dis/lit 20

S.E.E.D Event on Neurodiversity

On Monday February 24 I attended the Dialogues on neurodiversity: a roundable discussion fashioned by UMW’s S.E.E.D. Lu and I believe Jessica did a wonderful job with the event. The guest speaker was the one and only Dr. Foss, which he did a wonderful job delivering the information. There was pizza and water provided by the club, which was very generous.

Dr. Foss discussed mental health and how there is more than meets the eye, as the flyer states “learn about what doesn’t get discussed.” Dr. Foss also discusses Intersectionality, which displayed that disability isn’t just one label it is a wide spectrum and how we should broaden our views. The topics addressed were topics that we have been discussing in class this semester. Dr. Foss even referenced some of the essay’s we have been reading, which was nice to relate to.

Each table had a S.E.E.D member, my table had Lu to lead us in discussion based on what we heard. The first few questions were about disability and how we have seen it portrayed in life as well as life at UMW. My table had a pretty good discussion about how disability is portrayed in movies and tv. We brought up a show “everything is going to be ok,” which the disabled character is a young woman. We discussed that it is nice to see a different type of character portrayed as disabled because it is usually white men. The second set of questions pertained to how disability is such a broad spectrum and how society has perceived it. We discussed how a person can’t be more than one thing, a person can’t be black and disabled or black, gay, and disabled. You’re either black or disabled not both.

The event was a success and time well spent. The event discussed similar topics to class discussions, it felt like an introduction lecture to Tuesday’s class. I think that S.E.E.D is a great club and has a wonderful message. What a tremendous event!

Lu Sheikhnureldin’s Response to Lambeth’s Symptoms

In Laurie Clements Lambeth’s poem Symptoms, she compares the poetic speaker’s back, leg, and arm compression braces to a girdle and a corset. This comparison along with the speaker describing themselves as sporting a cane in a similar way one would describe carrying a purse are the presumed female presenting speaker trying to find a connection between their femininity and their disability. The speaker then goes on to say that if the clothes they were wearing were to fall, everyone would see their cellophane body. Their braces and their cane are their versions of the able bodied women fashion, but yet they must cover those up with societal fashion standards to hide their body because it is a disabled body which doesn’t fit the female image. Lambeth’s speaker can be seen as reclaiming their braces and cane as their own fashion and rejecting the fashion of able bodied women instead of longing for their fashion which strays away from the narrative of disabled people wishing they were able bodied or minded.

In Garland-Thomson’s piece on feminist theory and disability theory, she touches on the subjects of the disabled female body not being seen as something sexual or desirable and instead seen on something shameful or pitiful. Lambeth’s poem of the speaker having to cover up their braces and canes with fashion that was made with the intent for an able bodied woman to wear represents this because the need to cover up is directly related to the speaker feeling like they should be ashamed of their body instead of embracing it. This feeling of shame relates to Sheila Black’s poem,What You Mourn, and how this concept of self love and body acceptance is not meant for disabled bodies because disabled bodies are things that need to be fixed or covered up.

Kafer’s Imagined Future really goes in depth on how society sees disabled people as people who long for an able bodied or minded life when that is not the case for many disabled people especially since the rise of disability advocacy and studies. Able bodied and minded people think of disability developing in their lifetime either to them or a loved one as a tragedy, so Kafer states that this future without disability is their imagined future. It is a lovely, perfect future because disabled people are excluded from it. This ideology shows how disability is something to be ashamed of and if someone can “fix” their disability they should. A disabled person such as Lambeth’s speaker, in an able bodied mindset, should have no problem with hiding their disability because it makes this imagined future seem more possible when this imagined future is not something disabled people want in the first place.

Lambeth’s speaker refers to their cane as something they sport, not something that burdens them and wish to get rid of. Their braces are like corsets and girdles, but the rest of the world sees it as a cellophane. They describe clothes like skirts and sleeves with a negative inflict that they don’t use when describing their braces and canes because the majority of people seeing a disabled body as something that needs negative inflict are able bodied people. The speaker says that the dresses and the sheets of their bed are meant to bind them and it is an interesting comparison because their compression braces are binding them, but not in the way the clothes and sheets do. The clothes they are forced to wear is this societal binding to an image of a disabled person forced to act like they aren’t disabled while the compression braces are physically binding their muscles, but it does not hold them back like the able bodied clothes do.

