My Brief Time in a Wheelchair
Why didn’t she smile at me? Why did he avoid eye contact with me? I smiled, I said hello. Ah, yes. The wheelchair. For a split second, I forgot that I was sitting in a wheelchair as the young couple scurried by me. It seemed so natural for me to smile and greet someone as they pass, and it hurt that a similar greeting was not returned.
This was not the only hurtful reaction I received as I learned to operate a wheelchair around a K-Mart. And, it was not easy to maneuver myself around the store. At one point I knocked down a pile of blankets on a shelf and in the clothing section, I caught my wheelchair on a rack of shirts.
The point of my experiment in a wheelchair was to note the actions and reactions of people who saw me in a different light. People saw me as disabled. But there was more to the looks I received. I was at a four foot height level at best, and adults passed by looking down on me, both physically and mentally as their facial expressions revealed. And from my position, I meekly look up to them. And just...
Every so often a film is made that makes a major impact on the culture of cinema. Charles Burnett with his film Killer of Sheep (2007) made that impact. The film was created by Burnett as his masters thesis from the UCLA film school in 1977, but was not formally released until 2007 (Burnett, Milestone Films). Even though it wasn’t released for almost thirty years, the film received international praise. Killer of Sheep brought to life a new image of African American cinema and created a powerful impression of life in the black ghetto. Burnett created a realistic image of African American blue-collar life in a non-traditional structure that changed African American cinema.
The Flavr Savr tomato also known as the transgenic tomato created by Calgene was first introduced in 1991 approved by the FDA. The Flavr Savr was distributed throughout US supermarkets in 1994, becoming the first commercialised genetically modified crop. Normal tomatoes exhibit the polygalacturonase enzyme. Polygalacturonase is an enzyme that is expressed during the stage of tomato ripening becoming a predominant factor once the fruit has been picked. The enzyme contributes a significant role in the diminishment of the cell wall, which leads to the softening of the fruit. Therefore the tomato cannot b...
What comes into one’s mind when they are asked to consider physical disabilities? Pity and embarrassment, or hope and encouragement? Perhaps a mix between the two contrasting emotions? The average, able-bodied person must have a different perspective than a handicapped person, on the quality of life of a physically disabled person. Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, and Harriet McBryde Johnson are three authors who shared their experiences as physically handicapped adults. Although the three authors wrote different pieces, all three essays demonstrate the frustrations, struggles, contemplations, and triumphs from a disabled person’s point of view and are aimed at a reader with no physical disability.
The first genetically manipulated food was tomatoes, they entered markets in 1994. Tomatoes are being planted all over the world. Scientists have been studying new ways to improve tomato harvesting and what better way to do so than genetic manipulation. The aim in genetically manipulating tomatoes and mostly every other crop is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur naturally in the species in order to enhance its beneficial traits for us humans. In this procedure, breeders must know exactly which gene(s) they need or else it might affect the giving organism and the receiving organism. Then they isolate those gene(s) of interest with a restriction enzyme that cuts DNA into small fragments. The desired gene(s) must be copied from gene(s) that were extracted. This is called gene cloning. The gene may be modified slightly to work in a more desirable way once inside the recipient organism. The recipient organism is basically the receiving organism. The new gene(s), called a transgene is delivered into the cells (especially the reproductive cells) of the r...
This tone is also used to establish an appeal to pathos which he hopes to convince the audience of the fact that handicapped people are still people and not less than anyone else. A very prominent example of Peace’s emotion is displayed when he says, “Like many disabled people, I embrace an identity that is tied to my body. I have been made to feel different, inferior, since I began using a wheelchair thirty years ago and by claiming that I am disabled and proud, I am empowered,” (para. 15). This declaration demonstrates to his audience that Peace is honored by who he is and what disabled people can do and that he is tired of being oppressed by the media. Peace also makes this claim to support his thesis in the first paragraph that states, “The negative portrayal of disabled people is not only oppressive but also confirms that nondisabled people set the terms of the debate about the meaning of disability,” (para. 1). This is Peace’s central argument for the whole article and explains his frustration with society’s generalization of handicapped people and the preconceived limitations set on them. Peace’s appeal to pathos and tone throughout are extremely effective in displaying to his audience (society) that those who have disabilities are fed up with the limits that have been placed in the
As an actor, my first job would be to understand the actor behind the role of Vladimir. This is because an Estragon life based on what Vladimir is doing, which illustrates Estragon helplessness and lack of confidence in himself. Therefore, in order to get into this degrading mindset, I myself would have to break down my self-esteem before the play begins. That means that I would have to be more of a follower in the real world and also make myself feel miserable by telling myself that my ideas are dumb and what I am doing is not worthwhile. As weird as that sounds, this character is one who is a complete follower and looks for approval from his peers, so it I necessary to actually live with those emotions in the real world in order to portray the role to the best of my abilities in the play. Overall, the foundation for myself as this character is to be a follower and have a lack of
The purpose of human life is an unanswerable question. It seems impossible to find an answer because we don't know where to begin looking or whom to ask. Existence, to us, seems to be something imposed upon us by an unknown force. There is no apparent meaning to it, and yet we suffer as a result of it. The world seems utterly chaotic. We therefore try to impose meaning on it through pattern and fabricated purposes to distract ourselves from the fact that our situation is hopelessly unfathomable. "Waiting for Godot" is a play that captures this feeling and view of the world, and characterizes it with archetypes that symbolize humanity and its behaviour when faced with this knowledge. According to the play, a human being's life is totally dependant on chance, and, by extension, time is meaningless; therefore, a human's life is also meaningless, and the realization of this drives humans to rely on nebulous, outside forces, which may be real or not, for order and direction.
