First Impressions Are Not Last Impressions

The amount of people who live with disabilities is a controversial number. Depending on what law and diagnostic tools used, a person may have a visible disability, or one that may lie beneath the surface of his or her appearance. Some people believe that the term “disability” is merely a label use to hold back, or prescribe helplessness. Meanwhile, individuals who have been properly diagnosed with disabilities struggle to maintain respect and acceptance every day. In plain language, there is a lot of misunderstanding between people with disabilities and those without. It is firstly important to get everyone on the same page regarding the definition of disability.

Most of society does not see the challenges that people with disabilities go through. I also think that if the world had more resources for those with disabilities we could erase prejudice. For example, more hospitals should provide an ASL interpreter for the patients who cannot understand what the doctors are saying and can’t express their issues to their doctors. All in all, society just needs a better understanding of what people with disabilities go through on a day to day basis.

The article “introducing disability Studies” by Ronald J. Berger was an eye opener in uncovering the past history of negative stigma associated with having a disability. Through history people have felt the need to stare at people with disabilities or to turn away in fear of maybe contracting the “disease”. This negative attitude was positively reinforced by ordinances such as the Chicago “ugly law” in which a person with physical deformities would have to pay a fine for simply being too “disgusting” looking to other citizens. This law was in place from 1880 to 1973, which is pretty recent in history. However there are positive glimpse in history when it came to uncovering and defining disabilities. Men like Leo Kanner and Asperger have dedicated

When I see a person with a disability, either physically or mentally, I end up taking a second look. The first idea that pops in my head is what is wrong with the person. I know it sounds very rude of me, but it is an instinct. Modern day society has shaped us to be weird around others who have disabilities. It saddens me to see people in the world judge those who are disabled, however I tend to do the same thing at times.

impressions made on other people weather we are in contact with them or not (194). In the book,

When you see a disabled person, what goes through your mind? I tend to not pay too much attention or put too much thought into it, but I really should. Being disabled is hard and changes people's lives dramatically. We can see how Nancy Mairs life has changed in her essay “On Being a Cripple”, and in Matthew Soyster’s essay “Living Under Circe’s Spell”. Both authors are victims of a disease called multiple sclerosis, which damages nerve fibers and interrupts the nerves’ signals.

Nothing in Linton’s, article was surprising but it was compelling to read her view of the term “disabled”. I did enjoy the reading and sought out to see if we actually do this and surprisingly it was as accurate. I went to get lunch at Mosher-Jordan hall and I noticed something that quite didn’t fit in the article, which was, we as a society. We just stare, by that I mean we are always looking at a person who doesn’t fit in society norms or because we are afraid to talk to a strangers. I noticed that there was a peer of mine of was blind and needed some assistance in getting his drinks. A staff member in the dining hall helped him get his drinks and I bluntly stared as so did others around the table. After he got his drinks he was eating and

What comes into one’s mind when they think of a disabled person? Most people feel pity and embarrassment, and feel these disabled people are nothing but useless. In “Disability,” writer Nancy Mairs discusses the experience of being a disabled person in a world focused on strong and healthy people. The danger in this single story is that people with disabilities are discriminated against and put away with forgotten care. Mairs states, how debilitated individuals are continually barred, particularly from the media. People with disabilities are the same as the average American person, but because they are disabled, they are seen as meaningless human beings and

In today’s society, disability is usually looked upon as a negative lifestyle, with pity, and sometimes, even disgust. Everyday we come into contact with someone around us with some sort of disability, and don’t even notice; but then why do we get so caught up in our thoughts when someone with a visible disability is a passerby? Like it or not, physical appearance has played a vital role in society. In an episode of Extraordinary People, which is a documentary series, Ben Underwood, a 14-year-old teenager, is highlighted as the main focus of the episode. Underwood, who not only lost his eyesight, but also lost his eyes due to retinal cancer, has to insert fake eyes just to be able to blend in with society.

How are people with disabilities viewed through the media? Are they viewed positively or negatively? Are they shown having real, meaningful, reciprocal relationships? For this assignment, I have chosen three very different examples to examine using these questions.

People with physical limitations and diseases are judged based on the way they look. Just because someone looks different does not mean they are different. Everyone is equal. Just because someone is crippled does not mean they cannot do anything: “ People – crippled or not – wince at the word ‘cripple,’ as they do not at ‘handicapped’ or ‘disabled’” (Mairs 525). People flinch when they hear the word cripple. People with physical limitations can do normal things just like normal people can

Americans with disabilities are a gathering group of around 50 million individuals that today led free, self-asserting lives and who characterize themselves as per their personhood – their thoughts, convictions, trusts and dreams – well beyond their incapacity. Since the mid-1900s, individuals with handicaps have pushed for the acknowledgment of inability as a part of the character that impacts the encounters of an individual, not as the sole-characterizing highlight of a person. In the 1800s, individuals with disabilities were viewed as small, sad, sad people unfit and not able to add to society, but to serve as disparaging objects of amusement in carnivals and displays.

Merely from knowing that a person is disabled they form wrong opinions about other unrelated characteristics of that person. Like people treat one who is mute as in they are deaf by talking in a high-pitch tone.

It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, but our society today lacks to understand that. In today’s time different is not accepted, people that are different are discriminated, looked down upon and usually picked on. People with disabilities are seen as different creatures by most people, the disabled don’t choose to be the way they are, but still our society alienates them. There are different types of disabilities, some type of disabilities are; mental disability, physical disability, learning disability and socializing disability. These disabilities are seen as weakness in our society that hence contribute to the stereotype that leads to the discrimination against the disabled.

A famous English writer and social critic, Charles Dickens, once said “Try not to associate bodily defect with mental, my good friend, except for a solid reason.” According to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal laws refers to a person with a disability as "Any person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment."