The term identity is often used as a way to refer to yourself and the groups of people in which everyone belongs with. Our identities are what define as individuals within dominant western cultures and show aspects of ourselves such as personality, social roles or present, past or future selves. Disability is an identity context that marks individuals into a smaller social group who are often left out and discriminated against. As a society, people tend to base judgements on what our eyes are able to see, often creating the label of disability. Disability in regard to how as a society we base judgements on people by what our eyes are able to perceive. This judgement can be placed by oneself or by someone else. Nicholas Mirzoeff talks about how we are a visual community and base what we know and believe…show more content… The example which Mirzoeff talks about in the chapter How to See Yourself, talks about how people are able to wear a lie to create what they want others to see. Hippolyte Bayard’s self-portrait as a Drowned Man is a prime example of someone trying to be someone they are not and in this case, dead. “Some people even thought that Bayard really was dead.” (Mirzoeff, 44). People who battle with mental illness, or what is considered to be an invisible illness don’t tend to advertise their struggles for the world to see. This is an example of people who don’t want their illness to be seen or noticed. If you were to see someone in a wheelchair, would you consider them to be disabled? Would you say they were able? They just aren’t able to do some activites the same way as you.The problem with labels is they are merely shells that contain assumptions. When we are taken in by a label, we are taken in by opinions and beliefs. That is, we willingly accept statements without evidence of their validity. The assumptions become stereotypes, there is a big difference between descriptions which is based on facts and labels which are based on what we
