dis/lit 21

Zachary Welsh’s Thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has a lot to say, but one thing in particular that really stood out to me and that I found fascinating to read about, is the character Boo Radley. While it’s never specifically stated that Boo has a disability in the story, it’s often left open to the reader’s interpretation and we can infer from Lee’s way of describing the character that Boo, to some extent has some sort of disability and I think Lee’s handling with the character really shines a light on the stereotypes that surround individuals with disabilities.

Early on in the book, Boo Radley has become famous around town as a recluse that is hardly seen by almost anyone. He is often described by his neighboring individuals as a freak, an outcast, a lunatic, and is even referred to as a “malevolent phantom” who eats squirrels and cats by one of the main characters of the book. However, as the story develops and readers get further into it, we learn that Boo is actually a really genuine person. We come to learn that it is Boo who mends Jem’s pants and that it is also him who has been placing the presents in the tree.

I would argue that Boo is an embodiment of the stereotypes that nondisabled individuals place associate with people with disabilities. Unfortunately, as we have learned throughout the course, nondisabled individuals oftentimes view disabled people as a problem that needs fixing, a monster, or a victim of their disability, when that’s simply not true. A disabled person may have a physical or a mental difference from a nondisabled individual, but that doesn’t make them some sort of creature. When it comes down to it, disability or not, we’re all people and oftentimes some individuals fail to see that, so they stigmatize a and stereotype people that are different from them, and thats not okay. It’s an unfortunate thing that happens even today, so I think it’s an important topic of discussion to be had and I commemorate Lee for discussing such matter within her novel.

Zachary Welsh’s Thoughts on Weise’s Nondisabled Demands

In her poem “Nondisabled Demands,” author Jillian Weise points out just how much individuals with disabilities are expected to label themselves as disabled or prove to others that they have some sort of social value. In lines such as “It’s not fair,” and “You can’t expect people to read you / if you don’t come out and say it,” Weise is communicating that nondisabled people almost expect disabled individuals to reveal their disabilities to prove some kind of worthiness. What speaks volumes is that when describing the motivations behind making this poem, Weise is quoted saying that “This poem comes from real advice and performance art. Someone told me I had to come out and state my disability in every poem I write.” What’s also worth noting is that in an attempt to avoid situations such as these, Weise actually began writing under the pseudonym Tipsy Tullivan, a nondisabled writer, someone almost completely different than the true Weise. With her poem, Weise essentially argues that a disabled individual shouldn’t need to come out or be labeled as such, they are people just like anyone else.

J. Faith Hopkins’s Response to Jillian Weise’s “Nondisabled Demands” and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

Jillian Weise’s poem “Nondisabled Demands” informs the reader about how people who know about others’ disabilities will treat them. In contrast, in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader can see that the unknown will either scare or spark curiosity in others. Whether it is better to hide the truth or reveal disability to the public is argued over between these authors. While each has a different opinion, both of them have experience with the same issue: the infectious effects of gossip and the lie about disability.

In the beginning of the novel, “Boo” Radley is introduced in several stories. These stories are mostly negative and brand “Boo” as a dangerous character that should be locked up to avoid “no further trouble” (13). As Weise states in her poem, “You can’t expect people to read you / if you don’t come out and say it” which causes gossip to spread (line 6, 7). Lee and Weise show just how much people do not know about other people’s lives, even more so when he or she has a concealed disability. Compared to Weise’s poem, Lee’s novel represents disability in a negative light. The poem “Nondisabled Demands” still shows how disability is seen as a cumbersome weight, “an inspiration,” something to overcome, in other people’s eyes. The novel represents what happens when other people fear it when it is hidden from the public (line 18). Although in Weise’s poem, she states that if someone does have a disability, he or she should be transparent about it, but considering what has or has not happened to “Boo” Radley in the past,—not to mention his nickname—it would be harder for the Radley’s to follow Weise’s advice. “Boo” Radley is not seen as a charity case; instead he is seen as a monster. Even if the Radley’s were clear about their son’s condition it does not guarantee that the gossiping would stop.

Weise then continues on to say that if the person with a disability does not comply with the public, the people would “rope [he or she] to the podium” and continue to force a reply (line 13, 14). A parallel is seen between these two works of literature. Jem, Dill, and Scout end up attempting to lure “Boo” out to answer some questions about his past. Even though their intentions are innocent, their perceptions are damaging. Jem compares “Boo” to a turtle and proceeds to say that “turtles can’t feel” (18). This may be just Jem’s naivete, but Lee’s choices here appear meaningful. This could be Lee’s way of showing her audience how disability was viewed back in the thirties when there wasn’t much to know about it, especially through children’s eyes. Instead of keeping their distance, the kids are constantly drawn to the house partly because they are curious and partly because they are concerned. Dill questions “Boo” Radley’s state of mind: “How’d you feel if you’d been shut up for a hundred years with nothin’ but cats to eat?” (62). Again, the character’s idea of “Boo” Radley is distorted, but matches up with what Weise states in her poem about pitying the disabled. Either people will fear the unknown or pity it, but for children they do both.

Even though these are different situations in front of different audiences, the literary works coexist together to break the misconceptions about disability and how it should not be handled by the public. Instead of making up stories about the disabled and being noisy, the community should keep to themselves and realize that even people with disabilities can feel, too.

