“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anna Fadiman tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong child with epilepsy, whose life could have been different if only her family was caught up in western medicine. This book reveals the tragic struggles between a doctor and patient because of lack of communication. When Lia was around three months old, her older sister Yer accidentally slammed a door and Lia had suddenly fallen into the floor. This is the first recorded time that Lia was experiencing an epileptic shock.
Finding Petey Petey, by Ben Mikaelsen, is the story of a man who grew up with cerebral palsy, but was misdiagnosed an idiot. Petey had a very long tough life and most people believed he could not think, but some people saw past his cerebral palsy and helped make his life special. First,there was Esteban, a small 17 year old Mexican boy. Petey was already eight years old and had been living at the infants ward for a long time when Estaban started working there.
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.”
The book, Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper is centered around the life of a eleven year old girl, Melody Brooks, struggling with an extreme case of cerebral palsy. Melody is stuck in a wheelchair and can not talk but, she has a photographic memory. Melody first describes how her school started “inclusion classes” for the disabled students where they go to classes with average students. Melody realized that she knew a lot of the information the teacher would describe and she so badly wanted to answer questions but she was unable do
Kurt inspired a young man by the name of Waryk Holmes who was diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy soon after his birth. Soon after Kurt shared his story to Waryk, he was inspired to compete in wheelchair racing in his local town. Waryk has now gone on to win the under 20’s gold in the 100 metres wheelchair race at the Athletics ACT Championships and has achieved and accomplished many of his life goals due to Kurt’s sympathy and understanding. Kurt’s overall personality displays characteristics that can change people’s lives by showing courage, support, compassion, and resilience to everyone that he meets throughout his life. Kurt Fearnley has and most likely will continue to impact communities and people throughout Australia.
The short story “Sucker” by Carson McCullers portrays the one-sided admiration expressed by the main character’s younger cousin, Richard, towards him, as well as his own towards his crush. McCullers conveys the idea of the story through characterization and irony of the way the main character, Pete’s treatment of Richard, previously referred to as Sucker, parallels the treatment he received from his crush, Maybelle. Pete consistently took advantage of Richard because he was always eager to please his older brother figure, much like Maybelle was only nice to Pete as long as he was useful to her. In the end, after losing both his love interest and the respect of Richard, Pete learns that those who are cruel to others typically do so because they remind them of themselves. Characterization plays a large role in the development of the theme.
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.
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.
In her essay Nancy gracefully articulated her perception of her situation and chooses to label her as “Crippled”. The struggles that she goes through to in a day to day bases, for example when she starts off the essay by describing her experience in a bathroom stall and how she laughs at her own situation. She insightfully defines her being crippled in the way she pursues and interacts with the world. As I defined the word in a sense of being incompetent in day to day societal procedures which is exactly proven in the essay. She is slow and struggles in her day to rituals and she accepts it.
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.
After a decade-long hiatus from songwriting, Logan Mader (ex-Machine Head, ex-Soulfly) decided to re-emerge in 2014, releasing a debut album entitled [i]”The Life I Remember”[/i] a year later by his new band, Once Human. Firmly rooted in the melodic death metal category, Once Human quickly gained attention from established bands, such as Fear Factory and Gojira, aided further by Mader’s return to the fold. Three years on, Once Human appears more primed than ever to drop their sophomore album, “Evolution”. Evolution is a necessity in all aspects of life. Within music, it is a way to develop the genre, to attract attention and, most importantly, to remain relevant.
When Friesen started junior high school, his seizures started. After having his first seizure in the middle of a class, he faced social isolation from his classmates, “The lesson I learned from that is, you’re totally alone. There are other learning disorders and disabilities; you can’t see them. We can hide them…” (PsychologyToday.com) Friesen tries to hide his Tourettes and seizures from his classmates, but hiding these two conditions in his teens was hard and ultimately resulted in him fully isolating himself from people in his basement bedroom.
This book was about a girl named Melody who has a disability called cerebral palsy, meaning she can’t talk nor move her body. She goes to normal school and makes her way into a national competition (because of her smartness & photographic memory) and making people aware that the disability she has is not bad, contagious, or horrible. It is a really good book, and you should read it one day! I put Are You Still There? Next not only because it was filled with suspense and mystery, but it was based on the author’s real experience.
Social influences were also a big factor in my episode of seizing. My best friend went to find help, the teachers helped carry me into a different room, and everyone that was near stopped what they were doing to crowd over me. Once I was in the different room an upperclassman, which had been diagnosed with epilepsy, explained that after she seizes she would always throw up too. She told me that it was all going to be fine, and that really helped me. Developmental influences also have occurred.
Stands on tiptoe. Kicks a ball. Climbs onto and down from furniture without support. Walks up and down stairs with support.
