{"id":1291,"date":"2019-04-08T23:15:40","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T23:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2019-04-08T23:15:48","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T23:15:48","slug":"odilia-rafael-major-paper-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/major-paper-project\/odilia-rafael-major-paper-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Odilia Rafael Major paper project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Major Paper\/Project, Elizabeth\nBrewer, Coming Out Mad, Coming Out Disabled, Raymond Carver, Cathedral,<\/em> Michael\nDavidson. Universal Design, The Work of Disability in an Age of Globalization.<\/em> and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The\nYellow Wallpaper and Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nElizabeth Brewer\u2019s article,\u201c Coming Out Mad, Coming Out Disabled,\u201d she speaks\nabout her concerns on her ability to study disability. She had an interest in\nmental differences and distresses because she was intrigued by the thought\nprocesses of mentally ill people and wondered if their writings should be\nviewed differently because of their disabilities. People with disabilities view\nthe world differently whether they are on the low or high spectrum of mental or\nphysical impairments. Brewer states, \u201cI wanted to know how one speaks from the\nposition of a spoiled identity, to borrow a phrase from Erving Goffman\u201d (11).\nShe wants to learn from the position of the disabled bodies and I think is\nimportant to read literature from a perspective of disability because it helps\nthe reader better understand the author\u2019s intended message, grow personally and\nbecome more knowledgeable about disabilities, and understand, validate, and\nsupport those struggling with disabilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading\nliterature from the perspective of disability is important because it helps the\nreader better understand the author\u2019s proposed message. From the author\u2019s\nperspective, not only does literature help the reader understand the author,\nbut it makes sure that they respect their wishes as authors. If they want the\nreader to get something out of it, they will be able to do so more successfully\nbecause they can put themselves in their place. With that said, people\u2019s\nunderstandings in literature would only improve if they viewed it through the\nlens of a person who has experience with disabilities. The following is a good\nexample about how an author\u2019s work influences people to become knowledgeable on\nhow to treat or help individuals with disabilities. In Charlotte Perkins\nGilman\u2019s real life, she was diagnosed with what at the time was called\u00a0 \u201cnervous disorder\u201d for which she consulted\none of the best specialists regarding nervous diseases. This specialist applied\nthe \u201crest cure\u201d to alleviate her illness. The rest cure consisted of\n\u201c\u201dliving as domestic life as far as possible,\u201d to \u201chave but two\nhours\u2019 intellectual life a day,\u201d and \u201cnever to touch pen, brush, or\npencil again\u201d as long as she lived (Gilman, \u201cWhy<\/em>). In Gilman\u2019s article, Why\nI Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper<\/em>, she informs the readers how this short story\nchanged a doctor\u2019s mind on how to treat patients with the same disability that\nshe encountered. After she wrote the story, she sent a copy to the physician\nwho nearly drove her mad; however, he did not acknowledge it at that time.\nLater, Gilman states:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut\nthe best result is this. Many years later I was told that the great specialist\nhad admitted to friends of his that he had altered his treatment of\nneurasthenia since reading The Yellow\nWallpaper<\/em>\u201d (Gilman, \u201cWhy<\/em>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilman\u2019s purpose when writing The Yellow Wallpaper <\/em>was to make people\naware of the dangers of \u201crest cure\u201d treatment. She ends this article stating\nthat \u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper<\/em> short\nstory, was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being\ndriven crazy, and it worked\u201d (Gilman, \u201cWhy<\/em>).\nA disabled person will know all the struggles they deal with daily. Reading\nliterature from someone who is disabled, or even from someone who has had\npersonal experience with the disabled, will help the reader in different ways,\nsuch as Gilman did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading\nworks by individuals with disabilities or mental illness helps readers grow\npersonally and become more knowledgeable about disabilities. In my personal\nexperience, my cousin has a 15 year old daughter with special needs. I would\nnot be able to write about her struggles due to the fact that my children do\nnot have obvious special needs. I would not be able to talk about any close\npersonal experiences with having a child with special needs. However, many\ntimes I asked her how can I help but only in the moment when I see her\nstruggling to move her daughter from the wheel chair to the bed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nthink it would be very interesting to understand the world through the eyes of\nthe mentally ill and disabled, maybe then we can understand their struggles and\neven accomplishments. Just as in the example of Gilman\u2019s story, others can help\nthe readers grow personally and also become more knowledgeable about\ndisabilities, like Gilman\u2019s doctor did. People have certain perceptions about\nindividuals who are mentally ill and disabled. There are different levels of\nmental illnesses and disabilities. In my personal opinion, I do not think that\nbecause someone has a disability or mental illness that we should view their\nthoughts differently due to their \u201cincapacities,\u201d but rather due to the\ndifferent and important perspectives they offer. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning\nnew things will always broaden one\u2019s horizons; it helps one become more\nopen-minded and considerate of others\u2019 circumstances. Once a reader can\nunderstand and relate to any type of author, it helps to get the author\u2019s point\nacross to the audience. Being knowledgeable will also help to understand what\nthe author is trying to say in the writing. One will have a better\nunderstanding of the individual\u2019s situation such as how to treat \u201cnervous\ndisorder,\u201d also known as \u201cdepression.