Summary Of Nancy Mairs Disability

Nancy Mairs wrote a fantastic piece that has opened my eyes to how disabled people are affected by the media. Her writing, “Disability”, was about her struggles with how the media presented people with disabilities. She explains her frustration with how commercials, books, movies, and shows make people’s disability look like the only thing they are. She explains how the whole premise of some shows is the person's disability, instead of what they like and who they are on the inside. There are two main people groups that Nancy is trying to reach in this piece, people who don’t know much from the viewpoint of a disabled person, and people who are writing stories and ads about disabled people. These groups consist of people Nancy believes need

She explains a lot about how her life is just like anyone else. She does the exact same thing that anyone else would do. She hits hard on the point that her disability is not her identification and that she is more than her inabilities. This quote from Nancy’s writing talks about the things she does that every other woman does. “In most ways, I'm just like every other woman of my age, nationality, and socioeconomic background. I menstruate, so I have to buy tampons. I worry about the smoker's breath, so I buy mouthwash. I smear my wrinkling skin with lotion. I put bleach in the washer so my family's undies won't be dingy. I drive a car, talk on the telephone, get runs in my panty hose, eat pizza.” She points out the exact things that she does in her daily life. She shows us that she uses the same things that any woman her age would use. She brings up another point: that disabilities can happen to anyone. It does not attack a specific group. She explains how it could also happen to someone at any time. She says that it is pointless to ignore it or deny it because a disability can reach anyone at any time. This shows that Nancy was the exact same as any other woman before she got her disability. This quote shows Nancy explaining her view on this. Everyone else is there, sucking breath mints and splashing on cologne and swigging wine coolers. You're not there yet. And if not, there is nowhere. But this denial of disability imperils even those who are able-bodied, and not just by shrinking your insight into the physically and emotionally complex world you live in. Nancy explains how all of the mistreatment and mis-viewing of her and her disability have a lot of effects on her. But she also points out how it can be harmful to anyone with a disability. This last quote gives examples of how all of the misrepresentations can