Category: Take-home Final Examinations
Final Essay
Madison Long
Dr. Foss
Disability and Literature
4/30/2020
Expecting Normal: based off of Jim Sinclair’s Don’t Mourn For Us
The first thing that really caught my attention in the article Don’t Mourn For Us, was in the second paragraph. Author Jim Sinclair talks about how parents, when they find out their child has autism, mourn for the child who they had expected to have. When you are having a child, you expect them to be normal and when it turns out that they are not, you will likely have mixed emotions. People seem to expect that everyone is normal until they are seen otherwise. The thought that I kept coming back to while reading this article was the expectation of normal. What is the expectation of being normal? Who is to say that those who are seen as other than normal are not the normal ones. All of these readings about autism and disability seem to make the reader realize that the way they are IS their version of normal. We, as a society, seem to only believe there is one form of being normal and if you don’t meet this expectation then you are looked down on. I believe that this is a naive way of seeing things. People need to open their minds to the possibility that yes, people with autism are different in many ways, but they are still human and they still have emotions like everyone else; they just show theirs differently. So I ask once more, what is the expectation of normal and why can someone who is autistic not be considered their own normal?
Expectations can be dangerous and yet it is a part of us. When we expect things to go one way and then they do not, it can crush you. The thing with expectations is that you have to allow yourself some space just in case things do not go as planned. Jim Sinclear describes giving birth to a child with autism when not expecting it as similar to having a stillbirth. You expect so much from this child, this baby, even before it is born and when you realize that these expectations are not possible, it can and will lead you to mourn the child that you did not have. Most parents expect high things of their soon to be child and when an autistic child is born instead of the child they were expecting, they might believe that this child can no longer exceed any expectations. The truth is that this is not at all true. Yes, your child may not be able to achieve those exact expectations, but that is more in your mindset than on their being autistic. The best thing to do would be to adjust your expectations to be more in tune to their way of doing things. Just because the expectations that they can achieve are different from the ones you had hoped for does not mean that they are any less than you. They are just more unique. Along with expectations, often comes the word normal.
What is normal and why do so many people spend their whole life trying to be it. What I have learned about the autistic community is exactly that, they are a community. They seem to know they are different from the rest of society in ways but that is their normal. We as humans often learn to think of life and everything in it as only having two sides. There are normal people who speak our language, think the same, see life the same way as us, that will have the same experiences as us. Then there are people who are not normal, who can not speak like us, think the same way, see life like we do, and who have different experiences from us. These “abnormal” people, we as society often think less of or pity. To them though, to those who are different and not seen as normal, this is their reality, their normal. They have their own way of speaking, of thinking, of seeing and experiencing life. These are all things that you can only understand if you are a part of them or if you try your best to understand and keep an open mind. It is not their fault that society can only seem to see it’s own reality instead of trying to see everyone’s reality.
When you put these two things together, expectation and being normal, you really just come to an unreasonable and unreachable idea of always expecting the normal. Of course there are also times when you expect better than normal. After you break down the meaning or meanings of normal do you realize that it is not fair to always expect your version of it from someone? It is ok to be excited and hopeful and expecting of a child that will soon be yours, but it is important to know that if this is not the case, if the child is not what you expected, that if they are autistic, it is not their fault and you need to learn to let go of the child you had expected. Once you have learned to let go, then start trying to learn and understand your autistic child’s version of normal.
In the end of the article Jim Sinclear has left a plea to parents of autistic children. This plea asks that you recognize the child that you have as an alien trying to navigate a new world. Not as the child that you lost because, this child never was. The child that you have needs you to do your best to understand and help them through in this world where they are different. Move forward with the child you have and stop moving backwards trying to find the child there never was going to be.
The conclusion that I have come to after reading and analyzing this article is that he wants people to see and hopefully understand the way he sees it. Autism is not something you should mourn over. What you should mourn over is what happens when someone who is autistic goes out into society and how they are treated, when treated as abnormal. But if you do mourn over this then do not just mourn, go out there and help. Change how they are seen and treated. Show society that their close-minded way of thinking is not the only way of thinking, and not the correct way.
word count: 1064
I pledge
work cited:
“DONT MOURN FOR US.” Dont Mourn For Us, www.autreat.com/dont_mourn.html.
Kellie’s Final exam
Kellie Bowman
4/30/20
English 384
Dr. Christopher Foss
Word count: 1,001
Final paper: Prompt 2
While some may have more access to resources around them that prevent race and disability from hindering their ability to thrive in life, race plays an essential part on how those with disabilities, including autism, are treated because they oftentimes feel ostracized from their community; even their own family. It is hard for those with a disability to feel as though they are supported if there are no resources around them, and it can be difficult for them to fully know themselves if they are not able to be educated and supported on such a matter.
In E. Ashkenazy’s theoretical piece Foreword: On Autism and Race, she talks about how life may be harder for those who have a disability and a person of color, citing some stories coming from those who have had firsthand experience with these hardships. There is no argument when it comes to race and identity, they practically go hand in hand. Your race could potentially make or break how challenging your life, or not challenging it is for that matter. Ashkenazy talks on personal experiences with her life as multiracial. “One of my favorite aspects of being multiracial is my ability to easily blend into the various cultures I’ve encountered. In my travels around the world, for example, I have often been pleasantly mistaken as a native and it’s a lovely feeling of acceptance and belonging. In Israel, I was Israeli. In Palestine, I was Palestinian. In Italy, I was Italian. And in Mexico, I was Mexican.” (Ashkenazy ⅹⅹⅳ). She talks about her wonderful experiences around the world that since she is multiracial (White, Japanese, Mongolian, Black, Cherokee, Indonesian) she was accepted in the best way possible by the natives wherever she traveled. She also talked about her experience with microaggressions, which defined are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. Although no harm was meant towards her, she had experienced microaggressions from her closest friends and family. Microaggressions are a common experience for people of color, even today.
