Waist-High in the World is honest. The author, Nancy Mairs, writes with both conviction and vulnerability, not afraid to tell her truths and to admit to her own confusions and gray areas. The memoir tells us about what Mairs lives with, Muscular Dystrophy, but it also speaks to the larger category of mobility impairmenst in every section of the book. Mobility impairment is, in fact, a quite large category, encompassing everything from a slight limp in walking to in inability to manipulate most of one’s body. Mairs falls toward the more severe end, but the nature of the slow process of Muscular Dystrophy means she has been in many less severe positions before, and her insight proves valuable and applicable to many people that lie under this
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In Sparta around 800 B.C., children born with these impairments were sentenced to death (Holtmeyer). Fortunately, treatment has improved, but, as we can see in Waist-High in the World, negative perceptions still prevail. This is evident when Mairs talks about the lack of accessibility that demonstrates a lack of want for inclusion with people with disabilities. “I ought to be admitted to any place to which the general populace commonly has access: restaurants, surely, as well as banks, churches, theaters and cinemas, the post office, dry-cleaning shops, beauty salons, and above all the mall!” (Mairs 91). This is an extremely valid argument, and the fact that so many places are included in the list is upsetting. In the chapter of his book, “Observations on Everyday Life,” James Charlton makes the point, “Access is a simple proposition obscured by prejudice that prioritizes resources and projects in terms of tradition and wealth” (Charlton 103). The lack of accessibility that pervades reflects a focus on money and stasis over concern for the inclusion of as many members of our society as possible. That so many places Mairs mentioned are not accessible both represents and perpetuates negative attitudes toward mobility
In Sparta around 800 B.C., children born with these impairments were sentenced to death (Holtmeyer). Fortunately, treatment has improved, but, as we can see in Waist-High in the World, negative perceptions still prevail. This is evident when Mairs talks about the lack of accessibility that demonstrates a lack of want for inclusion with people with disabilities. “I ought to be admitted to any place to which the general populace commonly has access: restaurants, surely, as well as banks, churches, theaters and cinemas, the post office, dry-cleaning shops, beauty salons, and above all the mall!” (Mairs 91). This is an extremely valid argument, and the fact that so many places are included in the list is upsetting. In the chapter of his book, “Observations on Everyday Life,” James Charlton makes the point, “Access is a simple proposition obscured by prejudice that prioritizes resources and projects in terms of tradition and wealth” (Charlton 103). The lack of accessibility that pervades reflects a focus on money and stasis over concern for the inclusion of as many members of our society as possible. That so many places Mairs mentioned are not accessible both represents and perpetuates negative attitudes toward mobility