Doctor John Roush's The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time

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Recommended: how stereotyping affects society

Stereotypes directed at disabled individuals are not always accurate. Doctor John Roush, the president of Centre College, says people should live life using at least three of his suggestions. In the book, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time”, there is a 15 year old boy named Christopher, but Christopher suffers from Asperger Syndrome. Even though he is labeled “disabled” he still lives his life by Doctor Roush’s three tips. People often believe the tag disabled means that person is less capable. However, Christopher proves this to be false by following these three tips: treat life like an adventure and have a positive attitude, take responsible risks, and finally to ask for assistance from others. These three things allow Christopher
In the book, Christopher is faced with some problems he hasn’t had to face before, so in order to continue his journey he is forced to ask for assistance. “Mr. Thompson said, ‘Can I help you?’ I said, ‘Do you know who killed Wellington?’”(Haddon, 36). Christopher is searching for the person who killed his neighbors dog, Wellington. After finding all the clues he could find he began to ask his other neighbors for help. Since he somewhat knows his neighbors, asking them for help isn’t as tough as asking a stranger for help, especially for Christopher. Another example of Christopher asking someone for help, but this time it is from a complete stranger. “And I said to the lady, ‘Where can I buy a map?’ and she said, ‘Pardon’?”(Haddon, 137). When Christopher asks this woman for a map he is on his adventure to London to live with his mother. He got as far as he could alone and then asked for assistance to find the train station. Whenever Christopher faces adversity he cannot overcome, he always asks for help. When giving these suggestions, Dr. Roush intended them to be used by college students, but Christopher who is labeled as disabled. This demonstrates how being “disabled” is not a reflection on how capable a person can be in

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