Summary Of Unspeakable By Junius Wilson

Race as a Lens for Studying the Containment of Disability The book Unspeakable: The Story of Junius Wilson, authors Susan Burch and Hannah Joyner conflate issues of race and disability to analyze the tragic life story of Junius Wilson. As a deaf, black man in the height of racism and ableism in the South, the experiences of Wilson provide insight to the social assumptions of the time. By investigating the plights of Wilson’s life, the authors highlight and comment on the treatment of race and disability in the early twentieth century. Junius Wilson’s entire life was plagued with injustices under the rule of marginalizing societal assumptions of the time. Certainly, many disability myths were perpetuated in this time of societal reproach

Smith Jr.’s accusation was purely an attempt to remove the strain placed on the Smith family as by Wilson’s disability. This situation is an archetype of the societal views of the time, especially the myth that disability is a burden on others. These collective ideas are further represented throughout Junius Wilson’s life in the many ways which his associations attempted to confine and minimize his presence. Before this moment of familial betrayal, Junius was able to attend to school for the deaf and blind which allowed him to find a community and develop a form of expression through “Raleigh signs.” Despite these channels of self-expression, Wilson was still contained in other ways. Although he learned Raleigh signs, this form of sign language was so different from ASL that he was unable to communicate with those who knew ASL; and even though he was able to communicate in his own community, the school authorities often discouraged the students from using sign language. Attempts to sign or gain attention by deaf children were often viewed as threatening by society, and as such it was necessary to prevent them. By limiting Wilson’s means of language,