\u201d In Gilman\u2019s doctor\u2019s case, he got a\nbetter idea of the patient\u2019s situation by him carefully reading what his\npatient was feeling, and was able to better assist future clients with the same\nillnesses. Understanding from the author\u2019s point of view and how they or their\ncharacters operate in the arguments or stories they are trying to tell helps\nthe reader to view the reading from a different point of view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\ncan help those with disabilities by providing support to those in need. Doing\nthis can help break stereotypes in the literature world. As a reader, one may\ntry and put themselves in the main character\u2019s shoes. Reading literature\nfrom a disabled or mentally ill individual about their life experiences and\nstruggles can sometimes help convey the point trying to be made by the author. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Unless the reader is told that what they are\nreading is from a person who is disabled or mentally ill, it can be difficult\nfor the reader to tell if it is able-bodied writing, or the writing of someone\ndisabled or mentally ill. It is always good to view things from different\naspects anyway; doing this will help to keep an open mind to what others have\nto say or think, regardless of who they are. In other words, individuals should\nnot judge a book by its cover. When reading something written by a mentally ill\nor disabled person, we should keep their disability in mind to get a better\nunderstanding of the message that they are trying to convey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading\nworks by persons with disabilities or mental illness also helps readers\nunderstand, validate, and support those struggling with disabilities. For\nexample, in my case I offered help to my cousin the moment she needed to move\nher child from the wheel chair to her bed, when in reality I should be asking\nher how can I help her and her daughter in the long term, like make myself\navailable when she decides she needs help. I can do research and ask questions\nabout the life of a disabled individual in her conditions so I can be a\nresource, but due to my ignorance I leave her to be the one who actually deals\nwith the struggles her daughter faces every day. Being knowledgeable about\ndisabilities can help one not only in understanding literature, but in their\neveryday life. It can be quite easy to only think about what one already knows.\nFor example, in Cathedral<\/em>, according\nto the narrator, all he knows about blind people came from the movies. \u201cIn the\nmovies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by\nseeing-eye dogs\u201d (Carver). As\nable-bodied people, it is difficult to imagine a world in which one has certain\nphysical limitations. Trying to pay attention to the perspectives of disabled\npeople, the reader can expand their world view. In doing so, one grows\nas a person by having different perspectives on things. If readers all had a\nstronger understanding of what it is to be disabled, maybe they would have\nbetter healthcare services for the mentally ill or make more places handicap\naccessible. For example, right now a lot of places are not doing the best they\ncan to make buildings as accessible as they need to be. Broadening one\u2019s\nhorizons is a good thing beyond understanding disabled people because it makes\nan individual a more empathetic overall. If we practice putting ourselves in\nother\u2019s shoes, we prepare for real life where we never know who we are going to\nmeet. By broadening their horizons, people can make sure that they are better\nable to understand other people and interact with them in the way that they\nwant to be treated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nconclusion, reading literature from the perspective of disability helps the\nreader better understand the author\u2019s intended message so readers can grow in\nknowledge and become supportive of those struggling with disabilities. Readers\u2019\nunderstandings in literature would improve if they view it through the lens of\npeople who have experience with disabilities. Gilman was able to prove this\nwith her short story The Yellow Wallpaper\n<\/em>as she explained to her readers in her article Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper.<\/em> She helped the reader understand\nwhat she needed and made a difference in how the doctor managed her illness for\nfuture patients. Plus, she gained the respect she deserves as an author.\nReading about disabilities inform us on how to interact with people with\nspecial needs. If we think about it we all face challenges in one way or\nanother. However, for those whose impairments are not obvious, the world does\nnot need to be rearranged but for disabled bodies, there is lot of work to be\ndone to make the world accessible to them. In Michael Davidson\u2019s article Universal Design, The Work of Disability in\nan Age of Globalization, <\/em>states that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a person in a wheelchair becomes disabled when he or she encounters a building without elevators or when a sight-impaired person tries to use an ATM machine without Braille signage. It also recognizes that one may be equally disabled by social stigma. Phrases like \u201cwheelchair bound,\u201d \u201cretarded,\u201d or \u201cdeaf and dumb\u201d are no less oppressive than lack of physical access since they mark how certain bodies are interpreted and read. With that, I conclude that we should not have to be disabled to understand disabled and mentally ill people\u2019s needs and become resourceful to them, not a burden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word count:\n1797. I pledge; I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither\ngiven nor received unauthorized help on this work. \u2013 Odilia Rafael\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Major Paper\/Project, Elizabeth Brewer, Coming Out Mad, Coming Out Disabled, Raymond Carver, Cathedral, Michael Davidson. Universal Design, The Work of Disability in an Age of Globalization. and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper and Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper: In Elizabeth Brewer\u2019s article,\u201c Coming Out Mad, Coming Out Disabled,\u201d she speaks about her concerns … Continue reading “Odilia Rafael Major paper project”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-major-paper-project"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papJgd-kP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1292,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions\/1292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}