Disability in my life

Disability is a topic that I've been associated with lately because of having a deaf roomate. He works as a chef at red lobster and has to deal with many different hardships.Such as communicating through notes and how he is able to drive to work each day. I'm just beginning to realize what he goes through many people in the apartment complex know him and he gets a lot of good attention. His other senses are heightened and he has many talents. The "otherness" as stated in the article still will always be associated with him, but he is always treated as an equal.

Yet Another Cliche

The episode of Glee that aired last year, Wheels, was yet another attempt by Hollywood to portray a physical disability as a "a condition that is to be pitied, doubted, and overcome at a very heat wrenching moment at the show's conclusion". It was a another token attempt by the producers to actively include minority characters in the show, joining a laundry list of half-baked attempts by Glee to include Gays, Asians, and Blacks. What made this episode in particular stand out however, was the fact that it touched upon all the stereotypical depictions of a physical disability by Hollywood almost on cue. Artie's entire character development on the show was essentially driven by disability stereotypes, the biggest example of which was his crush on Tina. Essentially, Artie fell for her due to the fact that he thought she had a stuttering issue, but the truth was that Tina had faked the whole thing in an attempt to be "unique". Naturally, Artie is terribly hurt by this lie, but more importantly, it is a demonstration by the show's producers that people with disabilities are very "different" and drive people away by their very nature. The episode then tops it all off with a feel good concert at the end. But in the end, the producers look at it as entertainment, and to them, that is all that matters.

Disability

The article "Social Construction of Disability" presented a viable argument that society dictates disability. I agree that social and culture are the two main factors to construct disability mentioned by Susan Wendell. In the article, there are many social factors to affect the disabled, such as the lack of resources and the pace of life. The article also mentions that public world determines their own standard to indicate a person whether is disability or not. It is senseless that determine person is disable just because they cannot reach the standard like cannot walk as fast as the standard. Culture is the second major factor to construct disability. There is an example about a woman, Francine Arsenault who has damaged leg, and indicates that culture always abbreviates and stereotype the people with disability. There is a contradictory argument that providing some welfare to the disabled. I agree that it is unfair to non-disabled have this handicap. Simultaneously, I want to ask a question that if the special treatment is considered as a stigma and stereotyping to the disabled. In fact, I totally disagree that disability is a group of hopeless people without ability. There were many examples of the successful disabled people in the history ,such as Beethoven, Recently, I found out an amazing armless piano player in China. Therefore, I believe that disabled people should not be stereotyped and ignored in our world.

Glee

I have honestly never watched the show Glee before but I feel the article that was written about it was taken too far. From the brief showing we saw in class I saw nothing wrong with the episode. The use of crip drag is not uncommon. Dustin Hoffman played Rain Main which he played a man with disabilities. Just because the epidode is about disability, it doesn't mean that Artie has to be constantly showed. It seems to me that the author thinks that if there is an episode on disabilty then the person playing that role has to have that disability. I feel that is wrong. In my opinion if I was handicapped and was bound to a wheel chair, I would not want to play a role that emphasized my disability. Also the author gets out of hand where they discuss the stunt doubles to do the scene at the end. The other says that it was not acknowledged and that it is an actual competetive sport. If someone had said that it was not a competetive sport then they would have an argument. I think that Glee is just a show that just adds certain things to spice it up. I do not think that its going for a shocker each week. I feel that the author of this article had nothing else to do. They honestly picked out things that they could twist to their advantage. If you do not like the show then do not watch it. It is as simple as that.

Disability

I was not happy while reading The Social Construction of Disability because it combined feminist ideas to the argument of the social construction of the disabled. I assumed that this article would be (strictly?) about the disabled and how they are marginalized in the world because they are different from 'normal' men and women...

Why is she relating women as disabled individuals? Because I don't see that.