Ahkenazy’s experiences with racism shine light on the fact that many are still uneducated on what is appropriate and what is inappropriate, especially towards those with disabilities. She goes on to mention that she has spoken with many people that had disabilities and those who are caregivers who have experienced blatant racism within their community and family. One in particular that she mentioned about a young Chinese girl who is on the autism spectrum, “She explained that in her culture, disability of any kind can bring shame on a family and is often a taboo topic. Her parents have been unable to accept her. In turn, this young woman has trouble accepting herself. She grew up walking on eggshells and was often heavily punished for not being socially aware of cultural customs, and for not performing at top levels in school.” (Ashkenazy, ⅹⅹⅹⅵ). Because this young woman’s family never truly accepted her for who she was, she had a hard time accepting who she was herself. She goes onto explain that when she discovered there was a group of people at her university that was specifically for people on the autism spectrum, and she was able to find comfort in that. This personal account goes to show that without a strong sense of understanding from the family and community of those with disabilities, their life is full of difficulty and challenges; both intrinsic and extrinsic.
In Morénike Giwa Onaiwu’s theoretical piece, Preface: Autistics of Color: We Matter., she talks about the experiences she faced herself as a person of color who also is on the autism spectrum. She speaks about one specific instance where she is arguing with her cousin who is biracial. “… Her concerns were legitimate, as she was never considered “black enough” or “white enough” for some people who unfairly wanted to make her “choose” one over the other. But her assumption that I was “luckier” than she because I looked “black” and she didn’t couldn’t be more wrong. My experiences were different than hers, but they weren’t easier. In some ways they might have been more difficult.” (Onaiwu Giwa ⅹⅲ). Onaiwu Giwa goes on to explain that her life as a young, disabled, black girl whose family is from Nigeria and has a South African background, was made up of not being able to feel as though she fit in anywhere because of her so called white mannerisms and differing fashion choices than those of the same race as her. Because she ate different food, dressed in different clothes and listened to different music than her black peers, she was not to be included with them; which in turn made her feel out of place for most of her young life. The way that society has shaped the view of what is ‘supposed’ to look autistic, or black, or any part of one’s identity has prevented Onaiwu Giwa and those like her to feel excluded from society; “I wasn’t considered “black” enough for my black American peers; despite our similarities in physical appearance…” (Onaiwu Giwa ⅹⅳ).
Ashkenazy and Onaiwu Giwa’s personal experiences and accounts from others highlight the importance of available support and resources to young persons of color that also have a disability. Without that net of support, there is a plethora of children that grow up feeling as though they have no community that they belong to, no safe haven that they can turn to in times of need. It is especially important for those families with children who are disabled to provide the utmost, supportive care they can to ensure that the child is met with the same opportunities that everyone else it met with. Race does play a role in how those with disabilities are treated because they are treated differently than their white peers, which is a point that Ashkenazy made in her piece and rings very true; and until something changes, it always will.
Works Cited
Kourti, Marianthi, et al. “All the Weight of Our Dreams: on Living Racialised Autism.” Disability & Society, vol. 33, no. 7, 2018, pp. 1175–1177., doi:10.1080/09687599.2018.1471811.
I pledge I did not receive help on this assignment: Kellie Bowman
Gina and Rosemary’s Final Exam
Gina-Marie An & Rosemary Pauley
Dr. Foss
April 30, 2020
ENGL 384
Autism and Identity: The Cure is Repressive
Throughout our Autism unit, we have discussed the ways in which autism has been devalued. Specifically, we have read instances of how medicine and medical research impacts the quality of life of an autistic person. Part 1 of Stuart Murray’s Autism begins with a contrast between stress on medical research versus improved education and which of the two is more beneficial for the autistic community. Murray suggests that “An improvement in the quality of people’s lives will come more quickly not with high level medical science, but rather with improved education or with increased public spending on disability programs…” (Murray, 9-10). He suggests that through an emphasis on medical solutions and a cure, autistic characteristics begin to be viewed through an ableist society as a negative characteristic that needs to be changed (Murray, 10). This reinforces ableist stereotypes that autism is problematic, undesirable, and in need of change and even full erasure. Through this reinforcement, autistic persons are stripped of their identities and they are isolated in their experiences with their disability. Erasure of the disability acts as an erasure of a part of their identity, which is associated with pity and negativity and makes the value of what is so key to their personhood worthless to society.
Medical emphasis on a cure is just another way of creating a social divide between neurotypical people and autistic people. They are cast out and ostracized because they don’t fit the definition of what our ableist society sees as conventional. For many researchers working towards a cure, curing is meant to take away autistic traits and get as close to neurotypical as possible. This notion of essentially taking away a key part of an autistic person’s identity devalues their personhood and separates them further from neurotypical people. Murray sums up this problem in pushing for a cure in saying that “the word ‘cure’ is a threat, a barely disguised attempt to define difference as something inherently negative and unwanted” (Murray, 90). Curing autism insinuates that autistic people are inferior to nondisabled people, and by that standard, they should be fixed to better fit into ableist society. A cure would be selling the lie that getting rid of autism is better for those who have it when really it would be beneficial for neurotypical people who do not understand the disability to make an effort in better understanding autism and disability itself. This push for the cure can be misleading and it doesn’t target improvement for the life and environment of autistic persons, it is targeted towards erasing the disability for the benefit of nondisabled people.
Lack of consideration for actual autistic experience further stretches the divide between abled and disabled. Personal freedom and independence are lost at the cost of misguided stereotypes on the autistic community. Autistic persons are deemed as unpredictable, even dangerous, and are not given equal opportunities to be independent individuals in society. For example, in Braddock and Parish’s An Institutional History of Disability, they discuss the ways in which history has revealed wrongful treatment of disabled persons in the medical realm. The medical world is described as impersonal and sterile; case studies and primary texts ignore the personal experiences of autistic people. As political activism came to a rise with the availability of more service programs, autistic lives are further socialized and infantilized through ableist social construction. These constructions ultimately try to decide what autism is and what the label of autism means for autistic people themselves. Braddock and Parish discuss this categorization and construction, saying, “The process of categorizing persons with disabilities into the minutiae of their impairments resulted in the development of specialized treatments and residential and educational services, but also established and reinforced notions of the boundaries between normalcy and aberrance in Western society” (Braddock and Parish, 13). The autistic label is not a label that others outside of the disability deserve to construct and define for their own benefit. It is even more offensive that they push these ideas onto autistic persons themselves and tell them who they are, without listening to autistic voices and wants. Abled persons who want to have ownership of this word are minimizing autistic people’s personal ability to have choice and demeaning them to be insufficient enough to be self-determinant. Creating more restrictions for the autistic community is only silencing their voices and limiting their opportunities for personal growth. Autistic persons are a part of this world as equally as any other person and deserve to create and dictate their own narratives and experiences.
