\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jennifer Weise\u2019s poem \u201cNondisabled\nDemands\u201d details in a witty and somewhat satirical way the ignorance of\nnondisabled people. She implies that this demographic of unaware, privileged\npeople particularly includes straight men who appear to be physically able, as\nshe writes that \u201cEveryone knows the default mode of a poem is ten toes, ten fingers,\nin love with women and this nation.\u201d Aside from pointing out their ignorance,\nWeise also brings attention to the fact that nondisabled people tend to assume\nableness of everyone they meet who isn\u2019t obviously disabled. She is stating\nthat if a nondisabled person fails to be aware of another person\u2019s limitations,\nit is the fault of the disabled person for not speaking up and making their\ndisabilities known. This is demonstrated in lines six and seven, where she\nwrites \u201cYou can\u2019t expect people to read you if you don\u2019t come out and say it.\u201d\nThe reader can assume that this is the voice of the nondisabled community\nspeaking to a disabled person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to pointing out the ignorance of nondisabled people, highlighting a particular part of the nondisabled demographic, and bringing attention to nondisabled people\u2019s tendency to assume ableness, Weise\u2019s 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 \u201cWe\u2019ll rope you to the podium.\u201d The use of \u201crope\u201d implies forcefulness as well as a lack of choice for the disabled person being forced in front of a podium to speak. The \u201cpodium\u201d suggests attention being put on one person in front of an audience. Weise uses this line to suggest that the \u201cwe,\u201d 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 \u201ccall [their] doctor.\u201d 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\u2019s 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\u2019s personality and equates the entirety of that person\u2019s value to their disability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Weise\u2019s poem accurately portrays a\nlot of the behavior of nondisabled people towards the disabled community. She\ndetails their ignorance, their assumptions, and their forcefulness. The third\nsentence in the poem that begins \u201cWe have an uncle with a disability\u201d also\ndraws attention to the way nondisabled people attempt to relate to people with\ndisabilities by using their experiences with a family member, when in reality a\nnondisabled person can never truly know the experience of having a disability\nwithout living it. Weise uses her poem to call out the nondisabled people on\ntheir ignorance, force them to be aware of it, and encourage them to take the\nsteps necessary to become more aware and inclusive of the disabled community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word Count: 550<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hereby declare\nupon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help\non this work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jennifer Weise\u2019s poem \u201cNondisabled Demands\u201d 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 \u201cEveryone knows the default mode of a poem is ten toes, ten fingers, … Continue reading “Lizzie Wordham’s Response to Jennifer Weise’s “Nondisabled Demands””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcJhts-sF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1778,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions\/1778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}