The essay’s diction evolves from a sense of empowerment to decisive, a mark that Mairs utilizes her power. Amidst other possible words for her condition, Mairs sticks with “Cripple,” hailing it as both “Straightforward and precise,” as well as having an “Honorable” history. Following that, she juxtaposes the definitions of other labels alongside, such as “Handicapped” or “Disabled,” and presents her adversity to each. Shifting to a tone that suggests disgust or perturbance, Mairs compares the semantics of other labels to other emerging…
In the reading Disability by Nancy Mairs, author talks about the american society and her life struggle with multiple sclerosis. Mairs starts her essay, by describing herself as a crippled woman, and her reaction about the media and people with disability. She speaks about her conditions and states how she never noticed a cripple woman like her in the media. Not even for advertisement of products. Mair writes that “I once asked a local advertiser why he didn’t include disabled people in his spots.…
In the essay "Disability," by Nancy Mairs and film "I'm not Your Inspirations," by Stella Young, both topics examine and analyze the positive and negative stereotypes of disabled individuals in mass media. According to Mairs disabled people are portrayed as victims to act weak and helpless in popular television. On the other hand, Young stated, "media has sold the lie that disability is bad and exceptional" because of this people are misled about the diagnose of someone's disability. Rather than being misled by the media or becoming becoming helpless victims, both Mairs and Young presented an argument for the media to represent physically challenged individuals as "normal" in popular…
Hoagland’s “ On Stuttering” This essay was exceedingly interesting; at the heart of this essay, is a person who has struggled with a physical impediment, but has still managed to lead a fairly normal life. Although He struggled with the impediment to the point of not voicing his own opinion, Edward Hoagland adapted to his impediment and was able to overcome the struggles he faced everyday. Some disabilities can leave people trapped inside their own body.…
A majority of authors use a lot of the lessons and values they got from their life experiences to write a compelling essay. In both Nancy Mairs’s “On Being a Cripple” and David Sedaris’s “A Plague of Tics,” the authors had written essays that related to their disabilities and ways they coped with it. These two essay might be similar in more ways than one, but the overall message that they give to readers are completely different. Mairs uses her experience and disability to convey a specific message that is inspirational to her readers. This is completely different from Sedaris because for his essay he is recollecting his experience on how he lives with his disorder and shares this with his readers.…
In the Essay developed by Nancy Mairs, Mairs analyzes her perception on what the word “crippled” means to her and what she feels serves its purpose. She defines the word in her own words stating that it is straightforward, precise, and holds history. She also gives her take on what the other words such as “handicapped” and “disabled mean to her stating that they are words that demean those who are not capable of doing things a certain way. She differentiates the levels of demeanor that the terms hold and how they serve different purposes. Mairs goes on defining what these words mean to her and as she defines “crippled” she embraces it showing that it is a word that expresses her self pride and self conscious.…
Chef Influence Anne Burrell is a chef I admire since she is an extremely talented female chef. I believe she has brought a lot to the culinary world due to her fun style. She is one of the top female chefs in the country. I base that opinion on the fact of how prominent she is on the Foodnetwork Channel and other areas of expertise. I enjoy watching her on television as I find her to be an extremely knowledgeable chef.…
Rhetorical Analysis “Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change” In the media, there is a controversy on how the media portrays a person with a disability. Charles A. Riley II, article has a pointed view on how the media acts, and how they need to change their ways on viewing the world of disability. Riley writes this article to get his point across to the world that the media needs to be changed.…
The definition of fortitude is the mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously. Aron Ralston encompasses every aspect of this definition and so much more. When faced with extreme circumstances he showed courage, strength, and did what he needed to do. He is the epitome if a survivor and what it is like to live with a disability. All over the world people just like Aron show their fortitude in the face of adversity and overcome their disabilities to live the lives they always wanted.…
I first became familiar with the relationship between feminism and disability when I was assigned reading from the anthology Feminist Disability Studies. With essays from writers such as Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and Alison Kafer, it is an incredibly powerful collection, demonstrating how the interests of feminist theory and disability studies overlap. And yet, despite the efforts of these scholars and disabled feminists in academia and in activist groups, disability does not seem to be on the broader feminist agenda. Similar to the Garland-Thomson and Kafer essays we read, I hope to make the case as to why a specifically feminist focus on disability within academia and activism is not taking away from the current feminist movement, and in…
In the Text, “Why Cook?” by Michael Pollan, a question was never asked, only an answer given: Cook. This statement directly explains what the entire excerpt would be about. The author, Michael Pollan, not only has a background of cooking, but has written many articles about it. Therefore, he is very qualified to speak about the subject of cooking. Pollan chose the audience very directly when he said, “. . .…
Robert M. Hensel, a Guinness World Record holder with a disability, once said, “There is no greater disability in society, than the inability to see a person as more,” (Langtree). When thinking of people with disabilities, many individuals think of the things they cannot do rather than the achievements that they have made or the contribution that they have on humanity. Why is this the perspective that so many humans have? After reading Rosie Anaya’s “Mental Illness on television” and comparing it to Nancy Mairs’ “Disability,” despite these two essays conveying very similar ideas on the topic of how media negatively affects their reader or viewer’s outlook, each composition’s unique situation deserves closer examination. “Mental Illness on…
Stephen Hawking once said, “My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically.” Stephen Hawking is one of the smartest humans in the world and also has ALS. ALS is a debilitating disease that has no known cure, but Hawking doesn’t let that stop him. Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime also has somewhat of a disability, Christopher's spectrum disorder creates a roadblock by making it harder for him to communicate with others and benefits him by increasing his intellect in math.…
Introduction The controversies over ableism are an ongoing topic that our society must continually address in order to meet the needs of all people. Ableism is defined as discrimination or acts of prejudices against specific groups or individuals with disabilities (Adams, etl. 2013, pg. 297). This encompasses any person who experiences oppression due to any physical, intellectual, mental, or emotional disorder they possess (Levy, 2015).…
Person First Language Reflection 1. What concepts did you find interesting or important from this article? I think the most important message that the article brings out is we need to treat the people who have disabilities as people like everyone first, but not as their medical diagnoses. They are the unique individual, they are a group of people that use their bodies in difference way, and they share the same rights as everybody. As people who don’t have disabilities, we shouldn’t use any words that contain with negative perception and stereotypes to describe the people who have disabilities.…