On Seeing A Sex Surrogate And Heavy Breathing

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

Ashley X went through many procedures through the decisions made by her parents, since she was unable to chat. In the other scenario, a deaf lesbian couple choose to adopt a deaf child. These decisions made are frowned upon, due to the treatment of disability is seen as “out of time” (66). Using various disability activists in chapter three like Susan Wendell, Michael Warner, Marge Piercy, and others provided Kafer the understanding to assess feminist cyborg theory and understand the connections to life. Kafer recognizes, “To eliminate disability is to eliminate the possibility of discovering alternative ways of being in the world, to foreclose the possibility of recognizing and valuing our interdependence” (83). The analysis of disability provides an appreciation to life, reveal how abled people should be grateful for their condition. Disability studies equip people with disability rights and ways to improve their quality in

    In contrast to our contemporary understandings, back in the late nineteenth and twentieth century sexology had just emerged and cast a new way of understanding. There were controversial views on sex and its benefits or dangerous. Our view of sexuality was quite intertwined with biblical and religious inputs. At this time understandings and terminology of same-sex sexual relations were linked with mental illness or considered sinful. Laws were in place to criminalize male sexual activity.

Disability is a topic viewed differently by each set of eyes. To truly understand a disability, one must live through it or frequently view the lives of another, struggling with an infirmity. Living with a disability may be hard, but it does not mean it is not worth living. Nancy Mairs, author of the essay “On Being a Cripple,” has written about her views and experiences, explaining to the public the truth behind being a “cripple,” and proving that disease does not control you. Explained in the paper, able-bodied people make assumptions to how low quality life must be, living with a disease and that these individuals are constantly unhappy however

People with disabilities are not completely gone. They are still there and have a mind of their own. They feel emotions and sometimes have a more complex mind than others. Two authors help enlighten this idea that disabled people are much more than helpless bodies. Both Christy Brown and Jean-Dominique Bauby perfectly illustrate their lives and what it is like to be disabled, and they prove by their stories that they think and feel, and can even develop enough to share what they feel with the world. My Left Foot is about the journey of a boy suffering from cerebral palsy. His entire life he was labeled as a loss cause by doctor after doctor, but his mom never gave up hope. Slowly, he started showing signs of development by random movements responding to certain situations. In the end he ends up being able to communicate with his left foot. The next story, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is about an individual who suffered a stroke at the age of 43, leaving him paralyzed, only able to blink his left eye as communication. He develops his own alphabet inspired by the French language in order to exchange conversations with others. His thoughts in the story jump from the present, him currently disabled, and the past, when he was not. Both memoirs, with very different stories, show the lives of two individuals that are not like others. One who had their disability since birth, and the other who obtained one after a tragic event. In My Left Foot by Christy Brown and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby, both authors use characterization to show readers the struggles of disabled people and help them understand that just because they can’t use motions such as hand gestures to express how they feel, doesn’t mean that they don’t think and feel.

This paper will outline sexuality at different life stages, and as a sexual therapist I will coach an adolescent girl with a boyfriend who is pressuring her to have sex; an elderly couple with a wife exhibiting a renewed interest in sexual activity and a unwilling husband; and finally a handicapped male that has been paralyzed since he was four years old.

In the essay “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs shows us a class of two subcultures: being a parent and being disabled. Looking at the intersection between these culture and identities will show us important facets of disability that all people should understand. Throughout the essay Mairs explains the effects Multiple sclerosis and how it negatively and positively affects her life and the lives of her gracious family.

The author describes various interactions between mothers and the medical system, in which the discussion crosses normal physician/patient boundaries (Frederick 2016). This is seen as acceptable because we have been deeply ingrained with the fear of disability and abnormality, that it has become acceptable to chastise individuals for “bringing a burden” on to society. There are distinct similarities between Scientific Motherhood and Fat-Talk Nation, in that both writings delineate how strongly we react to individuals who differ from our standard of normal, and how we openly accept and encourage abuse directed at them when they do deviate from our “normal” (Frederick 2016; . Frederick describes various instances in which mothers were subtly (or not so subtly) encouraged to seek abortions or sterilization (Frederick 2016). These exchanges are similar to those in the film No Mas Bebes were Mexican-American women were seen as a “threat” to the “normal” U.S. life during the 1960s and 1970s, and were thus forcibly sterilized without consent (Espino 2015). These examples show how these groups are being targeted as bad biocitizens. They are seen as being purposely bringing a burden to society, which allows for their

