Mark Mossman By Mark Mossman

As mentioned previously, the chances of becoming disabled over one’s lifetime are high, yet disabled people remain stigmatized, ostracized, and often stared upon. Assistant Professor of English at Western Illinois University, Mark Mossman shares his personal experience as a kidney transplant patient and single-leg amputee through a written narrative which he hopes will “constitute the groundwork through which disabled persons attempt to make themselves, to claim personhood or humanity” while simultaneously exploiting the “palpable tension that surrounds the visibly disabled body” (646). While he identifies the need for those with limitations to “make themselves” or “claim personhood or humanity,” Siebers describes their desires in greater detail. He suggests people with

As discussed in class, these inspirational models are almost like super-heroes because they accomplish great feats in spite of their limitations. This is a role Mossman chose not to fulfill; he defines a “super-crip” as when a disabled person does something culturally normal (in a culture that maintains a rigid dichotomy of normality and abnormality), the disabled person is still often denied that precious normality, that public behavior that denotes inclusion and sameness; rather than being perceived as “normal” in completing a “normal” activity, the “super-crip” becomes heroic and brave, not exactly a person, but rather someone inspirational who has overcome tragedy” (647). This need for the sense of normalcy is not a recent