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The Able-Bodied Still Don T Get It By Nancy Mairs

1453 Words6 Pages

More recently than ever, the treatment and the representation of the disabled has become an important topic of discussion, with many disabled persons speaking out on the stereotypes of disability and lack of proper portrayal in the media. In her essay “Disability,” author Nancy Mairs describes her life as a woman living with multiple sclerosis, and she examens the lack of accurate portrayal of disability, especially in the media. Similarly, Andre Dubus adds to Mairs’ argument in his essay “Why the Able-Bodied Still Don’t Get It” by elaborating on how his life changed after becoming disabled, an experience that allowed him to understand why the disabled are still stereotyped and how this causes the abled-bodied to not fully understand what it’s …show more content…

After becoming paralyzed in a car accident, Andre Dubois remembers his viewpoint of the disabled before he became one by stating, “..and that’s how I thought of people in wheelchairs before I became one: stout-hearted-folk wheeling fast on sidewalks, climbing curbs, and of course sometimes falling backward, but that seemed to me like slipping and falling on the outfield grass while you’re chasing a fly ball,”

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In the essay “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs has multiple sclerosis and describes her life being a cripple. She talks about how the disabled is not accepted to society. She doesn’t want to be identified because she is disabled; she doesn’t want to be called “handicapped” or “disabled”. She wants to be named cripple but would never use it to call others. She feels as the cripple describes her the best, she doesn’t see herself as disabled or handicapped because she believe she is able to do things even though she have disease.

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Mairs claims “‘Cripple’ seems a clean cut word, straightforward and precise” choosing to call herself a cripple instead of other euphemisms, like handicapped or disabled (29). She says she might even want people to “wince” at the word cripple, because “people—crippled or not—wince at the word “cripple”, as they do not ‘handicapped’ or ‘disabled’” in order to show how other, more politically correct terms have made society weak (29). These words all give the impression that the word “cripple” has a strong meaning to her—she accepts it, but won’t let it define her. She then uses detailed words to describe her condition of “multiple sclerosis [which] is a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system…” (30).

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Peter’s highlights how even though Tracy was the victim of a crime of murder, her disabilities served to make her the problem. This approach worked to devalue people with disabilities and reassert able-bodied norms; it also represented a step backwards in the promotion and understanding of the rights of persons with

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Throughout life, people experience periods of mobility and immobility but the intensity depends on a person’s situation. As a college student, my mobility happens while traveling to school or between classes; however, my immobility happens a lot more because of having to sit in classes, the train or at home. Mentioning my experiences with movement served as a way to compare with Harriet Jones’s mobility in her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. While Jones’s mobility differs from mine in an extreme manner, it’s interesting to try to compare to see if I could ever understand her immobility as described in the book. Without much thought, it’s easy to understand that my train rides could never correlate to her torment spending seven years in a dark crawl space.

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To conclude, many characters with disabilities are underrepresented in the media. A prime example of this is how many production companies hire non-disabled actors to play disabled characters. Artie is an example of this underrepresentation; many non-disabled viewers feel that Artie is a positive representation of a disabled person. Conversely, many disabled viewers are offended and the believe that Artie’s character is should be played by a disabled actor to be able to emphases with the struggles of the disability. Personally, his character is inaccurate and stereotyped.

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Disability is a topic that has been difficult for many to talk about. Many people have many different viewpoints on it, but the brilliantly written book, Flowers for Algernon, has put a new spin on the topic and opened up a whole new world of possibilities for new discussion. This is all because the genius author, Daniel Keyes, gave people a way to discuss the topic and the book in a third person point of view when they are really broadening and speaking their minds on how they think about miserable diseases that is burdening many in this world. In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is a thirty-two old man who has an intellectual disability. He works at Donner’s Bakery where he is met with many of his “friends”.

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Chanel Yu Mrs. Williamson History 10 May 21, 2016 Disabled Sports in the Disability Civil Rights Movement Before the 1960s society held bias assumptions and harmful stereotypes towards people with disability. They were forced to go to nursing homes and institutions because they were considered destitute, scandalous, defective, and feeble-minded. Institutions showed them little respect, never made attempts to empathise with disabled people’s experiences, and often deliberately caused them pain and discomfort. Not only did they have to endure harsh living conditions and poor medical treatment, but they also were asked personally offensive questions that may be may be intentional or unintentional. The efforts of trying to make their way in

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Disabled bodies is one example of deviant bodies. Disabled bodies are excluded from the media and sociological american norm. The exclusion of the disabled body and individuals is an obvious example of the pressure and harassment attached to being disabled. Howard explains that the intersectionality of disability is crucial to the privilege of sex associated in the disabled community. Howard ellaberates to explain how disabled women are not supported by their husbands whereas, disabled men tend to be fully supported by their wives.

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Panel speakers from the Ruderman Foundation addressed the exclusion of disabled people in the industry in a conference by stating, “You discourage people with disabilities from pursuing careers in acting, writing, producing, directing, etc. You heighten unemployment of a group that, inside and outside of Hollywood, already deals with it more than the non-disabled population”. Over the past couple of years, diversity has been a real controversial issue on Hollywood, giving women more opportunities in direction, production, leading roles, providing more roles for people of minority groups etc… but it seems that still people with disabilities far short from Hollywood’s eyes, and are still excluded and marginizaled from participating in this industry. Academy Award Winner, Marlee Matlin states, 20 percent of the population have some type of disability… but if you judged our existence by what you see on TV you would think we made up less than one percent.” 5% is the number that represents actors with disabilities in the industry, certainly that is a very low number to represent a group on the wide screen.

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In the article “Seeing the Disabled: Visual Rhetorics of Disability in Popular Photography” by Rosemarie Garland Thomson, she talks about people with disabilities and how people view disability as a negative aspect of society. She starts off her essay speaking about the importance of photographs but eventually transitions into talking about disability. Thomson’s most important topics can be found at the end of the essay. One of the major points in the reading that she wants the reader to know is that people need to stray away from viewing disability as negative. Thomson mentions how it’s a cultural practice to see disability as different: “...it is one of the cultural practice that creates disability as a state of absolute difference, rather than as

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