Murray describes autism as being “built into the fabric of the person who has it… it is not an illness” (Murray, 90). Ableist standards expect people with autism to want to break away from their disability and strive for a neurotypical life as a default, not taking into account how valuable their disability actually is. Autism is such a prevalent and essential piece of who they are that attempting to take away their disability is like taking away their identity. Erasing part of someone’s existence because it doesn’t match the ableist viewpoints of our society is dehumanizing and insulting to autistic people and punishes them for not aligning with nondisabled experiences.
Ableist views dictate that autism is the problem rather than admitting that the way our society treats autistic people is unacceptable, and extend this lack of respect further by pushing for a cure that erases autism altogether. It is important to recognize how this might impact autistic lives. We should strive for more representation of their everyday experiences as well as their experiences with a society that stereotypes what autistic persons are capable of. This type of prejudice continues to limit autistic experience and growth; it is dehumanizing and covertly assumes the notion that having a disability is a negative characteristic that needs to be mended. Abled people have to recognize that their disability is a major part of who they are as a person and trying to fully erase that part of their identity is insensitive. Looking inward towards ableist society and perspective can mend this awful misrepresentation of the autistic community and close the gap between neurotypical people and autistic people.
Word count: 1029
I pledge. Rosemary Pauley and Gina-Marie An
Works Cited
Braddock, David, and Susan Parish. “An Institutional History of Disability.” Disability at the Dawn of the 21st Century and the State of the States, 2002, pp. 11–68.
Murray, Stuart. Autism. Routledge, 2012.
Alyssa’s Final Exam
Alyssa Brown
Dr. Foss
Disability & Literature
April 30, 2020
Prompt Three: Utopia Redefined in Rebecca Foust’s, “Apologies to my OBGYN”
Disability, as discussed in Rosemarie Garland Thomson’s paper, “The Case for Conserving Disability,” is threatened by religious teachings, the science and medical field as well as general ableist perspectives. This danger appears through the promotion and possible progression of a eugenics movement that agrees with the research and potential removal towards disabilities that could be ‘eradicated’ from existence entirely. The piece connects with Rebecca Foust’s, “Apologies to my OBGYN,” as the speaker tells the story of cruel behavior endured by a discriminatory doctor and staff. People in positions of power may feel their actions are justified because of their outlook on Autism, and the ways in which they believe that child may or may not end up living their lives. The speaker suggests a redefined utopia exists with the presence of disability in our world; A utopia that appreciates and celebrates difference rather than rejects the notion entirely for a “normal” world.
The speaker’s emphasis of apology chooses to acknowledge their doctor’s belief that the child they have birthed is a burden to the medical staff. The repetition is orchestrated in a manner that allows the practices’ ableist mindset of the child being a “burden” or “failure” to make the reader sick to their stomach. The frustrated and Truth unraveling voice of the speaker in “Apologies to my OBGYN” belongs to Rebecca Foust, as disclosed in an early 2015 reading of her poetry. She calls it a specieses of rant and curse poem, in which she addresses negligent behaviour of her male doctor towards herself and her child, as well as the treatment of male doctors towards female patients. It is important to consider that women find it necessary to apologize in situations that do not need to be forgiven, because they are expected to humble and redeem themselves from “being in the wrong” when they were not in the wrong to begin with. Expanding on the nature of her apology, Foust’s son was belittled and stigmatized because of his “difficulty” being premature and Autistic, which inspired the writing of her profound poem. She makes sure to focus on the irony of the anaphora used through repetition of the word “Sorry” in nearly every stanza. “Sorry that my boy birthed himself too early / Sorry we were such pains in your ass / Sorry about how he defied your prognoses / sorry he took so much of your time …” The sarcasm of this apology sheds light on what couldn’t be predicted, and shouldn’t be blamed for, but was made to feel like a source of shame because of her doctor’s view of an Autistic child.
The idea of preserving, rather than opening a door for eugenics and eliminating disabilities such as Autism all together is threatening to doctors like the one that has been mentioned by the speaker. The lines that follow the speaker’s apology include, “Took up so much room in your prenatal nursery / that he did everything backwards / skyrocketed premiums, weighted the costs.” This general kind of doctor to patient attitude is the same kind in Thomson’s piece that speaks for genetic manipulation and selective abortion to get the mother of a disabled child to not take up so much space or become an expense rather than a newborn deserving of the same care as every child that is birthed in their care. As mentioned in “The Case for Conserving Disability” on page 340, when a child with a disability or presumed disability enters this world, they can be seen as a “catastrophe or a failing.” This coincides with the view of the doctor’s treatment towards the speaker and their child. Because they are already seen as a weight in our society, and a failure by the doctor, they come to recognize that they have been abused by the system.” The male doctor has a preconceived idea of how his authoritarian behavior, that is based off of a belief that an Autistic child is not “normal” by medical standards, is benefiting this child and his mother. He is cold rather than welcoming, discouraging rather than supportive. Instead of progressing our species towards a utopia, he is enabling a dystopia that is built on the foundation of ableist ideals.
The original concept of utopia operates under the idea that everybody is equal, and all live in harmony, yet exclusion of Autism and disability in general completely rejects this notion. The final stanzas of Foust’s poem reveal that the existence of her Autistic child in this world has not and will never be a burden. Instead, his differences contribute to the overall message of a redefined utopianism that is brought to life by the speaker when they state, “He spent / today saving hopeless-case nymph moths trapped in the porchlight, one matrix-dot / at a time, and now he’s asleep; blue wingbeat pulse fluttering his left temple; there, / there again. Just like it did then.” His life was always enough, his existence was enough. The hospital staff treated an Autistic individual like a hopeless specimen, destined for failure just like one might treat the moths moving towards porchlight. The Truth that should have been acknowledged is this: We cannot experience a bright and progressive future for humankind if we are not inclusive of disability, and the differences that our species should accept instead of eradicate overtime. Much like what is mentioned in August’s and Ronan’s story on page 351 of “The Case for Conserving Disability,” human relationships give us, “the opportunity to profoundly love another human being.” This was never considered or cared about by the male doctor or hospital staff addressed in Foust’s poem. The utopia we should envision is one that seeks harmony and equal opportunity of people, no matter what their differences may be.
