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Multiple sclerosis and how it affects people
Patient care for multiple sclerosis essay
Patient care for multiple sclerosis essay
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Recommended: Multiple sclerosis and how it affects people
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it,” says Charles R. Swindoll. This statement, although seemingly inaccurate, is brought to life by the testimony of Nancy Mairs. After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Mairs had every reason to give up on life, but in “On Being a Cripple” she shows her audience that pushing forward was worth the challenge. Her life as a cripple isn’t easy, but through her writing, Mairs hopes to explain and create awareness about her life living with MS. Through her personal experience and positive attitude, Mairs shows her audience that not only is she a source that others can trust but that life is exactly what you make it, no matter what cards you are dealt. In Mairs piece “On Being …show more content…
“And I refuse to participate in the degeneration of the language to the extent that I deny that I have lost anything in the course of this calamitous disease; I refuse to pre- tend that the only differences between you and me are the various ordinary ones that distinguish anyone person from another,” (138). Note that she refuses to identify as any other ordinary person. This leads us to believe that even though she may hate her disease, she accepts that it is a big part of her life, and should be treated as so. This in turn connects her with readers who also have been diagnosed with MS disease and furthermore makes them feel like they are not alone in their struggle. Mairs does not try to disguise the fact that she has MS, but instead embraces her differences. This teaches other MS sufferers that instead of trying to deny the fact of their disease, instead they too can embrace their differences and live a good life. She calls herself a cripple because it most accurately describes her, and she does not believe in catering to the “sensitive” phrases society uses to describe people with her condition. This gives her audience a sense of individuality. Furthermore an even more specific audience can connect with her and feel that she understands their very unique personal struggles. This in turn makes her
These two essays are about two dissimilar disabilities. Nancy Mairs and David Sedaris act as examples of how an author’s writing can change the tone and meaning of a narrative. Mairs message was educational and encouraging as she explained her life with MS and how society sees her. Sedaris use of experience and memories portrays his life with obsessive-compulsive disorder; what he calls “tics”. These two writers take similar topics and pitch them in ways so the reader can see the illustration behind them.
Due to this disease the body is slowly broken down by affecting the central nervous system of a person’s body. The children depicted in the essay are probably an example how fellow human beings should be around a disabled person. They just view the disabled person as another human being and respect them the same way. The children are proud to associate themselves with Mairs and do not shy away from introducing her to the general public. This is what a disabled person requires: that all those around him or her should respect them for what they are and give them unconditional regard
Mairs was looked at she wasn’t helpful because of her disability but she was. Both authors were
This thesis, in short, is her statement: “Despite looking decidedly ‘normal’, I am, in fact, a de facto member of the ‘other’” (9). She then spends the rest of the essay describing the many ways she is discriminated against. All of her evidence seems to support this thesis and her purpose of the essay. She speaks about social media and its influence in portraying disabled people, of the unemployment and victim rates in disabled women, and provides some examples of how many villains in day-to-day movies and shows are mostly disabled.
middle of paper ... ... Their disabilities have made them stronger, more determined people. Mariatu Kamara and Ishmael Beah’s stories show that no matter how hard life can get, no matter how hard or how many times life knocks one down, he or she can always pick him or herself up and turn their life around for the better. Works Cited Beah, Ishmael.
Her essay is arranged in such a way that her audience can understand her life - the positives and the negatives. She allows her audience to see both sides of her life, both the harsh realities that she must suffer as well as her average day-to-day life. According to Nancy, multiple sclerosis “...has opened and enriched my life enormously. This sense that my fragility and need must be mirrored in others, that in search for and shaping a stable core in a life wrenched by change and loss, change and loss, I must recognize the same process, under individual conditions, in the lives around me. I do not deprecate such knowledge” (Mairs, 37). Mairs big claim is that she has accepted herself and her condition for what is it, yet she refuses to allow her condition to define her. Through her particular diction, tone, satire, and rhetorical elements, Mairs paints a picture of her life and shows how being a cripple has not prevent her from living her life. She is not embarrassed nor ashamed of what she is, and accepts her condition by making the most of it and wearing the title with
Mairs’s inferiority complex which made her question other people’s attitude towards her. In “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs. She kept believe the way how
...ive most of their life as a perfectly able-bodied person until a tragic accident one day could rob you of the function of your legs, and you have to learn how to cope with being disabled. Mairs illustrates that being disabled is more common than the media portrays, and it’s hard to deal with feeling alienated for your disabilities. These three authors have evoked a sense of sympathy from the reader, but they also imply that they don’t want non-handicapped people to pity them. The goal these authors have is to reach out to the able-bodied person, and help them understand how to treat a disabled person. The disabled people don’t want to be pitied, but they still need our help sometimes, just like if you saw someone with an arm full of grocery bags having difficulty opening their car door. They want us to accept them not as a different species, but as functional people.
