I have chosen to write my book report on an autobiography. Dr. Arnold Beisser’s Flying Without Wings discusses his battle against polio and how he overcame innumerable obstacles. Born in 1925, he contracted paralytic polio at age 24. While our situations are vastly different, I found that we were actually quite similar. His insights into the life of an individual with a disability are accurate. Although the autobiography is not financially focused, many of his ideas and life lessons directly relate to financial goals and ultimately financial independence.
Until Beisser contracted polio, he led a “normal” life. He won a national tennis championship and had already completed his basic medical training by the age of 24. As a member of the National Reserve, he was called upon to fight in the Korean War. While he was determined physically fit to serve, he fell ill on his way to Navy training. His diagnosis was non-paralytic polio. Within a few hours he was paralyzed from the neck down. He spent a year and a half in an iron lung and remained in the hospital for three years total. He was paralyzed for the rest of his life.
Contrarily, I was born with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy with Merosin Deficiency. I never had the ability to walk, stand or take care of myself. I have been using an electric wheelchair since I was eighteen months old. I attended public school for my entire career and achieved high honor roll every semester of high school. I currently attend the small, Liberal Arts University of Wells College. While Beisser had to deal with great loss, I have only known my life the way it is currently. However, I have often questioned my abilities and my future, similarly to Beisser. Throughout the book, Beiss...
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... adapted to his ever-changing circumstances, became a doctor, got married and, most importantly, overcame countless obstacles. He managed to do all of this in the second half of the twentieth century. Given the advancements in technology and greater acceptance of those with disabilities in today’s society it would be easier for him today. Beisser succedded and I will too. I will travel, I will find good jobs that fulfill me, I will surround myself with loving people, and, perhaps most importantly, I will be financially independent.
Works Cited
Beisser, Arnold R.. Flying without Wings: Personal Reflections on Being Disabled. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Print.
Merryfield, Dennis. "17 Wealth Files." Business 111. Wells College. McMillan 121, Aurora. 10 Sept. 2013. Class lecture.
Tracy, Brian. Goals!. San Francisco, Calif.: Berrett-Koehler ;, 2003. Print.
These two essays are about two dissimilar disabilities. Nancy Mairs and David Sedaris act as examples of how an author’s writing can change the tone and meaning of a narrative. Mairs message was educational and encouraging as she explained her life with MS and how society sees her. Sedaris use of experience and memories portrays his life with obsessive-compulsive disorder; what he calls “tics”. These two writers take similar topics and pitch them in ways so the reader can see the illustration behind them.
The two essays “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “A Plague of Tics” by David Sedaris are excellent pieces of work that share many similarities. This paper would reflect on these similarities particularly in terms of the author, message and the targeted audience. On an everyday basis, people view those with disabilities in a different light and make them conscious at every step. This may be done without a conscious realisation but then it is probably human nature to observe and notice things that deviate from the normal in a society. In a way people are conditioned to look negatively at those individuals who are different in the conventional
Think about all the physical feats your body can do and how you use your body every day. There are many people across the globe who do not have this privilege. Hold that thought. The essays, “On Being a Cripple”, by Nancy Mairs, and “Living Under Circe’s Spell”, by Matthew Soyster are both about how each author deals with multiple sclerosis in their life and their opinions on it.
“I felt I could do good for other persons with disabilities precisely because I had authority from that medical degree.” This line makes the reader stop for a moment and really evaluate what has been said, due to the contrary effect that was intimated from the beginning. The switch from negativity to positivity demonstrates the change from the author’s feeling has changed and how society has changed.This revelation brings us to the end, how she said she hopes the next generation will see things differently, “Disability right thus aren’t something we seek only for others. We must also seem them for the ones we love and for ourselves.” The author stating this at the very end reflects people who have the disability need to help themselves and have disability right, not just looking for help from others.
Baddock, David, and Susan Parish. "An Institutional History of Disability." Handbook of Disability Studies. California: SAGE, 2001. 11-38. Print.