Rosemarie Garland Thomson’s paper, “The Case for Conserving Disability,” introduces an ableist idea of what utopia could be if disability was eradicated entirely. However, Rebecca Foust’s, “Apologies to my OBGYN” ultimately offers a redefined version of what a “perfect” world should be, as it’s ending rejects the negative treatment towards the speaker when her Autistic child was born into this world. The idea of a utopia that is “inclusive,” yet rejects the differences of human beings, needs to be seen as dystopian and prejudiced. The hospital staff in Foust’s poem needed to appreciate differences, rather than despise them, and value the existence of an Autistic child as enough.
Word Count: 1061
I Pledge: Alyssa Brown
Works Cited
Foust, R. (2018, January 09). Poems. Retrieved April 30, 2020, from http://rebeccafoust.com/poems/
Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. (2012). The Case for Conserving Disability. Journal of bioethical inquiry. 9. 339-55. 10.1007/s11673-012-9380-0.
Rebecca Foust. “Anaphora second person in “Apologies to my OBGYN” by Rebecca Foust” Youtube, 27 Mar. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk_zgz0szXI
Abigail’s Final Exam: Prompt 1
Abigail Weber
Dr. Foss
ENGL 384
April 29, 2020
Troubleshooting and the Undermining of Social Issues in Dystopia
The definition of “dystopia,” according to Merriam-Webster, is “an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives.” Dystopian literature is a large category, spanning classic works of required high-school reading like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 and recent popular works of young adult fiction like The Hunger Games and Divergent. At its heart, dystopian literature forces the reader to confront a horrific possible future and contemplate what current trends in our society might lead humanity down such a brutal path. Autistic author Selene dePackh likely intended to shine a light on the disturbing trends and rhetoric surrounding autism today and how they might lead to a dystopia if unchecked in her novel Troubleshooting. However, many austistic individuals already lead “dehumanized” and “wretched” lives as a result of our current ableist and disableist society, calling into question how much dePackh really needed to change the setting to highlight anti-autistic prejudice. By setting its story of autistic oppression in a dystopian future with a dramatically different political system, Troubleshooting lost an opportunity to examine the dystopian society that many autistic and otherwise neurodivergent or disabled people experience today.
In Troubleshooting, the main character, Scope Archer, is branded with a tattoo that marks her as autistic and removes her rights without her consent. She states that “tattooed, [she] was no longer entitled to due process” or the “presumption of innocence” before being subjected to forced medication, institutionalization, experimental procedures, or electroshock therapy (dePackh 5). However, autistic children, and some adults, face the same specters of involuntary abusive “treatment” and institutionalization without due process under the system of guardianship (Autistic Self Advocacy Network 1). “Almost every country” has a system of guardianship under which disabled individuals assigned a guardian “cannot choose where to live, where to work, who to be friends with, and who to marry without their guardian’s consent,” while the guardian is free to ignore the wishes of the person in their custody (Autistic Self Advocacy Network 1). They lose the “usual rights and responsibilities” of citizens without being legally recognized as “no longer a citizen” (dePackh 4). The law does not announce it is taking away the rights of disabled and autistic people by declaring them no longer citizens or branding them with tattoos. DePackh does not draw a comparison between the tattoo system and the guardianship system; she does not discuss how one led to the other, the ableist ideas underlying both, or the similarities between the two. A reader with background knowledge of guardianship can draw the parallel, but one of the biggest problems with guardianship is how little the general public knows about it. Without this knowledge, the tattoo and its accompanying restrictions simply become more set-dressing that establish how terrible the book’s society is, without prompting introspection or reflection on its contemporary precursors.
Troubleshooting does later engage with neurotypical guardianship of autistic people, but again renders its criticism irrelevant through its future setting. Scope has trouble living independently, particularly keeping track of monthly expenses, as a result of her autism. To deal with this, she takes in and ultimately marries an allistic man who handles the tasks she has trouble with. He quickly becomes abusive and controlling, and Scope has difficulty escaping him. This is an unfortunately common situation: some estimates place disabled people at almost twice the risk for intimate partner violence compared to their non-disabled peers, and even conservative estimates place them at a significantly higher risk that others (Breiding and Armour 455). Disabled people are at risk for intimate partner violence in part because their “increased dependency on others for long-term care” makes it difficult for them to leave abusive partners (Nosek et al. 178). The University of Michigan notes that disabled or elderly survivors requiring additional resources can add yet another barrier to escaping abusive relationships alongside those, like financial dependence and the fear of retaliatory violence, that their neurotypical and able bodied peers also face (“Barriers to Leaving”). However, dePackh undercuts this important point by explaining Scope cannot escape because “new domestic violence laws [don’t] favor” her (emphasis added), making it a recent development only relevant to the society and legal setup of the book (dePackh 168). This implies that before the dystopian future detailed in the book began, Scope would have handily escaped from her abusive relationship. Scope’s relationship could have played out along similar beats in today’s society, considering the numerous barriers to leaving an abusive relationship and the disadvantages disabled people have when navigating the law and dependence. Instead, Troubleshooting ignores the complex forces that push autistic people into abusive relationships and limit their ability to escape, replacing them with a clear-cut law passed by an openly misogynistic and disableist government.
By placing her narrative against a backdrop of a dramatically different future, dePackh makes her points on the treatment of autism feel irrelevant to the present sociopolitical system. She fails to connect the issues in the novel to their predecessors in contemporary America. Although readers with background knowledge of autistic issues or disabled advocacy may be able to make these connections, the text itself fails to illuminate them. This is particularly odd because the future described in Troubleshooting is not a distant one where current ideas of autism are forgotten. The narrator and protagonist is 15 in 2031, and the book was published in 2018, meaning that the United States completely transformed over Scope’s short lifetime from our current society to the one depicted in Troubleshooting. Despite this tremendous change all occurring while she was alive, Scope treats society as if it has always been this way, which might have been a powerful commentary on how the dystopia described in the book is not so different from modern America to an autistic child in the hands of an ableist caregiver—if the novel had ever mentioned this implication of Scope’s age. The short timeline could have helped to emphasize how close to dystopia the American political system is for autistic people already, but instead it serves to detach the world of the book from the real world through distracting, improbably radical shifts in the way the United States is structured. Readers are not left realizing how close we are to the world of Troubleshooting or questioning what part they play in preventing such a future. Instead, they are simply glad the world is not like that.
