out for this introduction are the constructive views of normality versus disability. To summarize Lennard’s argument, he states that the majority of a population and/or society must be similar, to be recognized as “normal.” What is then “normal” is now seen as average, thus, creating a false illusion for one to “idealize” for something that is considered better than what is known as the average. And because we are constructed to have an ideal type of a body, we see a disabled body as the “problem,” even though that is not the case. Lennard states that the disabled body becomes a body that is less than an average body (aka normal body).
Can a mentally incapable man become really smart in a few weeks? Charlie Gordon in the book “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. A Science fiction character Charlie Gordon, who is mentally challenged and wanted to be like others. Charlie Gordon wants to be smart and be normal like others. He is a grown man the age of 38 with mental issues.
Deborah Brock (2009) article, “Moving beyond Deviance: Power, Regulation, and Governmentality” unpack the construction of the discourse of normalization which determines what is normal and abnormal in society. Furthermore, Deborah Brock discloses, how social regulation, moral and governing bodies have shaped the creation of what is normal. Those regulatory bodies are social institution such as, school, religion and political agendas have all influence our socialization in society and influence our beliefs. Audre Lorde gives a construction of a normalized gaze that is a dominant discourse that is perpetuated in society to represent truth.
Elizabeth Grozs states that “grotesque” disabilities; siamese twins, rubber man, dwarfs, giants, etc, have to live their lives as “freaks.” Which in other terms, to be commercialized for entertainment, thus creating an explanation of the need to understand the human body of what is considered “normal.” Grozs, however, puts out a disclaimer before she explains her argument; the term “freak” is a political label that is targeted specifically towards a group of disabled people. It is a tricky term, it excludes some disabilities as it focuses more on those who are seen as “simultaneously and compulsively fascinating and repulsive, enticing and sickening” (56). Genetics, heredity, embryology, histology, medical, and sometimes conscious effort are all factors of the “freaks.”
What does it mean to be normal? To look and act like everyone else? To be conformed to societies expectations? Or, is it to be confident and self-assured that even if people think differently about the way someone looks that that is irrelevant because what other people think does not matter. In the novel, Geek Love, written by Katherine Dunn, normality, what it means to be “normal”, or even if normal exists is question and a theme that is brought up throughout the whole book.
Charlie was constantly mocked and made fun of at his workplace where he worked as a janitor and delivery boy. They constantly would tease him in this way but Charlie didn’t know what they meant because he not understanding that they were making fun of him laughed along. At the zenith of his intelligence, as he was starting to remember his childhood, Charlie himself realized how terrible he was treated because he was mentally retarded. Our world now more accepting and welcoming towards the mentally disabled was not always excepting especially in the time the book Flowers for Algernon was placed in. The book provides us with a clear picture of how the mentally disabled were treated.
The Damaging Definiton of “Normal” The ableist view of “normal” is so powerful it creates a mindset that students with disabilities should be forever chasing what is “normal” (Hodge & Runswick, 2013).Ableist views led to the consequence of children needing to fit the mold of “normal” or face exclusion from their peers. Children are often expected to “exceed” expectations and match their peers in order to be accepted (Hodge & Runswick, 2013). Parents feel the need to raise their children to act “normal” (Storey, 2007).
The famous theorist and author Robert Anthony once said that “[p]eople concern themselves with being normal, rather than natural.” There are many people in the world who would like to disagree with this statement based on how they personally view the word ‘normal’, though, there are many others who would agree. Both parties are portrayed in the short story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes that was then converted into a movie in 2000. The main character Charlie Gordon is mentally handicapped and earns the chance to become ‘smart’ with a surgical procedure on his brain, and there are certain people that seem to use it against him, such as his coworkers at the bread making factory he works in. Although, there are still other characters, such as his teacher Miss Alice Kinnian who believes that his attitude towards life was ‘better’ than how other people view the story, just showing that the definition of ‘normal’ differs from person to
Their father was a very abusive alcoholic and their mother was a
In society today, normalcy is average; some are above, and some are below. In this short story, that is removed.
When my cousin was born with a genetic disorder, her family looked forward to a hopeful future. If she had been born nearly 50 years before, she would’ve been segregated from the public because she was different. My hero, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, spent her whole life to create that inclusive world. Eunice had an older sister who had an intellectual disability, but the Kennedy's didn't seclude her from their daily adventures. She fought for everything her sister didn't have, even when it seemed like her current world would never see past society's labels.
Normal has changed from culture to culture. For example, somebody with an individualistic culture focuses on personal growth and success, while somebody with a collectivist culture, focuses on harmonizing with its group, and in building and maintaining relationships. Furthermore, according to the sociocultural perspective, a change or shift happens because of the fact that what 's considered normal is not concrete, and normality happens to change over time, through people 's social context, and across generations. However, if we use the statistical perspective to figure out normality, then we are comparing ourselves to the masses of other people. Therefore, we can safely conclude that normality is an ever-changing phenomenon, no matter which perspective we view it