When you find out that a loved one has passed away, you initially respond by being hurt and confused. After your initial response, you realize that you have to find a way to move on in your life without your loved one. People with disabilities have to do the same thing when they find out that they have a disability. There are three categories of response to disability: cognitive, behavioral, and affective.
I thought this was a great experience and opened my eyes to all the challenges individuals in wheelchairs have to face. Throughout the day, I noticed I had to go out of my way to find a path that was accessible for a wheelchair. Not only was it inconvenient, but at times it was physically challenging and required a lot of energy. The next day my arms were very sore. It was also difficult to navigate around the classroom, and I sometimes had to ask for assistance to move obstacles out of the way. A lot of the doors on campus were very heavy and made getting through the doorways a lot harder. Most of the time, I needed someone to hold open the door so I could get through to the other room. These experiences made me realize how important is it
Though their connection might lack a tangible symbol, the link between Vladimir and Estragon is no less real or complex. Beckett is able to place both pairs under the common roof of humanity. Pozzo acknowledges that Vladimir and Estragon "are human beings none the less... of the same species as myself" (I, 15). Vladimir and Estragon seem to depend on one another at a more visceral and emotional level, however. There is both love and revulsion between them. Both realize that their relationship is an obstacle to individual happiness, and yet both become desperate at the thought of a solitary existence.
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett entails more than one moral or lesson within the story. I feel that the moral of the story is up to the perception of the reader, however. It has been discussed that there is no relationship between God and waiting for salvation. However, in my opinion, I think that Estragon and Vladimir were waiting for God to “show up” for them and were unable to receive any salvation. This ties into the idea of struggling and striving for a better life while looking for some sort of higher power. Estragon and Vladimir both struggle throughout the play and both find it hard to maintain a level of happiness between them while constantly looking and waiting for Godot.
The first thought that crosses the mind of an able-bodied individual upon seeing a disabled person will undoubtedly pertain to their disability. This is for the most part because that is the first thing that a person would notice, as it could be perceived from a distance. However, due to the way that disability is portrayed in the media, and in our minds, your analysis of a disabled person rarely proceeds beyond that initial observation. This is the underlying problem behind why disabled people feel so under appreciated and discriminated against. Society compartmentalizes, and in doing so places the disabled in an entirely different category than fully able human beings. This is the underlying theme in the essays “Disability” by Nancy Mairs, “Why the Able-Bodied Just Don’t Get it” by Andre Dubus, and “Should I Have Been Killed at Birth?” by Harriet Johnson.
Estragon and Vladimir need each other to keep the sanity they still have in order to stay persistent in “waiting” for Godo...
I have always grown up in a more ‘normal’ setting and seeing people with disabilities was something that was rare to me. When I was younger, my thoughts on people with disabilities were that they could only be physically seen, nothing else (mentally, intellectually, etc.). As I reached middle school, I realized how broad the world is and how many ways people were affected by disabilities. Some of them led a more normal life and some have a harder time adjusting. Just seeing and reading how so many are affected and how harder it is for them really opened up my mind and allowed me to have a wider perception of how broad things are in the world.
...he thoughts of suicide, confirmation of Godot’s canceled meeting, and the seemingly hapless state of Vladimir and Godot in the final line of the play all contribute to deliver a message about human life. As I have shown, Beckett successfully displayed why the human life is a concept that is plagued by a lack of meaning and a state of murkiness. Ultimately, the ending of Waiting for Godot prompts the readers to question the point of the character’s lives in the play. Vladimir and Estragon began doing nothing but waiting for Godot and ended the play doing the same exact thing. To conclude, the ending of the play shall be deemed a success because it addressed the pointlessness of life through a play about two men trapped in a life of waiting, waiting for Godot.