Word Count: 1057
I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this assignment. -Abigail Weber
Works Cited:
“Barriers to Leaving.” Abuse Hurts, Regents of the University of Michigan, 2009, www.stopabuse.umich.edu/about/barriers.html. Accessed Apr. 28, 2020.
Breiding, Matthew J. and Brian S. Armour. “The association between disability and intimate partner violence in the United States.” Annals of Epidemiology, vol. 25, no. 6, June 2015, pp. 455-457. ScienceDirect, doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.03.017.
“Dystopia.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster Incorporated, 2020, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dystopia. Accessed Apr. 28, 2020.
Invitational Summit on Supported Decision-Making and the Transition to the Community: Conclusions and Recommendations, October 18-19, 2016, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, June 7, 2018. autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/SDM-Summit-Conclusions-and-Recommendations.pdf.
Nosek, Margaret A., et al. “Vulnerabilities for Abuse Among Women with Disabilities.” Sexuality and Disability, vol. 19, no. 3, Sept. 2001, pp. 177-189. ProQuest, DOI:10.1023/A:1013152530758.
Rachel, James, and Lueden’s Final Paper
Rachel Mullins, James M Pryor, & Lueden Sheikhnureldin
Dr. Foss
ENGL 384-02
April 28,2020
Autism in Popular Culture
Prompt #2
In popular media representation such as on television and film, Autistic characters are overwhelmingly portrayed as males, specifically white males, and while there is a small percentage of Autistic female characters, they are also white. Visual media greatly lacks representation for Autistics of color. These shows and movies lack input from the Autistic community and are usually based on stereotypes which results in not only every character in these shows and movies being virtually the same, but also enforces the notion that only white people are Autistic. This stereotype is extremely harmful for Autistic people of color because they are invalidated constantly and can feel like there is no place in the community for them (Giwa-Onaiwu xiii). Another trope derived from the lack of Autistic input in these shows and movies is that these Autistic characters are usually there to simply ‘teach’ a non-Autistic person how to be kind, and they more likely than not have some sort of ‘bizarre’ talent or interest that is supposed to show how amazing Autistic minds are. While on the surface it sounds like acceptance, in reality it pushes the idea that an Autistic person needs some special skill to validate their existence. These negative representations of autism in movies and TV shows led to Autistic people not relating to canonly Autistic characters, but instead saying characters that they relate to or like are Autistic as a way of saying that if those characters were explicitly stated to be Autistic, they’d be better representations than what is shown now. Visual media representation is extremely important because this is where people get most of their ideas and beliefs, so by showing bad representation, it leads to harmful misconceptions of the Autistic community and makes Autistic people feel unrepresented (Ne’eman). If creators of these television shows and films used Autistic input, there would be less perpetuation of these stereotypes and more diverse representation for Autistic people.
A character that is considered the ‘blueprint’ for Autistic characters is Raymond ‘Ray’ Babbitt from the movie Rain Man. Raymond fits the stereotype for Autistic people greatly. He is a white male, is an extremely fast counter which is his ‘bizarre’ habit or trait, and as argued by many critics, his autism is not for representation, but is one of the many stories of how autism affects neurotypicals instead of how it affects Autistic people (Ne’eman). Raymond’s character is also not played by an Autistic actor. The inspiration for Raymond’s character was inspired by a man named Kim Peek who did not have autism, but had savant syndrome (Treffert). While Peek seemed to be in support of this character and this movie, this film is the cause of a lot of misconceptions of autism such as all Autistic people being savants and that autism is only present in white men. Furthermore, having a non-autistic person portraying an Autistic character makes autism seem like it is not a valid identity, but instead something one can just ‘pretend’ to be and turn on and off when needed. Having an Autistic actor is the best option for better representation because it shows how autism is a real, lived experience. A character that is the product of Autistic input is Julia from the popular kids’ show, Sesame Street. Julia is an Autistic little girl and was added to the main cast as a way to promote diversity and so Autistic fans of the same show could have a character to relate to. Julia was created with input from Autistic people such as the Autistic Self Advocacy Network who helped workshop her (ASAN). Julia was a revolutionary character, until Sesame Street partnered with Autism Speaks, an organization known for speaking over Autistic people and treating autism as something to be fixed. This completely undermined everything Julia stood for and took Julia from being great representation to another Autistic character whose sole purpose is to ‘help’ neurotypical people. What happened to Julia is more proof of how neurotypical people ruin Autistic representation for Autistic people.
In Ari Ne’eman’s Dueling Narratives: Neurotypical and Autistic Perspectives About the Autism Spectrum, he brings up several points on how parents and doctors damage the Autistic community with the way they talk about autism; saying falsehoods such as how autism “steals” children, ruins families, and is something that only people who are close to Autistic people ‘truly’ experience. Inevitably, these false narratives are translated into the media. Since autism is so villainized, these characters are portrayed as pitiful and helpless. This reason is why the savant trope is so problematic because it tells the audience that Autistic people are to be pitied, but ‘at least’ they have this talent going from them. These narratives are exceptionally harmful to Autistics of color. Neurotypical people do not get their input from Autistic people, so they make these narratives based on what they know instead which leads people of color not being accounted for in these narratives. Morénike Giwa Onaiwu’s Autistics of Color: We Exist…We Matter describes her experience as an Autistic Black woman and how both her identities have been invalidated. Some would say she is too Black to be Autistic and too Autistic to be Black. Autistics of color are only represented when they need to be seen as sad stories and examples for the community to not exclude them (Giwa-Onaiwu xii). They are rarely represented in the way white Autistic people are as people with interests and positive lives. Her experience with ableism and racism as an Autistic Black woman can be linked to the fact that Autistics of color are never seen in visual media (Giwa-Onaiwu xv). Bad representation is a vicious cycle in this case. Lack of Autistics of color in visual media leads to people thinking that people of color can not be Autistic which leads to more media without Autistics of color. This is why Autistic people being the actors, writers, creators, etc. is so important. More autistic people putting their lived experiences into something leaves less room for misconceptions and damaging stereotypes.