Word Count: 633 I pledge

Rosemary’s Response to the Great Lives Series: Stephen Hawking

Last Tuesday night, I rounded up a couple of friends and went to the Great Lives talk about Stephen Hawking. In all honesty, I did not know very much about Stephen Hawking before the event. I knew only the most basic stereotype of him; he was a disabled man who made great scientific discoveries and advancements for both his field and the human race as a whole. I felt guilty for having such a shallow and generic profile of him as I listened to his life story.

The talk was given by Kitty Ferguson, who had worked with Hawking before and was also a friend of his. Listening to someone who had a personal connection to such a well-known name changed how I perceived him. She gave him a new narrative, at least in my mind, by covering his life from childhood, marriages, friendships, and scientific contributions. While his disability was a prominent part of her talk, Ferguson never spoke about it in a discriminatory or defining way, it was just a fact of his life. She focused less on how ALS disabled him, and more on what he did in the midst of adjusting to his course of life.

Overall, I think Ferguson’s representation of Hawking as a brilliant person that happened to also be disabled was done really well. She used Hawking’s life to inspire the audience, but not in a derogatory or self-serving way that used his disability for pity. Ferguson’s talk left me feeling more connected and knowledgable about Stephen Hawking’s great life.

I’ll leave you with this quote from her; “He helped us all, disabled or abled alike, to be less afraid.”

Rachel’s Analysis of Joy Harjo’s The Woman Hanging From the Thirteenth Floor Window and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

In class, we have been talking a lot about the types of disabilities. A conversation has begun about what is considered a disability and the different definitions and models of disability. I have learned about certain illness/disorders that are considered by many to be a disability or disabling that I have never thought of in this context, such as addiction and/or drug abuse, age, etc. Another interesting topic of discussion is invisible disabilities. An invisible disability is a disability which is not immediately apparent to the outside world, and an example of this is mental illness.

In Joy Harjo’s The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window, the woman being described is not described as having a physical disability. This character is described as having a mind which differs from what society has deemed the normal way of functioning. She “hears voices… [which] come to her in the night when the lights have gone dim” (Harjo). These voices are implied to be auditory hallucinations, but she also hears the voices of the people outside her window. These auditory hallucinations can be caused by any number of things, but in addition to these hallucinations, the woman also seems to be suffering from depression.

The woman in the window seems to be in a similar situation as some characters from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Mrs. DuBose, along with some physical disability which causes her to have a mobility impairment, suffers from morphine addiction. Mr. Raymond also seems to have an addiction to alcohol (though we learn later that this is all an act to excuse his behavior). As discussed in our class, addiction is often considered a disability due to the individual having no control over their addiction and the disabling side effects.

In both of these works, an individual is described as having a disability which is not physical, but mental. It is interesting to look at the ways the characters are described. The general tone of the descriptions is different in each work. In Harper Lee’s novel, the characters who are suffering with their mental health issues are not very good characters. Mrs. DuBose is a mean old woman who throws around insults and is just generally crotchety, and Mr. Raymond, while not actually a drunk, still is representative of the connection between alcohol/drug addiction and ‘bad’ behavior. The representation is all around negative.

In Harjo’s piece about the woman hanging from the window, the tone is definitely a little bit depressing, but overall is not being judgmental and negative. There is a sense of hope at the end, where Harjo writes “as she falls from the 13th floor window on the east side of Chicago, or as she climbs back up to claim herself again” (Harjo). The woman is not with certainty doomed to fall to the ground. She is not set to meet the same fate as Mrs. Dubose, who would inevitably die regardless of whether or not she kicked her addiction, or as Mr. Raymond would spend the rest of his life pretending to be an alcoholic and acting the part. This woman was a daughter, a mother, a wife, and many other things other than just someone suffering. I think an even closer look at these characters would be a good idea.

Word Count- 548

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Adam’s Response to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

In the final chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird, we finally meet “Boo” or Aurthur Radley. It’s this interaction with the children and the other members of the community that end up at the house that we are able to get a better sense of who he really is. The character we meet is in fact not one that lives up to the violent rumours and stigma the community has built around him but instead is a very quiet man who seemingly is just trying to help. The rumours that surrounded Boo Radley gave him a disability where one never existed and because of this essentially made him an outcast from society.

