People With Disabilities In Eli Clare's On The Mountain

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When considering people with disabilities, those unaffected by disability may be unaware of the challenges that can be a part of daily life. Although society's views have evolved from 18th century beliefs that children born with disabilities were "a product of sin" and in many cases abandoned or flat-out murdered1, we still have more work to do. From shortcomings in, or lack of "Universal Design", to the general portrayal of individuals with disabilities in the media; American society has grown, but must grow further still. When considering the value society currently puts people with disabilities, the quote from Orwell's Animal Farm comes to mind; "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"2.
Media, an integral factor in molding public opinion, tends to reinforce an idea brought up in Eli Clare’s work On The Mountain; the “Supercrip”. The idolization of and “success” in overcoming, or the idea that people with disabilities must overcome to be normal, reinforces lack of accommodation in general society and perpetuates the idea of “normality” within an abled body. Even one of the brightest minds of our time, Stephen …show more content…
This is particularly troubling, because as stated by Zulu “people with disabilities are often among the poorest of the poor and can’t afford healthcare or services.” and reinforces his points. Additionally, Zulu has had personal experiences with people with disabilities being given a lower priority for life-saving medication, simply because of their disability. Trump budget cuts / ACA repeal also affects the obligation of schools to accommodate disabilities/allow denial of students based on disability, SNAP benefit cuts (of which people with disabilities make up 25%) [https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-provides-needed-food-assistance-to-millions-of-people-with]– the list goes on and
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Eli Clare

Fung and McCaskell’s “The Imagining of AIDS”, there are many parallels between the aids epidemic and Clare’s retelling to the history of those with disabilities. The progression from invisibility, to ridicule and exclusion, to acknowledgement and acceptance. The progression from ignorance to assistance is similar in both literature. The major difference between the two is that those with disabilities have a significantly larger history. The AIDS epidemic was short and quick by comparison. This is because…

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