One positive from having stereotypical characters, is that Autistic community has found comfort in calling characters that are not canonly Autistic, autistic (Mullins). Many Autistic people had found the representation they were being given extremely offensive and found that there were many characters who were not explicitly stated to be Autistic to be much better representations than what they are given. Some of these characters are considered to be autistic coded which means the character is Autistic, but not stated by the creator for various reasons or based on an Autistic person (Mullins). While this can be a very empowering way to interact with ableist popular culture, it has its own issues such as white characters more likely to be coded as Autistic by fans than non white ones. White Autistic people can be just as guilty as white neurotypical people for the exclusion of Autistics of color (Giwa-Onaiwu xi). The problem lies in the fact that there is not enough Autistic created content or input being put into the mainstream pop culture which causes this aforementioned vicious cycle of bad representation.
Autistic representation in visual media is run by neurotypicals for neurotypicals instead of being by Autstic people for Autistic people. The harm these movies and television shows do have real world effects. The idea of autism affecting neurotypical people exclusively is only enhanced by these representations. Autistics of color being viewed as non existent is backed up by them never being what people see in movies and film. Autistic people are represented as white men who have one particular interest and if someone does not fit that image, then they can not be Autistic (Giwa-Onaiwu xv). The lack of Autistic voices causes the rise of neurotypical stories being told under the guise of Autistic stories. By not having Autistic representation that Autistic people can resonate with, they are given Autistic representation that neurotypical people can take and bend for even more damaging narratives (Ne’eman). By having more Autistic people being involved with the making of these TV shows and films, the neurotypical narratives would diminish greatly. Autistic people are not plot material and devices; autism needs to be shown as a valid identity and not simply something non autistic people experience and are completely changed by. The Autistic voice in the media should belong to Autistic people, so their stories are not told as sob stories or cure seeking.
Word Count: 1,408
We pledge
Works Cited
ASAN. “ASAN Has Ended Partnership With Sesame Street.” Autistic Self Advocacy Network, 2 Aug. 2019, autisticadvocacy.org/2019/08/asan-has-ended-partnership-with-sesame-street/.
Brown, Lydia X. Z., and Morénike Giwa-Onaiwu. “Autistics of Color: We Exist…We Matter.” All the Weight of Our Dreams: on Living Racialized Autism, DragonBee Press, 2017, pp. X-xxii.
Mullins, Christa. “Reflection: Autistic-Coded Characters and Fans in Fandom.” Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, 2019, doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v8i2.495.
Ne’eman, Ari. “Dueling Narratives: Neurotypical and Autistic Perspectives About the Autism Spectrum.” The Society for Critical Exchange , 2007, case.edu/affil/sce/Texts_2007/Ne’eman.html.
Treffert, Darold. “Rain Man, the Movie / Rain Man, Real Life.” Agnesian, 2017, ttps://www.agnesian.com/blog/rain-man-movie-rain-man-real-life.
Allison Palmer
Dr. Foss
English 384-02
30 April 2020
Labeling Autism
The world consists of labels, whether on products or regarding people. Human beings create labels to identify things or create their own identification of other people. However, labeling other people can lead to misinterpretations of someone, offending someone, and is simply morally inappropriate. Labels are more often than not are inaccurate and create a misrepresentation of that person being labeled as well as offend them since they are usually negative. No matter what, labeling someone is usually morally wrong because it puts someone into a small box limited by that label and can tear someone down.There is a negative association already when it comes to Autism, however then non-autistic people label autistic individuals, enhancing the negativity surrounding Autism. The labels are inaccurate, inappropriate, and hurtful; they also place people with autism into a small group and definition about who they are. Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay’s poem “Misfit” and Craig Romkema’s “Perspectives” mention being labeled by people regarding their Autism and the negative feelings tied to those labels. This paper will analyze how non-autistic people label people with autism, misinterpretations of Autism and how it impacts Autistic people, as well as the connotations involving Autism. Mukhopadhyay, Romkema and even Jim Sinclair’s “Don’t Mourn Us” alludes to the impact labels have on these individuals and how they should simply be treated and viewed as a human being because that is who they are.
Craig Romkema’s “Perspectives” is a poem that includes an autistic speaker who goes through his life facing being studied, labeled and intentionally omitted. Romkema shows the speaker being “diagnosed” or “helped” when the “Psychologists used to blame it on “refrigerator mothers”, Optometrists prescribe special exercises and glasses, Researchers recommend vitamin A.” He highlights the idea that doctors, or just people in general attempt to blame or find a way to “fix” autistic individuals as if it is this terrible thing that was caused by something terrible and needs to go away simply because they are unique. Some people are uncomfortable with anything that is not similar to themselves and they are afraid of anything that slightly differs, therefore, they think that it is an issue that needs a cure. When in reality it is simply who someone is, Sinclair addresses this in “Don’t Mourn For Us” when he says “Autism isn’t something a person has, or a “shell” that a person is trapped inside.” It is not something someone is stuck with or something that covers up someone’s “normalcy”, it is who they are and it does not need to be cured.
The poetic speaker in Romkema’s poem has labels placed upon him by non-autistic people and indicates how he feels regarding the labels; these moments of labels and his perspective is relevant to how other autistic people are labeled. In a moment he mentions how some do not acknowledge his ability and ignore the fact that he understands them “So freely did they label me retarded. Or some other variant, equally untrue.” They made a quick judgment about his abilities and attempting to create him as an outcast by devaluing his abilities and pretending he could not understand. Then similarly how they made a judgment based on his abilities they labeled him a degrading, inappropriate, inaccurate and negative word in order to devalue him even farther. This is how autistic individuals are labeled everyday, with negative terms that devalue their abilities and them as people. Some people label people with autism because they like to have the upper hand on others, especially people with disabilities who they see as easy targets in taking their power; they are ignorant and are power hungry. However, Romkema even states how inaccurate these various labels are because they are simply judgments to knock autistic individuals down to a powerless position; they do not define who they are as individuals and are not even close to the truth.
