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Nancy Mairs On Being A Cripple Summary

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In “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs, she describes her eventful life as a cripple and her journey to adjusting to a new way of life. “I am not a disease” is something the author says to tell readers that disabled people should not be looked at any differently. It is very clear throughout this piece that Mairs wants the readers to be more informed about cripples and possibly understand what one is going through. Anyone that is a cripple would most likely enjoy this piece and be able to relate to her feelings and experiences. Nancy Mairs is successful in the purpose of her piece by using a sad but humorous tone. “Almost every pickle that i get into as a result of weakness and clumsiness-- and i get into plenty--is funny as well as maddening
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Perhaps she uses the word “cripple” to show that her conditions is more severe for it to be described as “handicapped” or “disabled.” The rhetorical feature she used was tone; it showed that she has already accepted

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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. Furthermore Nancy Mairs does not like other words such as "disabled" or "handicapped" to be used as a description her.

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Nancy Mairs Essay Crippled, handicapped, or disabled? Nancy Mairs describes herself as crippled even though many people who are disabled hate that word. In the passage Nancy Mairs discusses her view and opinion on the three words. Upon discussing the three words she uses tone, word choice, and rhetorical structure to enhance her claims. Nancy Mairs describes herself as crippled and she goes on to tell us that she “would never refer to another person as crippled.

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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.

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775 Words | 4 Pages

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.”

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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.

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807 Words | 4 Pages

A disability can make someone look at a "disabled" person in a specific way, even though they are just as capable as others of doing things. Some people don't realize the impact someone with a disability can have on the world because they are limited and criticized for their issues. People without disabilities can show what they have, and those with disabilities will never even get past the starting line because of people's biased views on disabilities. After listening to the Ted Talk by Keith Nolan, a private cadet, he established ethos, logos, and pathos through his educational speech on the deaf in the military. In the Ted Talk, Keith Nolan backs up his story with emotion, statistics, credible information, and real-life experience.

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481 Words | 2 Pages

Reflection on the article, “The Virtues of Ballpark Normalcy” by Lisa Blumberg Lisa Blumberg defines ballpark normalcy as “ life that is not quite normal-but is ‘in the ballpark.” My question is what is normal? Every person young or old has strengths and weaknesses; this is true to anyone, whether they have a disability or not. The word ballpark in this context refers to a range.

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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!

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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.

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“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.

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897 Words | 4 Pages

Nancy Mairs in, “On Being a Cripple,” she tried to tell a story about how she’s positively trying to live as an ordinary human life even her disability prevent it. Leslie Jamison in, “The Empathy Exams,” she is telling about how the mindset affect their body, and the mindset can help people’s mind to comfort themselves. Depends on how you think, affect you whether in good ways or bad ways. Inferiority complex

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1106 Words | 5 Pages

Melissa Shang decided to attempt to publish a book of a young girl who uses a wheelchair, and she recalled her publishers to give her responses such as “for a girl who was in a wheelchair with a degenerative nerve disease, Mia Lee was just too happy” or how they thought that “Mia Lee’s character didn’t seem suited for a lighthearted story” (Shang). These publishers all had their own views on what disabilities were suppose to look like, they didn’t particularly enjoy Shang’s book as it challenged their perception. Like so, Shang drew the same conclusion, “what she meant is that Mia Lee, my sassy, You-Tube-loving heroine, differed too much from the conversation of what a disabled kid is supposed to be like. There are very few stories about kids in wheelchairs, and there are even fewer with a disabled person who is cheerful and happy. Disability is always seen as a misfortune” (Shang).

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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.”

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575 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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