Analysis of Disability by Nancy Mairs

In Nancy Mairs' essay, “Disability” she emphasizes that able-bodied advertisers do not want disabled people to advertise their product. The advertisers claim they do not want to cause confusion as to whom the product is for. But Nancy Mairs believes that it is to protect able-bodied people from the thought of being

In the excerpt “Disable (1992)”, Nancy Mairs claims that she prefers to be described as a “cripple” as opposed to the more accepted terms “disabled or handicapped.” Mairs states, “I am a cripple. I choose this word to name me. I choose from among several possibilities, the most common of which are ‘handicapped’ and ‘disabled’.” In order to allow the audience to understand her viewpoint, Mairs utilizes repetition by consistently using the term “cripple”, denotation using the words “handicapped” and “disabled,” and has a blunt tone.

In Nancy Mairs’ On Being a Cripple, the passage I have chosen she describes her life as a cripple, but describes it in a good way. She is very positive when she speaks about herself being crippled, to inspire other people that being crippled isn’t a reason to stop enjoying life. Of course, she explains the things she cannot do, but she does not do it in a sad way. She talks about her crippled life, like a normal life.

It also gets hard for Mairs and she gets angry when she feels like society makes people with disabilities seem that they aren’t normal. In the essay Mairs mentions how in today's’ society the ideal woman is a beautiful physically attractive woman with no disabilities. “She is trim and deeply tanned; she jogs, swims, plays tennis, rides a bicycle, sails, but does not bowl . . “(57). Mairs says this to say that in today's society you’ll never see a crippled person in a magazine because it isn’t attractive or amusing to others and when society sees people with disabilities; they automatically think that they should feel sorry for them.

In Nancy Mairs’ article for The New York Times, “Disability”, published in 1987, she expresses her distaste with the media's representation of handicapped people. Mairs, who struggled with multiple sclerosis herself, clearly and sharply conveys this disgust by stating, “I’m not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease.” (Mairs 13), and that she is actually, “the advertisers’ dream: Ms. Great American Consumer. And yet the advertisers, who determine nowadays who will get represented publicly and who will not, deny the existence of me and my kind absolutely”(Mairs 14). Mairs is greatly upset that disabled people are defined by their disabilities and, therefore, are underrepresented in public media. This might lead to one asking themselves, but why are they? And the answer, according to Mairs, is quite simple, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life”(Mairs 14). Mairs concludes by pointing out how this effacement could have dangerous consequences for both disabled people and, as she called everyone else, TAPs (Temporarily Abled Persons) alike. Treating disabilities as an abnormal characteristic (as opposed to viewing them “as a normal characteristic, one that complicates but does not ruin human existence” (Mairs 15)) can cause one of these repercussions, as it makes the

In her essay, “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs, an essayist with multiple sclerosis, writes about her experiences with her disease. She wants her audience of able-bodied people to stop pitying towards disabled people and instead show acceptance. Mairs achieves her purpose by presenting herself as similar and relatable to her able-bodied audience with many anecdotes and a blunt tone. This discussion of her condition removes the discomfort about disabilities felt by her audience and allows for them to accept disabled people. While Maris’s primary audience is an able-bodied person who supports disabled people, other readers, like someone with her condition, may be drawn towards this essay as well. Unlike an able-bodied person, a disabled person

Unspeakable Conversations by Harriet McBryde Johnson is an article about her experience visiting Princeton University to exchange views and challenge Peter Singer, a professor who strongly believes that all disabled people, like herself, are “better off” not been born at all. The article provides an insight into Johnson’s life as a disabled person. She takes the readers on a journey that explores both sides of her own and Singer’s contrasting beliefs. She protests the prevalent stigma and prejudice of disabled people and gives voice to this marginalized community. Johnson challenges stereotypes of disability, uses her a personal experience to better understand the world and help others, and attempts to directly address oppression by arguing against Professor Singer’s theory and assemble a group of diverse and like-minded people for social change.