The speaker grows towards the end of the poem and gains ownership over who he is despite the labels placed upon him his entire life. Romkema states that he is “Not startlingly different in appearance or habits from that little boy so willingly labeled.” He is still outwardly similar to the little boy who was mislabeled except now he can participate in discussion posts, vote, and share his opinions. He rises above those labels with his voice and he owns who he is, showing that he is more than he appears and labeled to be. He states “now my mind is free ”, he is finally free of the labels because of his abilities and the voice he has to share his story and the accuracy. The suggestion of being free suggests the freedom autistic individuals lack due to the labels they are given because they are not free to be themselves because someone else is deciding who they are. The poem also suggests that one way to reach freedom is to own their voice and own who they are.
Mukhopadhyay’s “Misfit” and Romkema’s “Perspectives” parallel each other through the poetic speaker being an autistic individual who gets labeled and in the end there is a deeper realization. The speaker notices birds and how they knew he was “Autistic; they found no wrong with anything.” The birds knew who he was and they did not label him, try to define him, or find anything wrong, because nothing is wrong. Yet non-autistic “men and women stared at [him] nodding; they labeled [him] a Misfit(a misfit turning and turning)”; They were quick to notice something that they define as “abnormal” only because they were ignorant and labeling him misfit which means someone or something that is set apart from the others. Similar to how many label autistic individuals as misfit or abnormal or retarded or strange, they attempt to set him apart from everyone else and determine an identity for him which is that he does not belong. They labeled him a Misfit who was turning and turning, however he states “why stop turning and turning when right can be found with everything?” This final realization shows that though he may be turning and turning, that is who he is, not a misfit; he enjoys turning and turning so why stop based on someone’s opinion of him that is wrong. He realizes that just because some people want to try and find things that are wrong in the world, does not mean there are things wrong and does not mean he is wrong; a person cannot be wrong. Therefore, he is free to turn and turn because that is who he is and he enjoys it; nobody can control what someone can do, who they are because of how they want to label them.
In the end of the poem the speaker owns who he is, he knows he is autistic and he knows people are going to label him or autistic people in general, but that does not stop him from being who he is because he is a human and is right. Autistic individuals are labeled by people who do not understand who they are and they are aware of these labels, the inaccuracy, the hurtfulness, however, they still own who they are, their abilities and create their own definition of themselves because that is their right as people.
Work Cited
Mukhopadhyay, Tito Rajarshi. Misfit.
Romkema, Craig. Perspectives.
Sinclair, Jim. “DON’T MOURN FOR US.” Don’t Mourn For Us, www.autreat.com/dont_mourn.html.
“I pledge…” Allison Palmer
Word Count 1216
The Use of Literary Devices and Synchronization in dePack’s Troubleshooting
Understanding the thought process of people with disabilities is something that neurotypical people often struggle greatly with. It makes disables people seem alien to them, and often ignorance causes intolerance, which leads to people with disabilities being isolated from society and shunned as though they are less than human. Autism is a disability that many people do not know about, as well as one that many do not care to know about due to the nature of it, and how different autistic people act compared to the norm. People write them off as less intelligent or strange simply because it is something they cannot understand, nor do they often take the time to try. Because people with autism have such a different way of processing the world around them, it is easy to assume that there is no chance of understanding them, which can lead people to not even try, but the more time people spend with someone, the easier it is to figure them out and work with them. Selene dePackh’s novel, Troubleshooting throws the reader into the mind of an autistic character, Dax, with an auditory processing lag, and the writing style, use of context, and dialogue mimics the way that she must synchronize with people in order to be able to understand them.
The writing style that dePackh uses in Troubleshooting has an interesting way of jumping around timeframes in a way that causes a reader to be confused about where and when the scenes of the book take place, which mimics the confusion Dax must feel before she has processed what someone has said. It almost gives the reader a literary whiplash, switching back and forth from past to present, scene to scene, so quickly that the reader is only able to process what has happened about halfway through the page. Immediately upon opening the book with chapter one, the reader is put into the middle of a conversation between Dax and Chill, Angela Dark’s brother. They are playing some sort of game that the reader is given no context to. Before anything is fully explained, the narrator, Dax, then continues on to say that the conversation happened “a couple of decades ago” (dePackh 1). Dax implies that she is somewhere different in present, but instead of giving the reader any information about that, she starts to tell the reader about the past again, and how she came to meet Chill Dark instead. Then, from chapter two to chapter three, the narration skips from Dax telling Angela her background and how she got to Thunderbird to an explicit sex scene in chapter three, which shocks the reader, and seemingly comes forth with little warning to it happening. Just as the reader is starting to somewhat understand Dax and be solid in a scene with her and Angela talking, they are immediately thrown into something else with these same characters, but a completely different scene with a very different done. This sort of mimics the way that someone with an auditory processing lag may experience conversation—just as they process something that was said to them and tune back in, the conversation has gone completely elsewhere, and the process starts again.
Similar to the way the novel’s jumping around causes confusion, dePackh introduces information without context, which makes it impossible for the reader to understand, but as the novel progresses, more insight is provided as though the reader is getting synchronized with the book and can more easily understand things that are happening. On page two, we are given a few proper nouns with no context or backstory, as though these bits of information are important to the worldbuilding of the futuristic world this takes place in, but the reader is not clued into the significance of them. The “Dark family” is mentioned, but the reader does not yet know why they are important, as only two members of the Dark family have been mentioned. They are spoken about like they are infamous, but at this point in time, the reader does not know why. The nations “Haudenosaunee” and “Anishinaabe” are mentioned, but the reader is given no information as to what they are or told that they are nations of indigenous people, aside from them being near the Canadian border. The reader is left to their own devices, with the choice of either remaining in the dark or looking up the information themselves, which helps the reader to understand how it may feel like for Dax since she is unable to make sense of words upon first hearing them (dePackh 7). At the beginning of chapter two, the reader is introduced to Chill’s Uncle Gabriel, who is fixing Angela’s hair, but the reader is not given any information to why or how he is there, nor are they given any information about the setting they are in until halfway through the paragraph when the fence is mentioned to show that they’re in the yard, and then on the next page, the reader is informed that Uncle Gabriel is allowed regular visits. This creates a lag in understanding because the information is presented, and then explained with a sort of delay, creating a small window of confusion similar to what Dax may experience. However, as the novel progresses, we are given explanations of information sooner. One example of this is at the beginning of chapter eleven, with the phrases: “I was supposed to meet her at nine, and it was still a couple of minutes to, but it appeared she’d been there a while. I was learning Petra was a heavy drinker. She didn’t drink hard every day, but when she did, she meant business” (dePackh 93). Here, Dax is forthright with information and explaining the characters, even giving information that the reader may not necessarily need. The mention of Petra being a heavy drinker as well as Dax’s love interest at the time is even foreshadowing to her relationship with “The Mistake”, an abusive alcoholic who takes over her life for a while. Up until this point, the reader is thrown around through Dax’s life with little context or explanation to what’s happening, but here, there is a very noticeable change in the writing. Not only is the reader given a full explanation of the setting and characters in the scene, but there is also a hint to what is coming next, which had not happened, at least not noticeably, before this point, as though after reading the book for this long and struggling to process it, they are finally getting “synchronized” (dePackh 5).