Right from the beginning of the text the children make assumptions about Boo based around things they’ve heard but cant confirm. He’s demonized in the eyes of not only the children but the town as a whole, solely because he doesn’t leave his house or interact with other members of the community. The reason why isn’t clear to anyone, but that makes no difference in stopping the assumptions about him and his past. Most of the stories are wild and outlandish and paint him as someone crazy and unable to control himself. In a way, I’m reminded of The Creation, from Frankenstein. The creation is quiet, reserved and attempts to make friends or at least foster relationships long enough to not feel lonely. In that case The Creation was pushed until he was unstable and this resulted in multiple deaths. Boo Radley does not resort to, or have any intentions of killing people, but the same base is present in both of their cases. People see an individual who spends time alone (for whatever reason) as broken, scary, crazy, or otherwise an outcast and creates an identity for that person based on nothing but their own views, not taking into account the characteristics or personality of the individual concerned.

When we finally meet Boo Radley, we are able to see who he is for ourselves without the influence of stories told by others. While he only says the absolute minimum he can, just his presence and actions disprove most of the theories surrounding him, many of which the children believed. This proves how we see people in society without really knowing them. We will give people an identity of being “broken” or “crazy” without ever getting to know them because of the notions we have of disabled people having those characteristics. There’s nothing that proves Boo isn’t just an introvert, but the rumours make that almost impossible to believe. It’s common in society for us to do very similar things. I’m not suggesting that these are intentionally bad assumptions and we set out to be rude and inconsiderate, but for example, people tend to stare and assume when they see someone in a wheelchair or with a mental disability. If we can take one thing away from the interactions the children have with Boo, it’s to not assume what may or may not be going on with someone where it isn’t your place to do so. Get to know people and understand who they really are before making accusations or spreading rumors that can harm people more than it may seem.

Word Count: 543

I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work.

Alicia’s Response to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird- Ignorance Begets Ignorance

Why do legends and folklore intrigue and excite us? Why do they scare us? Simply put, they push our boundaries. They test our perception of what we know to be okay, or safe, or normal. Oftentimes, the folklore that is passed down within societal boundaries or cultural tradition incorporates fantastical or supernatural elements that are simply not of this world. While To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee has many themes, Prejudice is notably one of the most prevalent. Consistent with the aforementioned power of the unknown is the neighborhood myth of the Radley family. The legend of Arthur, or “Boo” Radley has passed through the small town of Maycomb, Alabama for decades. As many of Maycomb’s residents can neither read nor write, the legend is passed by word of mouth. The fascination of the mysterious Radley house resonates particularly within the curiosities and imaginations of young children. As the story goes, an earlier traumatic incident (that is never classified as true or false) causes the central oddity, Boo Radley, to remain within the confines of the family home for many, many years..

I can’t help but wonder why the book’s central characters’ father, Atticus, did not simply inform his children straightaway about the true circumstances surrounding the Radley family. He tells them,”You never really understand a person until you consider thing from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it..” (Lee 36) One could say that he wanted his children to make up their own minds about Arthur Radley. However, considering the families intentionally limited contact with the outside world, it is fair to point out that we may never have been presented the truth about Boo Radley. Fortunately, his story does eventually unfold and we understand that Boo is not the horrible creature the neighborhood gossip has made him out to be, but in reality is an exceptionally average adult man, who just happens to suffer from an unspecified intellectual dis/ability of sorts. However, since he is so rarely seen outside in society- an unusual trend for Maycomb, the truth about his appearance and overall character continue to be generated by speculation in an “ignorance begets ignorance” type of fashion.

Boo is rumoured to be enormous in stature and possessing incredible physical strength, which could only be restrained by the use of chains. This description paints a very Frankenstein-esque portrait for the readers. The character Dill speculates that Boo must also have blood stained hands because he frequently, “dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch.” (Lee 16) This imagery gives Boo a beastly, animalistic presentation, minimizing his human qualities even further.

From the reader’s perspective it is easy to assume that this particular projection of Arthur Radley is merely that of a child’s imagination, manifesting ignorance into fear. An equally nightmarish (and equally as ignorant) opinion of Boo is presented by local gossip, Stephanie Crawford, who turns out to be one of the children’s main sources of “information.” Crawford reinforces the children’s fear by telling them how Boo prowls around at night and looks in windows. This is significant because at this point it is longer one child telling another a tall tale, but rather an adult figure validating the fear and misinformation that comes hand in hand with prejudice.