All women have the potential of facing issues of gender, their bodies, sexuality, reproduction, abuse and violence. But what one may fail to realize is that women of disability experience a wider range of these types of issues on a daily basis. Oppression of disabled women is a huge controversy that leaves our society with many unanswered questions. By taking a deeper look on this issue, will help us understand the effects of oppression on disabled women by analyzing four specific examples from “The Reader” of Supplemental Readings for Women and Disability by Marsha Saxton, PhD, that expands more on women of disability that both internalize and resist oppression.

In Nancy Mairs short story, “On Being a Cripple”, she reflects on her life handling her disability of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and how it has changed different aspects of her existence. She defines herself as a cripple despite the negative connotations the word may have. Over the past ten years, Mairs has had her MS slowly progress as her body deteriorates. She sees her life as fairly average, but seemingly small tasks have become difficult to her and has required help from her family. Despite their support, Mairs still fears that people's kindness is out of pity. The stigma around physical disfigurement and being crippled causes added suffering to her life. Although the disease dictates much of her existence,

If you saw a person in the mall in a wheelchair, would you judge them? Or would you look at them like they are a normal human-being? People who have a disability whether they are physically disabled, mentally disabled, or learning disabled, are still themselves. Nancy Mairs was forty-three year old woman with multiple sclerosis. She wrote an essay, “Disability”, that explained her views of her physical disability.

Nancy Mairs in her “disability” has done a good job in delivering her message. I believe she managed to persuade the audience that there is no reason to exclude disabled people from the media. Her information was clear and made sense, her examples were enough to support her thesis and her tone added a certain flavor to her essay. “Disability” can actually make certain changes if it is addressed to its right audience and I certainly recommend it to my friends and anyone who might be interested in this

A). The strongest characters in these two stories would be Nancy Mairs from “On Being a Cripple”. She faced multiple sclerosis for almost her whole life. It challenges her to live normally and she shows that illnesses are no excuse to give up on what she loves to do. She encouraged other to do not let diseases keep them away from what they loved most in their life.

The short film, “Minority Effect”, explores what it would mean if able-bodiedness was not the norm, but instead if communities were populated with wheelchair users. Compared to popular media, this film used a non-disabled body to contrast to disabled bodies. Usually, disability is mobilized as a plot point to highlight the qualities of able-bodied people. They are never the protagonist and used as a means to reach a lesson. But what is the effect of minoritizing a majority group? Does it achieve awareness or does it just perpetuate the discrimination and oppression of marginalized groups? In “Minority Effect”, the reversal of roles is problematic in that it is counterproductive in that it still subscribes to common misrepresented

Most women cited feeling invisible in regards to age (p. 6,6,7,7,8,10,11), though others felt them being not seen was derived from their race (p.8), body type (p.9), as well as ability (p.9). Due to the fact that this notion is so commonly shared, invisibility has become a commonplace among women. This commonplace is detrimental to society because it enforces the idea of a traditional standard of beauty, that puts restrictions on age, race, bodies and does not show disabilities, imposed by the media. When the media does not show society an array of beauty standards, they reinforcing this commonplace of invisibility. The ideology of terministic screens also comes into play when referring to disability, the media has conditioned society to view disabled people as outside of society (p.6,7,8,10,11). People think their own personal experience gives them a clear reflection of a true reality, while in fact it is a reflection of their own reality, using this lens to see the world pushes those with disability further to the edges of society. In the comments, contributors cite their experience with disability and how using the the terministic screen to view people with disabilities as outside of society has harmed them. One mother cited how her son was coldly rejected from a private school (p.10), a daughter remembers the harsh reality of people gawking at her mother while shopping (p.11), and a coworker

Prior to the course, Perspectives on disability, my understanding of disability was a fundamental, concept of disability, in which I knew it existed, and also have seen and interacted with people considered to have a disability. I never took a deep look at all the social and political factors that exist within the spectrum of disability. This course has allowed me to examine all aspects of disability, which has changed my view and approach of what a disability is and how it is viewed. "Historically, disability has been viewed fundamentally as a persoal tragedy, which has resulted in diasbled people being seen as objects of pity or in need of charity. They have been subject to descriminatory policies and practices in which the predominant images of passivity and helplesness reinforced their inferior status"(Barton 4). Uncovering the framework of disability, by studying the historical, soicial political and educational standpoint, I see the intricacies in which gives me a greater understanding and awareness of the topic.