American media sources continue to put greater emphasis on mass shootings while the need for social acknowledgement and understanding of people with disabilities fails to receive much public attention. One of the biggest media outlets in the United States, CNN, recently published an article entitled “The terror from within: What drives a 'perfect ' boy to kill?” in which writer Ann O’Neill takes a look at a trial involving a person with a confirmed mental disability who was charged with committing mass murder. O’Neill describes the case for James Holmes, better known as the Aurora shooter, as one that many wish to see conclude with a death penalty verdict. The controversy of whether someone with a mental disability deserves a death sentence
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In all of the quotes O’Neill uses from witnesses of Holmes’ childhood, the common thread between them is the socially-constructed idea of normalcy. One witness calls Holmes “normal” during childhood, and others go on to describe Holmes’ normalcy as being a “popular,” “bright,” “good,” and “funny” child (). At surface level, one might think calling someone “normal” can only have a positive effect. However, as Lennard J. Davis points out in “Introduction: Normality, Power, and Culture,” “with the concept of the norm comes with the concept of deviations or extremes.” (DSR 3). Therefore, in creating standards for what is normal as the American society has done, the standards for the abnormal have also been formed and people with disabilities have been placed into the latter category. The witnesses who knew Holmes as a child, even if they were not aware, marginalized people with disabilities the moment they called a person who had yet to show signs of his mental disability …show more content…
Granted, Holmes’ crime is undeniably inexcusable, but the way in which the victims’ loved ones speak of a person with a disability serves to sustain an image of disability as something to be exterminated for its indecency. For example, O’Neill includes an insert of a video, “Voices of Aurora: Coping with grief, conquering life,” in her article. In the video, a victim’s mother says, “The only justice, for me, is if that thing was in an urn on my dresser” (3:58-4:10). The language she uses to describe Holmes as a “thing” instead of a person reiterates the validation society continually gives to the concept of the abnormal as nonhuman. James Holmes has a mental disability, namely schizophrenia, and so designating him as nonhuman may subtly yet effectively classify people with schizophrenia or other mental disabilities as nonhuman in the minds of those already sold on the notion of socially-constructed normalcy. Simi Linton explains in her article, “Reassigning Meaning,” that language such as that used in the video can be “used occasionally for its evocative power.” (CR 19). O’Neill utilizes the words of the victims’ loved ones from the video for the reason Linton describes. The contemptuous language, however, reflects the speakers’ true feelings toward the man with the mental disability, and the effect is that disability can be
In all of the quotes O’Neill uses from witnesses of Holmes’ childhood, the common thread between them is the socially-constructed idea of normalcy. One witness calls Holmes “normal” during childhood, and others go on to describe Holmes’ normalcy as being a “popular,” “bright,” “good,” and “funny” child (). At surface level, one might think calling someone “normal” can only have a positive effect. However, as Lennard J. Davis points out in “Introduction: Normality, Power, and Culture,” “with the concept of the norm comes with the concept of deviations or extremes.” (DSR 3). Therefore, in creating standards for what is normal as the American society has done, the standards for the abnormal have also been formed and people with disabilities have been placed into the latter category. The witnesses who knew Holmes as a child, even if they were not aware, marginalized people with disabilities the moment they called a person who had yet to show signs of his mental disability …show more content…
Granted, Holmes’ crime is undeniably inexcusable, but the way in which the victims’ loved ones speak of a person with a disability serves to sustain an image of disability as something to be exterminated for its indecency. For example, O’Neill includes an insert of a video, “Voices of Aurora: Coping with grief, conquering life,” in her article. In the video, a victim’s mother says, “The only justice, for me, is if that thing was in an urn on my dresser” (3:58-4:10). The language she uses to describe Holmes as a “thing” instead of a person reiterates the validation society continually gives to the concept of the abnormal as nonhuman. James Holmes has a mental disability, namely schizophrenia, and so designating him as nonhuman may subtly yet effectively classify people with schizophrenia or other mental disabilities as nonhuman in the minds of those already sold on the notion of socially-constructed normalcy. Simi Linton explains in her article, “Reassigning Meaning,” that language such as that used in the video can be “used occasionally for its evocative power.” (CR 19). O’Neill utilizes the words of the victims’ loved ones from the video for the reason Linton describes. The contemptuous language, however, reflects the speakers’ true feelings toward the man with the mental disability, and the effect is that disability can be