Comparing The Works Of Andre Dubus And Harriet Mcbryde Johnson

People with disabilities have faced several challenges with their own experience over time. Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, and Harriet McBryde Johnson are three different writers expressing their diverse experiences through essays. Each present their perspective in different angles but share similar themes of frustration, thriumphs, and the need for equality. Nancy Mairs is a strong woman who claims to be a feminist and has also been living with MS since her early MS diagnosis. Throughout her essay, Disability, she exposes the lack of representation of the disabled in media. Andre Dubus was once an active man who became crippled due to a car accident. He illustrates his experiences a, as well as other disabled individuals with whom he has crossed

Andre Dubus was once able-bodied, who then lost both legs in a car accident. He has experienced both ends of the spectrum, pitying for the disabled and rejecting that pity placed on him. He begins his essay, Why the Abled-Bodied Still Don’t Get It, with two contradictory anecdotes: “I read the newspaper story about a 34-year-old man...he is a quadriplegic.” (Dubus). He then juxtaposed to “I was hit by a car...lost my left leg above the knee; my right leg was too damaged to use.” (Dubus). The use of the juxtaposition was to emphasize his disability from the other man. The first paragraph revealed a man who is far more injured, and yet he is hopeful for the future. Dubus on the other hand, immediately accepted his fate with anger and frustration: “So why...did I feel rage instead of gratitude?” (Dubus). Dubus was not only frustrated about his lack of mobility, but the lack of handicapped accessibility. He also expressed his opinions, when still abled, toward other disabled: “I felt the embarrassment of being whole…” (Dubus), as well as when he became disabled: “...when I fell backwards in my chair...I lay helpless and hurt.” (Dubus). Because Dubus experienced both perspectives, not only increases his credibility, but gives his audience an eyewitness look into the life of a non-disabled. Some articles in the abled-bodied

She opens her essay, Should I have Been Killed at birth, with a perturbing occurrence of her speaking at a seminar hosted by a man who believes she and others like her should grant the parents the choice to kill or murder a fetus with a possible disability, or even later in life to be possibly killed. This event is significant in all its irony. Johnson was born with a physical deformity and finds nonetheless beauty in herself, a confidence not even the able-bodied can achieve. She continuously states her self-acceptance until it becomes excessive: “It's not that I’m ugly...I’ve been entirely comfortable in my skin...I enjoy my life…” (Johnson). Repetition is only way she has drilled the idea that she can be happy. Johnson also includes numerous questions she received after her interaction with Peter Singer, “Was he grossed out by your physical appearance?” or “How did he handle having an interaction with someone you?” (Johnson). Johnson the incorporates patronizing and or disturbing comments she recieves on a daily basis, “God bless you! I will pray for you.” or “If I lived like you, I think I’d kill myself.” (Johnson). Her exegence is to inform the public of her analysis of those confused and indirectly patronizing around her. Johnson claims, “They don’t know they’re confused, that they’re really expressing the discombobulation