Tanya Titchkosky starts her essay by indicating that they are “blind” — however, she purely explains this as an act. Titchkosky’s passes as someone who is blind because of her disability of not being able to “see,” yet, she describes that, that is not the case. In fact, she has stated that she did not stimulate that notion of blindness; “I acted blind, while seeing… this uses the experience of to disrupt conventional notions of disability and theorize the tie between oppressive culture and assumptions and the meaning of embodiment…” (210). She performed as someone who is “blind” by wearing a dark glasses and having a guide dog with her. Titchkosky argues that to be disable, it indicates that it is an achieved social status, a status that is constituted between the people; society. Titchkosky further states …show more content…
She indicates that this is a “master status” as in, she is not only a women but is now referred as a “blind women.” Her main points were to address that she was seen as someone who is not capable of proceeding activities through the eyes of society, that their status of being “disable” has somehow become a plea or a cry for help. Even those who know she is fully capable of seeing, still sees her in a different light because of her status. She even argues and questions herself if she has taken advantage of the fact that she is either blind or sighted, and what it now means to be a disabled being. Being disabled also comes with ambiguity; are we in or we out? Marginalization? Tanya Titchkosky’s perspective on blindness and disability has made me question how I should act around those that I consider “disabled.” Would I be helping them or would I be intruding their space and doubting their capabilities because I am considered as “normal?” It really is all about the ambiguity, the in between that Titchkosky states that really gets
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
In Jessica Shea’s article “The Invisible Crutch”, a few items that she listed are taken for granted by nondisabled people but could apply to Sharon and Karen. “9. If I ask to speak to someone ‘in charge’, I can be relatively assured that the person will make eye contact with me and not treat me like I am stupid’ (Shea, p. 40) is the first example. While the last part does not always apply to nondisabled people, it certainly applies to the disabled. In the account of Sharon, she was talked to like she was stupid by medical staff and her own family. This is a very common thing the disabled have to deal with. My grandfather deals with this on a daily basis and he works in the IT department at Colorado State University. The next example is, “19. My daily routine does not have to be carefully planned to accommodate medication or therapy schedules” (Shea, p. 40). Nondisabled individuals can plan their day however they see fit according to work, prior engagements, or hobbies. For disabled people—maybe even Sharon—therapy and medications are a normal part of their day. Going without them means being in high amounts of pain, falling behind on progress made in therapy, or risking their health in general. There is a lot that the nondisabled take for granted whether it is realized or
This thesis, in short, is her statement: “Despite looking decidedly ‘normal’, I am, in fact, a de facto member of the ‘other’” (9). She then spends the rest of the essay describing the many ways she is discriminated against. All of her evidence seems to support this thesis and her purpose of the essay. She speaks about social media and its influence in portraying disabled people, of the unemployment and victim rates in disabled women, and provides some examples of how many villains in day-to-day movies and shows are mostly disabled.
Moreover, within the text, the significance of symbolism is apparent as there are indications of the presence of different handicaps. Notably, those with above average physical attributes and above average intelligence are required by law to wear handicaps. Thus, the application and enforcement of handicaps are metaphors for sameness, because individuals with advantageous traits are limited and refrained from using their bodies and brains to their maximum abilities, for that is considered to be unfair to those who does not possess the same level of capability. Several main examples of handicaps includes “...47 pounds of birdshot… ear radios… spectacles intended to make [one] not only half blind but to [provide] whanging headaches”. Therefore, the intensity of the handicaps is a sign of the government’s seriousness in the field of administering disabilities onto their own citizens. Unfortunately, in order to maintain the sickly “equality”, the people are stripped off of their freedom. When announcers are unable to speak properly, and ballerinas are unable to dance properly, and musicians unable to perform properly, and people are unable to formulate thoughts properly — it is not a matter of equality, but a matter how low society
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
Petra Kuppers starts her essay by comparing disabled artists with a turtle and the turtle walker. Both are seen as creating a new and different pace, rhythm, and and performances. Both are recognized as aliens who associates and interacts with the new world. Kuppers then informs the readers that disabled artists and performers are well aware of how the world perceives them; poor, hopeless, slow, unwanted, tragic, slow, etc. However, these individuals are able to reverse that perception and illustrate their themselves in a different form. These performers are resisting the painted politics that are created around disabled bodies. Kuppers further argues that disabled beings are not stupid, they are well aware of persuasiveness and the social
Nancy Mairs, born in 1943, described herself as a radical feminist, pacifist, and cripple. She is crippled because she has multiple sclerosis (MS), which is a chronic disease involving damage to the nerve cells and spinal cord. In her essay Disability, Mairs’ focus is on how disabled people are portrayed, or rather un-portrayed in the media. There is more than one audience that Mairs could have been trying to reach out to with this piece. The less-obvious audience would be disabled people who can connect to her writing because they can relate to it. The more obvious audience would be physically-able people who have yet to notice the lack of disabled people being portrayed by the media. Her purpose is to persuade the audience that disabled people should be shown in the media more often, to help society better cope with and realize the presence of handicapped people. Mairs starts off by saying “For months now I’ve been consciously searching for representation of myself in the media, especially television. I know I’d recognize this self becaus...