In today’s society, many try to steer away from talking about mental disabilities as best as they can. However, in some cases, they need to be talked about to develop a better and more accurate understanding for not only the disability and the effects it has on the brain, but also for those who are victims of these matters. The novel, Brain On Fire by Susannah Cahalan, addresses what those are afraid to talk about; the truth of mental disabilities. Cahalan’s story starts where any great story starts, in the bounds of her own home with her first real love by her side. Having a regular night watching PBS quickly turns into one of the most unimaginable nights, a nightmare if you will.

The writer of “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs, describes her life as difficult, but not entirely worth the cure. The writer struggles with multiple sclerosis, a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system, in which had weakened the left side of her body into wearing a cane. She experiences society pressures, false interactions, and many hard situations of having a body that hardly works. However, she carefully names herself as a “cripple”, and remains proud with being just that. The author never had any control over receiving this disease, however she had enough control in order to keep living with it.

Coping with a disability many would assume that sexuality is no longer a factor or want. However, this is another result of societal barriers and stigmas people place on individuals with disabilities. Sexual healing as Mitchell mentioned, should be part of the rehabilitation process. Mitchell states that he learned more from his peers and mentors whom have acquired disabilities and I find this interesting. He learned and gained the most knowledge from others in his situation and I believe many are educated this way similarly to young children learning societal norms. The social learning theory is a great example of Mitchells closing analysis about men with disabilities. Men apply what is learned socially throughout life. After an individual becomes disabled attitudes prior to and after the disability should be addressed in treatment. For Mitchell learning from others that he could understand and relate to was a form of

How would people act or feel if their body is slowly weakening? Nancy Mairs, The author in the story “On Being A Cripple” shows that being a cripple does not make you different than anyone else. She also shows the reader that discriminating yourself will not just make it worse but it will be a disaster. To her she is a normal person but to others they see a “disabled” or “handicapped”.By using her experience on being a cripple, Mairs effectively draws the audience into her argument and shows them the good and the bad side of her condition. She uses many strategies that will make it easy for the readers to understand her essay. Mairs uses vivid descriptions, experience and her emotion to describe her life as

For women unable to bare children, it’s disheartening, for men who cannot procreate it’s emasculating. In his case he acknowledges his “want to,” in terms of establishing his sexuality, but he simply can’t. How much more American can you get than just simply being able to express yourself sexually. Kovic’s birth marks the first years of the Baby Boomer generation. In this era moving forward the expression of sexuality isn’t a forbidden staple anymore – at least in terms of being talked

Throughout this story he gives up several parts of himself in order to make his mother happy. When discovering his sexuality he first felt ashamed by the sexual urges he had to touch himself, so went onto remove his hands. This story greatly impacts the way the LGBTQ community see themselves. Members of this community are used to feeling ashamed and guilty for their sexual orientation and what gender they identify with. This story highlights how detrimental the affects of this guilt and shame people are forced to carry. People would rather resort to losing their hands than dealing with what they are feeling. This is symbolic of how the LGBTQ community would rather lose what makes them unique, what makes them who they are, than carry around the burden they feel for the sexual preferences and the gender they self identify with. Reading this may help someone who is feeling like they have no choice but to hide whom they really are by showing them how it may result in a total loss of self. Those who may be dealing with the guilt and shame associated with their sexual orientation or with the gender they choose to identify with may feel connected to this story in a way that may help them deal with their emotions and help them respond in the appropriate ways instead of loosing sight of who they are.

In A Life Beyond Reason, Chris Gabbard discusses life with August, his disabled son, and how it affects him and his family. During August birth, he was unable to take his first breathe which caused him to suffer severe brain damage because of several medical misjudgments (194). Eight month after August was born, the doctors did a CT scan of his brain; unfortunately, his brain had so many dead patches, it resembled Swiss cheese (194). August is legally blind, nonverbal, paraplegic and who must wear a diaper. (190).