Essay about Learning from Helen Keller

In Nancy Mairs’ article for The New York Times, “Disability”, published in 1987, she expresses her distaste with the media's representation of handicapped people. Mairs, who struggled with multiple sclerosis herself, clearly and sharply conveys this disgust by stating, “I’m not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease.” (Mairs 13), and that she is actually, “the advertisers’ dream: Ms. Great American Consumer. And yet the advertisers, who determine nowadays who will get represented publicly and who will not, deny the existence of me and my kind absolutely”(Mairs 14). Mairs is greatly upset that disabled people are defined by their disabilities and, therefore, are underrepresented in public media. This might lead to one asking themselves, but why are they? And the answer, according to Mairs, is quite simple, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life”(Mairs 14). Mairs concludes by pointing out how this effacement could have dangerous consequences for both disabled people and, as she called everyone else, TAPs (Temporarily Abled Persons) alike. Treating disabilities as an abnormal characteristic (as opposed to viewing them “as a normal characteristic, one that complicates but does not ruin human existence” (Mairs 15)) can cause one of these repercussions, as it makes the

In the video “Inclusion, belonging, and the disability revolution” (TEDTalks, 2014), speaker Jennie Fenton opens with describing situations where people with disabilities are segregated and excluded from their communities, sent to live together away from society, or even treated as lesser humans. She then proceeds to introduce her family, including her six-year-old daughter that was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Jennie admits to previously having negative or frightened thoughts about having a child with a disability, but with her “seven realizations,” she learned that her daughter was merely on a different path than others, but that no one should ever feel broken or not a whole person (TEDTalks, 2014). After she explains that there are roughly one billion people with a disability throughout the world, Jennie states that she believes in possibility over disability. If a person’s

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

The goal of the disability movement was is to provide equal opportunities, and protect the disabled with from being discriminated (Disability rights, 2017). After World War II, the Americans with disabilities act was a physical impairment that limits to major life. There were Americans with disabilities from 1990, as of the Rehabilitation Act in 1973, and for the Architectural Barrier Act in 1973 (Disability rights, 2017). Their effort to pass a law to help them. For having American with disability act which means a physical improvement to life that made some people famous like Helen Keller, Stephen Hawking, and Franklin D. Roosevelt (Disability rights, 2017). Stephen Hawking was an influential working with computers. Helen

Stella Young’s TedTalk “I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much” discusses the various ways in which those living with a disability are often viewed differently for doing the same mundane things those living without a disability do. In her speech, Young claims that people are lied to about disability. She tells a story about how she was teaching and a student raised his hand asking when she was going to begin her inspirational speech since the only interaction with a person with a disability prior to her class revolved around a person giving an inspirational speech. Young then goes on to state that the world is deceived by “Inspiration Porn” and which leads to the idea that those living with a disability are “objects of inspiration”. She jokes that no matter how long she sat at the bottom of the stairs having positive thoughts that would not get her to the top of the stairs. Young concludes her speech by saying she wants to live in a world where disability is considered the norm and not the exception.

In her essay, “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs, an essayist with multiple sclerosis, writes about her experiences with her disease. She wants her audience of able-bodied people to stop pitying towards disabled people and instead show acceptance. Mairs achieves her purpose by presenting herself as similar and relatable to her able-bodied audience with many anecdotes and a blunt tone. This discussion of her condition removes the discomfort about disabilities felt by her audience and allows for them to accept disabled people. While Maris’s primary audience is an able-bodied person who supports disabled people, other readers, like someone with her condition, may be drawn towards this essay as well. Unlike an able-bodied person, a disabled person

Unspeakable Conversations by Harriet McBryde Johnson is an article about her experience visiting Princeton University to exchange views and challenge Peter Singer, a professor who strongly believes that all disabled people, like herself, are “better off” not been born at all. The article provides an insight into Johnson’s life as a disabled person. She takes the readers on a journey that explores both sides of her own and Singer’s contrasting beliefs. She protests the prevalent stigma and prejudice of disabled people and gives voice to this marginalized community. Johnson challenges stereotypes of disability, uses her a personal experience to better understand the world and help others, and attempts to directly address oppression by arguing against Professor Singer’s theory and assemble a group of diverse and like-minded people for social change.

If you saw a person in the mall in a wheelchair, would you judge them? Or would you look at them like they are a normal human-being? People who have a disability whether they are physically disabled, mentally disabled, or learning disabled, are still themselves. Nancy Mairs was forty-three year old woman with multiple sclerosis. She wrote an essay, “Disability”, that explained her views of her physical disability.

"All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming" said Helen Keller, a woman who faced many obstacles in her life ("Fun"). Most people don't dedicate their lives to help others, especially if they have disabilities themselves, but Helen Keller is a different story. At 19 months old, Helen Keller was diagnosed with a disease that led her to be deaf and blind. A true hero is someone who is dedicated to help others in need no matter the circumstances/struggle he or she faces, never gives up, and is an inspiration for others. Helen Keller is a hero because she overcame the struggle of being deaf and blind by never giving up, dedicated her life to help others, and made change in the world despite her disabilities.

Psychoanalytic or also known as the Freudian, we could understand more. I believe she was an

Who else can there be? Helen Keller, the amazing author who was both blind and dead at 19 months old. She lives most of her life struggling and stressing out, not being able to do much. She was the first disable person to graduate school and even received a Bachelor of Art Degree. But she didn’t do it all alone. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan, contributed to her success. She taught Helen the manual alphabet, hand writing, and other forms of communication and understanding,"I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a great many words, among them pin, hat, cup and a few verbs like sit, stand and walk. But my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood that everything has a name.” Anne and her husband helped Keller with her first book, the autobiography, “The Story of My Life”. After her success, she wrote more books and inspired other disabled people to do things in life and paved a path for

Although special needs people in the 1960’s were considered useless, Eunice Kennedy Shriver took a stand for them. She created the special olympics, and camp shriver. She used the Joseph P Kennedy Jr. Foundation as well to bend her will on the country of America. The legacy she left behind is still felt today; with the special olympics having an attendance of over 3 million people. Along with that, we have seen the rights and view of special needs people increase ten-fold, compared to what they were in the 1960's. They are as much a part of modern society as anyone else is.

"Helen Adams Keller." Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.U.S. History in Context. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Displayed in the media to this day are people shown with disabilities. These people are wrongly perceived by society as heroes or sensations. Instead of focusing on that, we should focus on how they are able to overcome the disability during their daily lives. A very trusted author and professor of journalism, Charles A Riley, wrote a book called “Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change”. After carefully analyzing this text from Everything’s an Argument, it is clear that Riley wants to adjust the way society views people with disabilities. He is against the fact that people with disabilities are not known for who they really are. I agree with Riley’s stance and can feel what he is expressing throughout his text.

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