Although he spent 10 years in college, he got married and had three children. He helped his mother stand up to her family and make them realize once and for all that she is deaf and cannot be made to fit in the hearing world. He wrote a 175 page paper that made him realize that he could write a book. He also finally found a job as a counselor at PSD, working there once again after a few years at Gaulladet.
Disability is a ‘complex issue’ (Alperstein, M., Atkins, S., Bately, K., Coetzee, D., Duncan, M., Ferguson, G., Geiger, M. Hewett, G., et al.., 2009: 239) which affects a large percentage of the world’s population. Due to it being complex, one can say that disability depends on one’s perspective (Alperstein et al., 2009: 239). In this essay, I will draw on Dylan Alcott’s disability and use his story to further explain the four models of disability being The Traditional Model, The Medical Model, The Social Model and The Integrated Model of Disability. Through this, I will reflect on my thoughts and feelings in response to Dylan’s story as well as to draw on this task and my new found knowledge of disability in aiding me to become
In her article “Unspeakable Conversations” author Harriet McBryde Johnson took time to inform and familiarize her readers with the details and limitations placed upon her by her disability. In her article she walked her readers through her morning routine. She told them about the assistance she needs in the morning from transferring from bed to wheelchair, to morning stretches, to bathing, to dressing, to braiding her hair. She does this not to evoke pity but to give her readers a glimpse into her world. She wants her readers to know that the quality of a disabled person’s life relies solely on another’s willingness to assist. Because those with disabilities need assistance they are often viewed as burdens. Therefore, they see themselves as
‘“Now it’s my turn to make it better for generations that come after, which is why I’ve become, involved in disabilities issues”’ (Open University, 2016a).
Hutchinson, Tom “Illness and the hero’s journey: still ourselves and more”, CMAJ. 162.11 (2000):p.1597 web (date accessed).
Shakespeare, T. (1993) Disabled people's self-organisation: a new social movement?, Disability, Handicap & Society, 8, pp. 249-264 .
Shakespeare, T (2013) “The Social Model of Disability” in The Disabilty Studies Reader Ed Davis, L D. Routledge: New York
...c changes. Some people undergo depression while others learn to adapt to the new lifestyle. With creating Me Before You, Jojo Moyes revealed a novel containing a widespread of border crossings. Will physically changed after he was hit by a car and came across many emotional conflicts with his new life. Louisa withstood a psychological change, accepting that Will wanted to kill himself. Aside from the obvious emotional border crossings it comes with, quadriplegia has changed today’s general public for the best. The community is more informed, active, and aware of issues concerning quadriplegia and other long term disabilities. In the novel, Louisa embodies the general public as she is actively researching while assisting Will in his quadriplegic journey. The novel Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes would only be a great addition to a curriculum respecting border crossings.
In middle school I was diagnosed with a disability with the way I expressed myself through writing. Ever since, I have gained multiple values and learned several lessons about self confidence. I was taught to push past my limits, in order to be successful in reaching my goals along with my dreams. Today I am a senior in high school who was once thought to struggle, but was able to succeed beyond expectations. To some, a disability may seem like a setback from achieving goals, but to me I used it as a challenge for myself. I accepted myself for who I was and looked at my disability as a unique trait of mine. I was able to provide a message to others that anything you set your mind to is possible with dedication and hard work. It might take
In the essay “Disability,” Nancy Mairs discusses the lack of media attention for the disabled, writing: “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anyone’s life.” An ordinary person has very little exposure to the disabled, and therefore can only draw conclusions from what is seen in the media. As soon as people can picture the disabled as regular people with a debilitating condition, they can begin to respect them and see to their needs without it seeming like an afterthought or a burden. As Mairs wrote: “The fact is that ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time.” Looking at the issue from this angle, it is easy to see that many disabled people were ordinary people prior to some sort of accident. Mairs develops this po...