In reality, what is brutally unfair for Arthur Radley (and the entire dis/abled, yet still very human population) is that he/they are never given a voice, but rather plagued by the voices of those around him/them. We assume that since Maycomb suffers an overall lack of education and general exposure to dis/ability, people like Arthur Radley are misunderstood and thus mistreated, but this reflection of ignorance associated with dis/ability is still existing in our society currently.

If Harper Lee’s child characters are simply the victims of misguidance, then what can be said for Stephanie Crawford’s adult character? And in whose hands does the responsibility of ignorance really fall?

Word Count- 680

I Pledge- Alicia Beth

Cayla’s SRR to “What you Mourn” and “Disability in Theory”

In the poem, entitled What you mourn by Sheila Black, we see a woman that contemplates the year that her legs were straightened and how unhappy she was with her new able body. The writer allows for a different perspective on disability than how it is usually depicted within literature. The speaker is not upset that she is not able bodied like usually seen, but rather that she explains show she would have nested and embraced her disabled body before it was”fixed”. It is clear that what the speaker mourns is the disabled body that she once inhabited. Black expresses the love for her disabled body and twists the narrative of the socially constructed body.

The speaker is told that she will now “walk straight on her wedding day” (lines 3-4), implying that disability is in juxtaposition with normalcy and even happiness. Furthermore, that when a body is physically impaired it needs to be “fixed” for the purpose of getting closer to “normal” as possible. Highlighting Siebers’ assertion that social constructed attitudes of an institution determine the greater biological representation of the body’s reality (Siebers 173). He explains that we are over critical of the body and its symbolic nature to be, do, and representation within society. Siebers’ also quotes Thomson as she points out the discourse of disability as it is “the unothortox made flesh, refusing to be normalized, neutralized or homogenized” (Siebers 174). Furthermore, the poem exemplifies the importance of the idealized body as it relates to our sense of self and identity.

The reader also calls upon the contention of “naming” as it relates to the identity of any disabled persons. “Crippled they called us when I was young later the word disabled and then differently abled, but those names all given by outsiders, none of whom could imagine that the crooked body they spoke of …” (lines 17-19). Black is employing the controversial nature to which individuals are usually providing labels for the people that should be labeling themselves. The speaker connects her experience within her “old” body to that of a “beloved imperfect home country” (line 23- 27). Demonstrating that she noticed the difficulty and discourses that she had faced within her disabled body, but she embraced it anyway, even though she was forced out of it. Ironically, the speaker also expresses the exile she feels within her old body and the imprisonment that she feels within her new body (lines 11-13). One can imply that the author was trying to have the reader grasp the societal pressure of having a “normal”and able body.

In both Black and Siebers’ writings we see the significance of the body, to which disability transforms ideals about identity, language, social and political understandings. Both Black and Siebers explain the detrimental ways in which society overtly project normative values unto persons with disabilities and how these subtle structures can often exclude them. In addition, further abdicating the basic thoughts and assumptions that surround a disabled bodies experiences.

Word Count: 506

I Pledge, Cayla Stroud.

Lizzie Wordham’s Response to Jennifer Weise’s “Nondisabled Demands”

Jennifer Weise’s poem “Nondisabled Demands” details in a witty and somewhat satirical way the ignorance of nondisabled people. She implies that this demographic of unaware, privileged people particularly includes straight men who appear to be physically able, as she writes that “Everyone knows the default mode of a poem is ten toes, ten fingers, in love with women and this nation.” Aside from pointing out their ignorance, Weise also brings attention to the fact that nondisabled people tend to assume ableness of everyone they meet who isn’t obviously disabled. She is stating that if a nondisabled person fails to be aware of another person’s limitations, it is the fault of the disabled person for not speaking up and making their disabilities known. This is demonstrated in lines six and seven, where she writes “You can’t expect people to read you if you don’t come out and say it.” The reader can assume that this is the voice of the nondisabled community speaking to a disabled person.

In addition to pointing out the ignorance of nondisabled people, highlighting a particular part of the nondisabled demographic, and bringing attention to nondisabled people’s tendency to assume ableness, Weise’s poem also details how nondisabled people consistently put disabled people in the spotlight for their own entertainment and inspiration. Lines thirteen and fourteen include the words “We’ll rope you to the podium.” The use of “rope” implies forcefulness as well as a lack of choice for the disabled person being forced in front of a podium to speak. The “podium” suggests attention being put on one person in front of an audience. Weise uses this line to suggest that the “we,” nondisabled people, will push people with disabilities in front of an audience to speak, whether the disabled person truly wants to or not. A couple lines down, Weise writes that if that disabled person refuses to speak and answer questions, the nondisabled people will “call [their] doctor.” This is a powerful line that can be interpreted many ways. If a disabled person chooses not to speak for themselves and nondisabled people turn to their doctor for answers, this implies that the doctor has the capacity to accurately speak for their patient. The doctor, however, likely only knows the medical side of that disabled person’s life, therefore only being able to detail that one aspect of their life and personality. If this is all the doctor is able to convey, nondisabled people miss out on everything else that makes up that disabled person’s personality and equates the entirety of that person’s value to their disability.