The documentary called “When I Walk” is an autobiographical film about Jason DaSilva and his struggle with multiple sclerosis (MS). From what I’ve learned from the film and the MS link on black board, I learned MS is where your immune system attacks your own central nervous system and affects your brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves in your eyes. MS is a debilitating type of disease and can eventually result in the loss of control over your body, like what we see with Jason DaSilva. I believe “When I Walk” can be a powerful film, not only for people struggling with MS, but also for their family members and loved ones because it’s realistic and relatable. His film showed that even though he had MS, he could still continue to live his life.
These euphemisms for her condition cause people to view her as something she isn't. Mairs believes that these words describe no one because "Society is no readier to accept crippledness than to accept death, war, sweat, or wrinkles." She continues her story of multiple sclerosis and the hardships she endured. Mairs goes into detail about how her life has changed since her diagnosis and how she has coped with the disease. She includes her need for help by the people around her but also delves into the fact that she can still teach and perform arduous tasks. She talks about her dependence on her family and how good her family treated her. She says she is scared. “...that people are kind to me only because I'm a cripple."(Mairs,8) Mairs hates that our society is obsessed with physical appearance and normality. She states that, "anyone who deviates from the norm better find some way to compensate." (Maris)This shows that she believes that American society has lofty expectations. She ends the essay by stating how she is getting used to having MS and how she isn't sorry anymore that she is a cripple. Mairs is thankful for what she has and the people who help her in her life. Overall, she is proud of herself and has recognized that life is what one makes it to be. Now from what you learned what do you
This tone is also used to establish an appeal to pathos which he hopes to convince the audience of the fact that handicapped people are still people and not less than anyone else. A very prominent example of Peace’s emotion is displayed when he says, “Like many disabled people, I embrace an identity that is tied to my body. I have been made to feel different, inferior, since I began using a wheelchair thirty years ago and by claiming that I am disabled and proud, I am empowered,” (para. 15). This declaration demonstrates to his audience that Peace is honored by who he is and what disabled people can do and that he is tired of being oppressed by the media. Peace also makes this claim to support his thesis in the first paragraph that states, “The negative portrayal of disabled people is not only oppressive but also confirms that nondisabled people set the terms of the debate about the meaning of disability,” (para. 1). This is Peace’s central argument for the whole article and explains his frustration with society’s generalization of handicapped people and the preconceived limitations set on them. Peace’s appeal to pathos and tone throughout are extremely effective in displaying to his audience (society) that those who have disabilities are fed up with the limits that have been placed in the
Mairs describes her condition and how it relates to the actions and responses of other people in any situation. Mairs uses the term cripple loosely, making sure it is not offensive to anyone. By starting her passage with, “I am a cripple,” Mairs doesn’t hide anything. She begins by coming straight out into the open with who she is and how she wants the world to view her. In the first paragraph, Mairs uses the word choose three times to establish her personal decision to be titled a cripple.
In addition to this, it impacts the people around those diagnosed because seeing a loved one adjusting to such a difficult disease can be hard. One woman in 1950 was appalled by the lack of details and understanding surrounding this disease and although she wasn’t suffering from it personally, her brother, whom she was caring for- was. The woman’s name was Sylvia Lawlry and she is responsible for many of the MS societies established to this day. Dr. Murray’s, The History of a Disease further explains that Lawlry sought out research, information, and ways to help her brother manage a disease that no one understood or wanted to talk about. She made efforts to establish research, rallying public support to raise the money needed, and ultimately changed the entire conversation surrounding those struggling with MS. (Murray, 2005, Pg. 5) With this needed change came a widespread public education reform for those that were unaware of this neurological ailment. The mid-1950’s became a time of interest in neuroscience. For the first time ever, people were beginning to understand what MS was, and help support those struggling. As mentioned above, many institutions began during this time but one in particular that made huge strives in understanding this disease that, to this day, champions behind those struggling, was National MS Society. It was also a time of commitment and community for those in the MS societies’. Established institutions began working with them to better understand what this disease really meant for those with a diagnosis and how other neurological diseases could be connected and potentially work together in finding better ways to cope or alleviate
After spending about a year volunteering at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and completing two field placements at local hospitals, I’ve found that my best work is done with the elderly population. These experiences have molded my personal goal to crusade for the civil rights of individuals with disabilities, especially those in the older generation. Additionally, I now have a better understanding of treatments and services that are provided to individuals with disabilities. Many patients at these hospitals were admitted due to an injury or life-threatening illness. There are millions of Americans with disabilities, yet feelings of helplessness, vulnerability, and depression are often evident, as if having a disability isn’t a common occurrence. In 2005, I was in a car accident, and it broke my pelvis, fractured my C1 vertebra and required emergency surgery to remove my spleen. I was unable to sit up or get out of bed for about 2 months and was re...
In the essay “Disability,” Nancy Mairs discusses the lack of media attention for the disabled, writing: “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anyone’s life.” An ordinary person has very little exposure to the disabled, and therefore can only draw conclusions from what is seen in the media. As soon as people can picture the disabled as regular people with a debilitating condition, they can begin to respect them and see to their needs without it seeming like an afterthought or a burden. As Mairs wrote: “The fact is that ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time.” Looking at the issue from this angle, it is easy to see that many disabled people were ordinary people prior to some sort of accident. Mairs develops this po...