Bodied Still Don T Get It Analysis

To judge someone by his or her inability to move is catagorized under the same branch of prejudices of racism and homophobia. Though their limbs may not function in the way their brain desires them to, their hearts beat for a sense of unity and equality, that they rightfully deserve. People labeled as “crippled,” “disabled,” or “immobile” are often ostracized by “the healthy” and treated in both a demeaning manner and a misinterpreted charitable aid. Essays written, by wheelchair bound writers include “Disability” and “On Being a Cripple”, by Nancy Mairs, “Why the Able Bodied Still Don’t Get It,” by Andre Dubus, and “Should I Have Been Killed at Birth,” by Harriet McBryde Johnson, discuss their personal experiences and opinions on the two,

disconnected worlds that separates the able from the disabled. Not only do they argue and defend their position as living, prosperous people, but they also express, in great detail, the pity and charity they receive. Although these gestures are only meant to be considerate, the writers explain how these actions indirectly reveal that the able-bodied believe cripples are incapable of performing them on their own. One may argue that these people do need help. However, walking in the shoes of a disabled person, no one wants to be viewed as a helpless, dependent being.

To a high degree, society needs to be more open minded and realize there is little difference between the communities of “healthy” and “unhealthy” to allow everyone to fulfill a successful lifestyle in individual ways.
As a result of the public’s personal perceptions, it is common for civilians to feel pity and a desire to aid people who have been impaired. What seems as a comforting, charitable act of kindness actually destroys the self-confidence that the handicapped are trying to build for themselves. Instead, pity is felt inside their hearts and there is an inner thought that the able-bodied does not believe in the independence of the handicapped. Experiencing both sides to this argument, writer Andre Dubus writes his essay to defend his position before and after his impairment. Before his life-changing accident, Dubus admits to his own sense of pity and remorse for a friend, in a wheelchair, who was unable to push himself fully up a hill. He expresses his emotions when he reveals, “I felt the embarrassment of being whole while he was not, and went up to him and pushed” (Dubus, “Disability”). Clearly, it is common to feel empathy towards (Do you have any more words like “cripple?” I don’t want to keep using the same few words over and over again). Dubus later goes on to describe

that we only live in a world full of pity and sympathy when he ends with the repetition of “... pity people pity people pity people” (Dubus, “Disability”). However, he is not the only cripple to express this emotion with pen. In Harriet McBryde Johnson’s essay, a writer for the New York Times Magazine, she incorporates a series of pitiful quotes, one containing the phrase, “if I had to live like you, I think I’d kill myself” (Johnson, “Should I Have Been Killed at Birth?”) Here, Johnson extracts a specific, personal conversation and uses it to defend her position in the essay; it reveals how society views the life of the impaired and believe it to be nothing less than pain and suffering. Essayist Nancy Mairs describes not only pity from society but pity within herself as well. She first initiates the conversation with an anecdote, about her mother, who argues, “We all have to make allowances for you, of course, because of the way you are” (Mairs, “On Being A Cripple”). Mairs continues to acknowledge the audience and reveal how she never fully comprehended her mother’s statement; once she realized, she instantly felt a sense of selfishness. After another important anecdote, centered more around the author’s personal actions, she bursts out with, “I’m so sick of being crippled!,” exposing that there is pity within herself as well (Mairs, “On Being A Cripple”). Empathy seems almost inevitable, however, it is not an emotion known to everyone; this results in cripple’s having fluctuating emotional states and comfort levels.
Emotional stability changes throughout each people depending on their situation and their comfort level. For cripples, one domain, that shapes the emotional value, is different forms of media. Mairs writes, in another essay, about her annoyance and anger she feels with the lack of representation of cripples in advertisement and drama. Opening with a short back story, Mairs describes a common television series revolving around a hospital and their patients; one patient suffered from multiple sclerosis, which Mairs is diagnosed with herself, and ends up disregarding her lifelong dream for her attractive doctor. Cleary, anyone would be irritated by this, especially Mairs when she explodes with, “Capitulation into the arms of a man who uses his medical powers to strip one of even the urge toward independence is hardly the sort of representation I had in mind” (Mairs, “Disability”). As mentioned above, the disabled want to view anything but dependent and broken, and Mairs is enraged by this act. This is not the only thing that sparks irritation inside her; she exposes that there is a lack of handicapped actors in the advertising business. Quoting a local advertiser, Mairs states that businesses, “... don’t want to give people the idea that [their] product is just for the handicapped” (Mairs, “Disability”). Undeniably, the validity of this advertisement’s claim is weak, and Mairs agrees. She supports her argument by including the examples, “If you saw me pouring out puppy biscuits, would you think these kibbles were only for the puppies of the cripples? If you saw my blind niece ordering a Coke, would you switch to Pepsi lest you be struck sightless[?]” (Mairs, “Disability”). Agitated, the remainder of the essay describes her lack of understanding in which advertisements want to seem ordinary and normal, and how a disabled customer destroys the image; emotional, Mairs is distraught and annoyed considering these intolerable acts against the handicapped. Dubus also incorporates his rage about advertising in terms ratings and reviews of local businesses. He is appalled at the glorifying review of a restaurant that refuses server to cripples. Feeling like an alien, he provides his anger through an analogy stating, “This means the reviewers and editors don’t think of us as people. They wouldn’t review a restaurant that was accessible only to Caucasians or only to men” (Dubus, “Why the Able-Bodied Still Don’t Get It”). Living as both an able-bodied man and a disabled man, he attacks society from two angles exposing the piteous and degrading stereotypes, expressed before, and the dehumanizing actions others tend to execute. Like Mairs, it is obvious to notice that both authors have a strong, personal disapproval to these behaviors. Moving away from media’s influence on cripple’s emotional state, Johnson writes her mind as she writes about defending her own ability to live at Princeton University. While incorporating a small segment filled with questions and answers, when asked if the debate was emotionally challenging, she reveals that, “‘It was very difficult. And horribly easy’” (Johnson, “Should I Have Been Killed at Birth?”). At the beginning, Johnson’s character is rather nervous and uncomfortable; on the contrary, her conclusion reveals that she enjoys her life. Her self confidence is exposed when she writes, “I used to try to explain that in fact I enjoy my life, that it’s a great sensual pleasure to zoom by power chair…” revealing that not everyone is impacted by the prejudice (Johnson, “Should I Have Been Killed at Birth?”). At the end of the day, even with a sense of anger, all three authors believe in themselves and are confident and comfortable with who they are.
I am terrible at conclusions, I don't really know what to write and how to sum everything up without being so repetitive and ending with irrelevant information. Please list any suggestions or strategies you may have:
It is evident that the disabled population should be seen as whole individuals alongside the healthy. There should be no dehumanizing actions taken towards the handicapped. Attitudes and perspectives need to be altered to include everyone in our melting pot society. Even more challenging, we, as a community, need to ignore the instant sense of pity when seeing a cripple out in public. We are all the same; we can not be defined by gender, skin color, or even ability or inability to walk.