Weise’s poem accurately portrays a lot of the behavior of nondisabled people towards the disabled community. She details their ignorance, their assumptions, and their forcefulness. The third sentence in the poem that begins “We have an uncle with a disability” also draws attention to the way nondisabled people attempt to relate to people with disabilities by using their experiences with a family member, when in reality a nondisabled person can never truly know the experience of having a disability without living it. Weise uses her poem to call out the nondisabled people on their ignorance, force them to be aware of it, and encourage them to take the steps necessary to become more aware and inclusive of the disabled community.

Word Count: 550

I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work.

Nondisabled Demands and Mental Illnesses

“Nondisabled Demands” reminded me of how mental illnesses, much like disabilities in general, can be turned into a “situation” in which the tables are turned: the disabled person is no longer valid for their feelings, and they’d be better of they if just got out with it. Spill your heart on the table – everything that makes you, you – otherwise, you are hurting the people who are “trying” to help you.

Sometimes people aren’t ready. Sometimes, the right people aren’t coming to you, or they’re coming at you from a completely wrong angle. No matter the excuse of “we’re trying to help,” “I know somebody (like the uncle) who has experienced (say…) depression… We know how you feel.” It’s clumping all people with disabilities into a box and neglecting their individual experience. This negative type of intervention style is so common, and despite many persons who might try to help, the lack of understanding, frankly – nosiness, – is suffocating. People don’t owe anybody an explanation for their experiences in life.

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Rosemary’s Response to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Jillian Weise’s “Nondisabled Demands”

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Arthur “Boo” Radley is seen as the town’s crazy resident, who never leaves his home and has all sorts of negative rumors spread about him. Jem and Scout’s curiosity about Boo Radley leads them to seek answers and pry into his strange life. Meanwhile in Jillian Weise’s “Nondisabled Demands,” Weise describes the entitlement that nondisabled people have when it comes to knowing personal details about people who have disabilities. In both of these works, the authors dictate the exploitation that people with disabilities face from able-bodied and -minded people on a daily basis.

In the fourth chapter of Lee’s novel, Jem, Dill, and Scout are looking for something to do when Jem comes up with a new game to play. He says “‘I know what we are going to play… Something new, something different… Boo Radley’”(43). This is essentially a proposal to use what little knowledge they have of Arthur to role play as what they would understand to be a crazy person. Not only is this notion rude in that they are using a game as an opportunity to make fun of Arthur, but they are also planning to participate in false assumptions about who he is. In the next chapter, Dill says “‘We’re askin’ him real politely to come out sometimes, and tell us what he does in there’”(52). Yet again the children are using what they think they know about Arthur’s disability as a means of entertainment. They are hoping that he will have some wild stories to tell, or that he really will be a commodity that they can observe. Arthur’s disability is exploited by the children as they intend to use it for their own enjoyment.

Weise’s poem also approaches the entertainment value that many nondisabled people take in learning about the lives of people with disabilities. “We’ll rope you / to the podium and ask / What do you have?” (lines 13-15). The image of being tied to a podium is very indicative of the resentment that some disabled people feel when they are bluntly and frequently asked about their disability. Weise later writes “then we get to say / You’re an inspiration” (lines 17-18). She is highlighting the tendency that many nondisabled people have to pity disabled people and view their disability as something they had to overcome. This attitude is then applied to their own lives in the general notion of “if they can overcome that, what do I have to be upset about?” This in itself is exploiting the lives of disabled people to make themselves feel better, or better themselves. These nondisabled people are using the narratives of people with disabilities for their own benefits.

Overall, both authors exemplify the derogatory views that are associated with disabilities and push the reader to consider what it might feel like to constantly be exploited in such a way that Arthur Radley, the speaker in Weise’s poem, and many disabled people are.

Word Count: 516

I pledge. Rosemary Pauley