Literary devices can be a powerful tool in writing. They can create all different tones and moods and bring the reader on a specific journey that is unique to each and every book. The way that dePackh uses these literary devices is important because it gives the narrator a voice that is specific to how she processes as a person with autism, and it helps the reader to understand that voice and gives them insight into her brain. Books like this show people that autism is not something that makes someone alien, but only something that makes them process a little differently, and it shows them that if enough time is spent with someone, then they are not so difficult to understand after all.
Word Count: 1223
I pledge I did not give or receive unauthorized help on this assignment
WORKS CITED:
dePackh, Selene. Troubleshooting: Book One, Glitch in the System. Reclamation
Press, 2018.
To Kill a Mockingbird: The Frailty of Disability
To Kill a Mockingbird contains a lot of themes regarding the issue of discrimination in regards to disability. In an attempt to demonstrate the struggle that many disabled people go through, Lee’s narrative focuses on a disabled African American man struggling to find his way through a trial of a crime he didn’t commit. This has especially been apparent by the fact that he was both African American and disabled. To Kill a Mockingbird centers on themes of the present discrimination within disability as seen in Tom’s discrimination, Boo Radley’s struggle to unveil himself, and the treatment Atticus receives for supporting Tom.
For the bulk of the book, Tom ultimately is the one that receives the most amount of discrimination for being African American. This is shown most clearly through the trial that he is forced to be a part of. Throughout the trial, Tom finds that he is treated unfairly, most of the evidence being against him. In one of the arguments that is made against him, “Tom Robinson hesitated , searching for an answer, ‘Looked like she didn’t have anybody to help her, I says’” (Lee 204). In this scene, the pressure that Tom feels shows how much of the court is biased against him. This is further exemplified through some of the names that the judge calls him, such as “But you weren’t in a fix—you testified you were resisting miss Ewell. Were you so scared that she’d hurt you, a big buck like you?” (Lee 225). The derogatory term of “big buck” demonstrates how Tom was judged by his appearance. Tom’s race and disability prevented him from getting fair treatment. Ultimately it is sad that these were the defining traits that the judge saw, preventing him from becoming more acquainted with Tom. It shows the extra weight that race holds with disability.
Another aspect that Harper Lee tries to put a lot of emphasis on is the isolation disabled people go through. This exhibits itself through the life of Boo Radley. In the beginning of the book, Scout described “the Radley’s kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb” (Lee 14). Considering that isolation was an unforgivable predilection, it shows how Boo Radley was discriminated based on a mental illness that he had. Lee uses Boo to show the struggles he had with his disability interfered with his communication with the people in the society. After some time, Boo comes out and Scout come to have a more mutual understanding towards him, especially after he took care of Jem. With this, Scout says “The Radley’s place had ceased to terrify me, but it was no less gloomy” (Lee 247). This goes to show that she has overcome her initial fears and speculations she had of Boo Radley. Ultimately she came to have a more mutual understanding for Boo because she came to know him as a person. Unfortunately, based on the fact she still saw gloom on the house, the rest of society probably would never come to accept Boo Radley for who he really was. No matter how hard he tried, he would always be alienated for his disability by the greater society. This shows that the disability he had will always leave a mark on his social standing. The development of Scout’s understanding towards Boo Radley demonstrates how misunderstood many people with disabilities are.
Finally, Lee tries to expose how the insults of one individual can affect the welfare of the other. Through the character of Atticus Finch, it is seen that he is insulted because he does not believe that Tom did any wrong. When he is talking to Jem and Scout about how he was insulted by two other men for his defense of Tom, he states “‘There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn’t be fair if they tried’” (Lee 238). In this sense, he is saying that people exist within their own independent selves, unable to understand anything that is outside of it. This applies to Lee’s theme of the stigmatization of disability because the reason most of the disabled characters are misunderstood has to do with the fact that people do not want to comprehend an individual that is different. The reason people like Tom received an unfair trial without good evidence had to do with how they refused to understand his status as a disabled and African American person. Because Atticus was the only person that was willing to understand Tom, he too becomes stigmatized since they view that he is sympathizing with someone that is otherwise considered a disgrace to their society. Atticus goes further with this when he states “ ‘There is nothing more sickening than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a negro’s ignorance’” (Lee 252). In this statement, Atticus is saying that a lot of white people seem to assume that African Americans are not that smart and easy to take advantage of. However, because Atticus is the only one that is able to understand that this is just a presumption, he gets made fun of for it because he has grown to see the holes within the white individual’s thinking. In this case, popular thinking tends to blind people because it is not based upon reasonable facts or logic. Instead, a lot of it is based on myth and unreliable data. The reason that Tom Robinson is accused of rape in the first place has a lot to do with the nature of his social standing over anything that he has done in the past. In the same vein, because Atticus is able to overcome these falsehoods, he is able to see the truth; however, it is not without the cost of losing the respect others once had of him.
To conclude, To Kill a Mockingbird carries many of the same weight that other literary works involving disability do. Many of the characters within the book find themselves becoming ostracized and being social outcasts because they do not have the means necessary to recover form the plight they are in. Most of the social woes that the characters of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson suffer from is because of their disability. All in all, To Kill a Mockingbird is very insightful with how it handles the frailties of disability.
Work Cited
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Harperprennial. New York, New York. Modern Classics,
2002. Print.
Words: 1071
I pledge-
Daniel
