Allison Palmer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Foss<\/p>\n\n\n\n
English 384-02<\/p>\n\n\n\n
30 April 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.\u00a0 Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay\u2019s poem \u201cMisfit\u201d and Craig Romkema\u2019s \u201cPerspectives\u201d 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\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Mourn Us\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Craig Romkema\u2019s \u201cPerspectives\u201d 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 \u201cdiagnosed\u201d or \u201chelped\u201d when the \u201cPsychologists used to blame it on \u201crefrigerator mothers\u201d, Optometrists prescribe special exercises and glasses, Researchers recommend vitamin A.\u201d He highlights the idea that doctors, or just people in general attempt to blame or find a way to \u201cfix\u201d 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 \u201cDon\u2019t Mourn For Us\u201d when he says \u201cAutism isn\u2019t something a person has, or a \u201cshell\u201d that a person is trapped inside.\u201d It is not something someone is stuck with or something that covers up someone\u2019s \u201cnormalcy\u201d, it is who they are and it does not need to be cured.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The poetic speaker in Romkema\u2019s 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 \u201cSo freely did they label me retarded. Or some other variant, equally untrue.\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201cNot startlingly different in appearance or habits from that little boy so willingly labeled.\u201d 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 \u201cnow my mind is free \u201d, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mukhopadhyay\u2019s \u201cMisfit\u201d and Romkema\u2019s \u201cPerspectives\u201d 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 \u201cAutistic; they found no wrong with anything.\u201d 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 \u201cmen and women stared at [him] nodding; they labeled [him] a Misfit(a misfit turning and turning)\u201d; They were quick to notice something that they define as \u201cabnormal\u201d 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 \u201cwhy stop turning and turning when right can be found with everything?\u201d 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0In 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Work Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mukhopadhyay, Tito Rajarshi. Misfit<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romkema, Craig. Perspectives<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sinclair, Jim. \u201cDON\u2019T MOURN FOR US.\u201d Don\u2019t Mourn For Us<\/em>, www.autreat.com\/dont_mourn.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI pledge\u2026\u201d Allison Palmer<\/p>\n\n\n\n Word Count 1216<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"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":[32],"tags":[85,177],"class_list":["post-2160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-take-home-final-examinations","tag-final-exam","tag-labels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/scJhts-2160","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2160","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\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2161,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2160\/revisions\/2161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}