The introduction of “Imagined Futures” highlights the hypocrisy of the treatment of disabled people by the hands of able-bodied people. How a disabled bodied person future is seen as best told by someone who isn’t affected personally by it, and by doing that are mistreating them even when they don’t mean to. This is echoed in pages 232-233 in “To Kill a Mockingbird” when Mrs. Merriweather talks about hoe the people in Maycomb are hypocrites, because they act all high and mighty when they freed their slaves, but still hold the foundation of racism against them. While Mrs. Merriweather is no better in her opinions, she does not try to be polite and hide them behind accusations and unfair trials.
The two ways presented by Mrs. Merriweather parallels in the two predicted futures for disabled people on page 2 of “Imagined Futures”. Kafer talks about how there are two futures presented to her, one where her disability is a “pitiable misfortune” and will be a weighing down on her forever, while the other is based around the obstacle of ableism, and how only ignorance can stand in the way of her having a good life. While one is more accepting of a disability, it still makes the same assumption as the other, that life will be hard because of a disability. In comparing the two situations, Tom Robinsons story line does confirm the two ideations. Here he is in Maycomb, where there are no slaves, only colored people who work for families and Atticus Finch is his lawyer when he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit. And yet, because of the racism that goes on behind the scenes of Maycomb, he is doomed to the same fate that any black man is in either of the two towns.
There are of course some huge differences in both cases, whereas disability actually affects a person way of life, while a color of someone’s skin would have no bearing on the person’s life if there was no prejudice against it. Tom Robinson has disability and while being an African American but does not feel the pity that Kafer suggested that it usually does. It can then be inferred that Kafer is white and hasn’t had to face the kind of discrimination that automatically comes to mind when someone sees someone else’s skin color. So while the two are comparable, it’s obvious that Kafer would get the benefit of the doubt from her friends and family, who believe she could somehow fight against the odds that people would have against her because of her disability, while in the case of Tom Robinson, like the book said, his fate was sealed when the girl opened her mouth to scream.
Both are trapped by the holds that society put on them, and while Robinsons predicament is more of a short leash than Kafer’s, both show how little we focus on those who say right but mean wrong, and those who say wrong but mean right.
Word count:503
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