Kayla Bolnick: The Original Disabled

“You see the difference and think “Well, this could be better,” Carty said over the phone. It wasn’t until a befuddled physician wondered how to help a pregnant woman who was also a quadriplegic that she found her focus.

In her essay “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs presents her audience with an honest inside view of her life and perspective as a cripple, a word she openly uses to define herself. She brings her world to us by discussing a wide variety of things including language, family, and humor, and how these all relate to her life. Through various stories and insights, she allows her readers to gain an understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities. She examines the public’s view of the disabled, as well as the views they have of themselves, and compares them to her own. She makes it clear that she is not to be defined solely by her disability. In discussing honestly her views, as well as

More than 20 years ago, an ordinary middle-aged man working in the insurance industry, getting ready to retire from his job, was shopping at his local grocery store. In the grocery store parking lot, an unlikely encounter with a girl named Stacy changed his life. Stacy had cerebral palsy, making her unable to talk or hear. That's when Swimmer got the idea, "what might happen if I put her on a horse?" Stacey soon later visited Swimmer at his farm in outside Charlotte, North Carolina, where Stacy was able to ride a pony for the first time. "She lit up like a candle," said Swimmer, and that's when I knew what I wanted to do. Today Swimmer has helped over 800 kids with disabilities through his equine-assisted therapy program from his organization

Many people these days take their health and body for granted. Imagine losing the ability to walk suddenly due to an accident or a disease. This is exactly what had happened to Nancy Mairs, author of the essay “On Being a Cripple.” She herself had lost her ability to walk normally when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or MS, a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system. Her essay talks about her life and dealing with MS. The purpose of the essay is to show how being crippled affects your life and how to stay positive and deal with it.

Mike Fink was born with Spina Bifida which is incomplete closure of the spinal column during the first month of fetal development. He runs wheelchair basketball and is involved with Coastal Adoptive Sports. His parents taught him, he can do whatever he want to do. He has been doing jiu jitsu for 2 years and is a double white belt and has been competing in both able body and disability matches his record is 3-3. He can’t feel right leg and sometimes it gets in his way when he is competing. His coach has never coached someone with a disability. Mike was the first disable person he has coached.

In the essay “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs reflects her life as a “cripple” because of MS, and her recognition of it. Mairs purpose is to inform individuals on her perspective on being a cripple. She describes how she views herself and how others look at her. Mairs use of word choice, tone, and examples of her life experience provides a better understanding to the goal of this essay.

Jerry Kenny came in and talked to us about his disability, how it happened when it happened, who all it has affected, and how adapted from it. Jerry’s disability is that he is a double amputee of both hands.

Lexi was in a tragic boating accident that, unfortunately, resulted in the loss of her lower left leg. Countless amputees have given up on trying to become stronger and try to have a normal life again, but, however, Lexi decided she was not going to be one of them. It was extremely hard for her in the beginning because walking with prosthetics is a lot harder than walking regularly. Lexi had to work twice as hard to be able to get used to the prosthetics and try to live on with it to the best of her abilities. She kept working every day, going through physical therapy and other methods to be able to walk better with prosthetics. Although her life would never be the same again and would never be normal, Lexi made it her goal to try and get it to be as close to normal as possible. She was a very athletic girl before the accident and wants to go back to the sports she loves by training extra hard to make it to the Paralympics. Lexi also wants to become a physical therapist to help other amputees with their struggles. She looks at her leg with pride, knowing that she is living her life to the fullest and not letting the accident bring her spirit down. She will keep putting in a lot of effort, thanks to modern science that has made and improved prosthetics that will forever help her. Lexi is not going to let this get in her way of achieving her dream, which proves her grit and

During an afternoon bike ride she was struck by a car, leaving her paralyzed. She was rushed to the hospital where she was nursed back to health before beginning her next life challenge. “…a bike accident left her paralyzed from the chest down. Downing threw herself into rehab and--on top of learning how to care for herself--mastered the challenge of using a handcycle and a racing chair” (Balmain). Downing did not allow an accident to stop her. After being treated at the hospital she began rehab to get back up and start tackling challenges. She began to work towards athletic training with handcycles and racing wheelchairs. She overcame these very different types of sports that she has had no experience with and became a pro at them. Downing is not a person that will give up, no matter how tragic of a place she is

A wrestler with no arms. A runner with no legs. A woman deep in poverty. What do these people have in common? They all had to overcome major challenges in order to reach success. The articles “The Contender” by Derek Burnett, “Paralympic Star Makes History on NBA Stage” by E. Lancaster, and “Life in the Red” by Benedict Carey show how Kyle Maynard, Blake Leeper, and Lakeisha Tuggle went through obstacles to achieve their dreams. After reading these articles about a confident Kyle Maynard, an inspirational Blake Leeper, and a resourceful Lakeisha Tuggle, one could make the choice to never give up on success, to have a positive outlook on things, and to cut out the unnecessary things in life. In turn, these strategies can help one accomplish their dreams, and to overcome obstacles so that one day the may become the person they hoped to be.

“Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving education results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.” (Department of Education, nd.).

Disabilities within the characters of “The Life You Save May be Your Own” by Flanner O’Connor

The student that I will focus on for this work sample is an eighteen year old African American female whose exceptionality is Cerebral Palsy, as well as speech and language problems; which are mild. For the sake of this paper, we will call her Mary. Mary is mobile via a motorized wheelchair that she operates with a joystick in her right hand. Mary has little muscle mass and the muscles themselves are stiff, as a result of the disorder and her inability to walk and being in a wheelchair fulltime.

“’Of course, she is a little lame on her right leg from an auto accident that it happened to her when she was twelve years,

Jacks, was actually keeping up with her sprightly stride. Ordinarily, he walked with a distinct gimp and on numerous occasions, Kate had spied him with a cane. When she first joined the Lacrosse team, Kate had politely made a reference to Mr.Jacks handicap, and at the time, Kate noticed the crestfallen mask that had come across his face, let Kate know never to mention the subject again. The answer, he did offer, was muffled and not intelligible. The rumors that swirled in her school concerning why he was lame, related to a childhood mishap, another theory was that his injury might have been a war wound. As a matter of fact, no one honestly knew how Mr. Jacks had injured his leg, what mattered to them was that he was an amazing coach and his impairment did not hinder his ability to do his