More than a century ago, being diagnosed or being born with visual impairment meant one was condemned to a life of disability, confinement and a feeling of being alone. The visually impaired people have had minimal chances of living an ordinary life and achieving their goals over the past few decades. The visually impaired people face many challenges in their attempts to receive the much-needed education or to even get employment in order to survive in this world. In the last one hundred years, numerous changes have been implemented to improve the way the visually impaired community live their lives and to also increase the number of opportunities made available to them. These changes include new legislations, change in perception of the visually
She told her readers that she has a muscle-wasting disease and she could only move three fingers on her right hand. She wrote that the reactions she got from most people were “Decidedly negative” (Johnson p.98) She wrote that she would hear thing such as “I admire you for being out; most people would give up.” And “You don’t let the pain hold you back do you?” (Johnson p.98) There is often talk about how popular culture teaches people to both see and not see the people with disabilities. Comments such as these are an example of such blindness. When a child sees a disabled person a parent’s first reaction would be to tell them not to stare. We teach children that it is impolite to be curious about people who live life differently than others. We carry the “its-not-polite-to-stare” idea into adult hood therefore when we come across a disabled we try not to make eye contact not as if we are being rude but because we are taught that it would offend them. All curiosity and attempts to understand are shut down at a young age for fear of offending someone. Therefore, any attempt to encourage is met with a deep misunderstanding of how the life of someone with disabilities truly works. Just because a person has a disability does not mean they are incapable of enjoying
In the book, The Short Bus, Jonathan Mooney’s thesis is that there is more to people than their disabilities, it is not restricting nor is it shameful but infact it is beautiful in its own way. With a plan to travel the United States, Mooney decides to travel in a Short bus with intentions of collecting experiences from people who have overcome--or not overcome--being labeled disabled or abnormal. In this Mooney reinvents this concept that normal people suck; that a simple small message of “you’re not normal” could have a destructive and deteriorating effect. With an idea of what disabilities are, Mooney’s trip gives light to disabilities even he was not prepared to face, that he feared.
In” Disabling Imagery in the media “Barnes asserts,“Disabled people are rarely shown as integral and productive members of the community; as students, as teachers, as part of the work-force or as parents. “(11). Popular culture excludes women with disabilities because they are different. Through Joanne’s character, Nussbaum demonstrates how women with disabilities operate in their daily lives.Nussbaum description of Joanne’s daily routine shows that women with Nussbaum 's character Joanne also demonstrates how women with disabilities are not burdens on
As Coleman Brown (2013) argues, “stigmatization occurs only when the social control component is imposed, or when the undesired differentness leads to some restriction in physical and social mobility and access to opportunities that allow an individual to develop his or her potential” (p. 157). Coming out as disabled does not immediately break down physical and social barriers, however, it does allow for a sense of inclusion within the collective disabled identity. Creating social connections with people who see beyond the stereotypes allows for the rejection of the imposed isolation and socially constructed rules and expectations. It also allows for the challenge of hegemonic normalcy within personal interactions as it imposes a social model perspective on the interaction and exposes the fact that their superiority is
I had a classmate that had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair. I did not feel any way about her because I did not know that she had cerebral palsy until she told me. I treated her like she was a normal person, but other people in my class feelings towards her were not so nice. She was would always ask questions in the class because she had struggles and people in the classroom would yell at her. They say come on you ask so many questions, but she never bothered me. The feelings that come up when I am around people who are disabilities like blind, deaf, cerebral palsy, are obese, and etc. is I do not feel any different when I am around someone who does not have a disability. I think that people with disabilities are normal. People who disabilities should feel like they are not different from me or another person in this world. They might have severe struggles; we should not judge someone on the struggles they have. People who disabilities describe themselves as “invisible” because people just pretend that they are not there. People tend to ignore them when they see people disabilities in public with disabilities. The words my family and community use to refer to the above groups of people is disabled because we had a family friend who was disabled. My parents hated when we or people we knew used the word “mental retardation” or just
The purpose of this study is to show the limitations of how people deal with visually impaired individuals on a day to day basis. Often people will perceive visually impaired people as hearing and speech impaired as well.
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...