Disability In The Narrator's Cathedral

Disability is an aspect of life that takes on many different forms and faces. From medically diagnosed conditions, to various daily struggles, disability can be seen all around. However, despite its widespread nature, society often perceives disability in a very negative and distant manner. The portrayal of the narrator as close-minded in “Cathedral”, accomplished through the aversive attitude in which he perceives the blind man and the multitude of stereotypes he accepts as true, highlights society’s flawed view of disability. Additionally, his transformation toward the end of the story is telling of what can often occur when people look beyond the preconceived notions they have of disability. The uneasiness that the narrator exhibits around …show more content…
The hands-on approach of drawing the cathedral with the blind man is the scene where the narrator’s transformation takes place because it is in this moment that he finally begins to understand the blind man with a more open mind. In this scene, the blind man asks the narrator, who is frustrated with his inability to visually describe a televised cathedral to the blind man, to draw the cathedral with him. Often times, it is this type of firsthand exposure to disability and its implications that allows people to have a more positive outlook upon those with disabilities and upon disability as a whole. This can be seen during the drawing scene of “Cathedral”, and also in the way that the finite number of spoons is used to explain the effect that Lupus has on a person’s energy throughout the short story “The Spoon Theory”. Essentially, the narrator of “Spoon Theory” describes her Lupus condition to a friend by using the metaphor that each spoon she holds represents the amount of available energy, and often times the number of available spoons is very small and must be utilized correctly in order to avoid further complications (Miserandino). As shown in both of these cases, the drawing scene and the spoon metaphor, and in many untold instances within society, once people gain exposure and begin to understand disability, they start to realize that disability does not define a person and that people who have a disability are not any less human. In fact, people often come to find that those with a disability tend to exert certain qualities that they admire. For instance, in reference to those with autism, author John Elder Robinson states that, “I’ve found that people who are neuro-typical really appreciate the qualities that people on the spectrum possess” (Shire).