"Feminists talk about how the world has been designed for the bodies and activities of men." Really? Are there NO female architects in the world? Because the majority of architects are able-bodied individuals , who assume that the people who will be using/living/working in the buildings are also able-bodied, of course there will be stairs and doors. That supermarket argument is just absolutely ludicrous. "Where can you rest for a few minutes in a supermarket if you needed to?" There are electric carts offered to people who can't walk. There are seats by the play pens for children (Wegman's), there are seat at the entrance of Tops, there are seats by the food courts at both Wegman's and Tops. Last time I checked, people go to supermarkets to shop, not to sit down.

I was offended when she wrote "poor architectural planning". Is she a certified architect herself? How can she tell if a building is ill-equipped? She makes it sound as if disabled people, as a whole, are offended at the constructed buildings. If she's asking a complete overhaul of how architects design buildings, I ask that they put in moving sidewalks along with the ramps and elevators. I'm going to ask for a golf cart to take me to the next class while I'm at it.

I'm wondering where her argument for obese men and women are. Aren't they disabled too (based on her definition of the physically disabled)?

When she wrote (basically) that sickness is given paid leave, but for pregnancies, women aren't, I recalled an article written by a female Polish political scientist who compared the capitalist and communist laws of maternity leave. She wrote, during communism, women were granted paid maternity leave for up to 6 months, and now, in Poland, as an industrialized, capitalist society, women are forced to leave when they become pregnant. Women are now hired last and the first to get fired in present day Poland, but before the Solidarity movement and the collapse of the Soviet Union, women had more rights, more liberties at the working place than now.

There are more women than men at universities in Poland right now - I don't think that's a disability. If anything, I can argue that men are intellectually disabled in Poland now.

I think that the author needs to recognize that it's not society that creates this notion of a disability. It's the market. There is no profit if companies create products dedicated to the minority population (the disabled) when they can exploit the majority (who are generally "able-bodied). The market creates the society. The perpetuation of the market only embellishes the marginalization of the disabled. That's what I just thought of without thinking too much about it.

Honestly? That's what you're gonna call it?

Okay, if I seem angry or upset, it might be because I am. Let's take a look at the phenomenon of non disabled people playing roles of disabled people. I don't have a huge issue with this, however I am extremely upset at the term being used for the role.

Crip Drag.

Really? I mean honestly, okay fine don't use a disabled actor to play the part that's fine whatever but you're seriously going to call it Crip Drag? As far as I'm concerned that term should be saved for a Blood going into enemy territory, not for the topic at hand. I'm not personally disabled but a member of my family is. If I walked up to her and called her a crip, or even a cripple I'm pretty sure she would not only disown me but also whack me upside the head and make me leave her house. To me that term is SO demoralizing and unsuited. Just because a person has a handicap or is disabled doesn't mean they're a cripple. As far as I'm concerned the term crippled should be saved for NASCAR when a car is knocked out of the race. I know I seem stuck on this one topic but it's something that bothers me all the time. all of these hateful words thrown around at all walks of life, and I'm sure you know these words and probably have used some of them. But please, don't make it part of modern lexicon. Please don't make the official term used for anything be hateful. As far as I'm concerned, crip is just as degrading as calling a black person the N- word or calling a Mentally handicapped person the R- word. Can we please, as a nation, hell even as a class, gain the fortitude to stop with the simple stereotyping and hate? Please?

Disability

When I first started reading about this whole people without disabilities playing roles of people with disabilities, at first I thought it was wrong to be portraying something that they aren't. Then I started to really think about it and that's what Hollywood is, everyone portrays someone that they're not, so why should it be wrong to portray someone with a disability? I also thought about who I would consider disabled, and I think I might be a little extreme but I feel that almost everyone with a physical, mental, or emotional problem is disabled. I feel that most people would just categorize disabilities as something like learning problems, or down-syndrome, things like that but I feel as though disability can be anything, and people shouldn't be judged by their disability whether it be how they look, communicate, or get around. So I guess what I'm getting at is that I consider anything that isn't completely normal to be a disability, but I'm not judging or pretending that I'm perfect because I feel that I have a disability as well. Disabilities shouldn't make you different, and it definitely shouldn't change the way people view you, unfortunately it does.