Word Count: 598

I pledge… J. Faith Hopkins

Keona’s Response to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

Through the usage of the characters Tom and Boo Radley, Harper Lee does an excellent job of depicting disability by offering audiences multiple lenses to view disability opposed to only a stereotypical description/characterization (depending on what that means for you or what your mind immediately pictures when someone says the word “disability”). In other words, including these characters in her text allows for readers to not confine or categorize the definition of disability to one box as it has multiple meanings, representations and ultimately there is no one way to “look” or “be diaabled”.

The character Tom represents disability in the sense that he has no use of his left arm and is thus visibly physically disabled. Additionally, it can be argued that being black during this time served as a disability as well. This claim can be justified by the historical context of the story as well as the normalized and vulgar language used to refer to black people throughout this text. Not to mention the fact that Tom is eventually convicted of a vicious crime he did not commit simply because the town refused to believe a black man over a white man, regardless of the fact that the evidence against him would not even allow for it to be him due to his disability. This means that his double identity of having both a physical handicap and being black were both actively working against him to receive fair treatment that nonhanicapped persons experienced on the daily. In short, one might not think of someone like Tom when they think about disability and thus his character in this text allows readers to expand their way of thinking.

On the other hand, Boo Radley also represents disability, but not in the same way that Tom does. Dissimilar to being physically handicapped, Boo Radley’s disability is much more ambiguous and is left for the audience to decide rather than explicitly stated. For instance, Harper Lee never outright says what Boo Radley’s disability is but she drops clues such as: he is a recluse who never comes outside, which could mean his “condition”is “severe”enough for his family to need to care for him full time. Additionally, Lee differentiates the treatment that Scout gives to Jem versus how they both treat Boo. For instance, the children clearly see Boo Radley as an “other” and go out of their way to treat him as such. They treat his house like a forbidden place by daring each other to run up to it and touch it. Without knowing exactly what has happened to Boo to cause him to become a recluse they label him as “scary” and villainize him.

In fact, they even go as far as creating a secret game about him that they at least know deep down is wrong because they do not want to tell Atticus about it knowing they will get in trouble.

And what’s sad is that Boo seems to regard them both as children who he wants to take care of judging by how he neatly hemmed and hung Jem’s pants, and flung a blanket over Scout even though they were always devising schemes and excuses to visit the house and trying to peak at him as if he was a zoo animal.

All and all, these characters show that disability is not constricted to one definition or one set of “symptoms”. Hopefully by contrasting these two characters, audiences are able to empathize more with persons with disabilities and not immediately villainize and further isolate people because they are not the “same”.

Thoughts on Nondisabled Demands

This thought might not be the most fully developed idea, but…. in reading this poem, I was instantly hit by the 3rd stanza. It begins with the end of a sentence which started in the second stanza, leaving us with “if you don’t come out and say it. / Everyone knows the default mode/ of a poem is ten fingers, ten toes.” Instantly, my mind went to this thought of passing. The grouping of these three lines connects to the idea of being able to live with a disability that isn’t instantly recognizable. My question, however, is more based on the title. Does this grouping, placed in a poem called “Nondisabled Demands,” represent those lines coming from a disabled person, saying that it’s hard to tell who really has a disability, or is it criticizing the demand placed forward by nondisabled that those with a disability need to strive to pass?

I connect this stanza as more of a criticism, especially considering the half line (13) “Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll rope you.”

2/23/21 Breakout Room Notes NRNL

Group 2 – Arden, Nat, Alania, Daniella, and Faith

Faith– I like the whole thing with Amy Mollens. I thought that was neat since I haven’t seen much representation of people with disabilities in magazines. You think you would see more of those things, but I really haven’t. I’m not sure what the holdup is.

Arden– Yeah, I don’t know either. Because there are movements, but you don’t really hear about them

Faith– Yeah you only hear about them when they’re an Olympian or something.

Arden– Yeah you usually only hear something when someone has don’t something fantastic or horrible. I feel that only bad stuff is fed to the public in comparison.

Alania– I feel it’s the bad stuff in the media that creates a bad light on the disabled.

Arden– It was really interesting that disability and feminism was tied together. When you read about it, they do have similar problems

Alania– What did you think of the combination? There’s a quote from 260. What’s your opinion on that?

Faith– I’ve never really heard of feminist disability movement.

Arden– They’re two different things

Alania– Yeah, but they go hand in hand

Arden– Yeah that’s the whole thing with identity since there is not just one thing that you identify with. There’s more to a person.

Alaina– The way that I have thought about it is that they want the disability to be more visible but not all consuming. “It’s a part of me, but it’s not all that I am. I am my race, culture, and whatever gender I identify as.” Its can be dehumanizing when you focus on only one thing about a person and disregard the rest.

Faith– Its either all about the disability or its completely hidden.

Arden– It’s hard to find the grey area.

Faith– Disability has no link to a person’s sexuality.

Arden– There is a part of the article where those who are disabled are asexually objectified.

Notes taken by Nat.

2/23/2021 Breakout Room Notes Recorded by Zachary Welsh

Members: Zachary Welsh, Keona May, Taylor Boris, Maddie Simpson, Sonia Joshi

Zachary: There’s a quote that I really liked where Thomson said “feminists, businesswomen, Asians, Northerners, and black professionals are oftentimes stereotyped as highly competent an so they are often envied, while on the other hand housewives, disabled people, blind people, elderly people, and the so-called retarded people warm and having low competence, thus they were pitied.” I think that’s an important discussion point because stereotypes are a problem even to this day so I think it’s important to bring those to light and discuss those.

Sonia: Stereotypes exist but that doesn’t mean they should exist.

Keona: I agree with that too because I feel like while stereotypes might have an ounce of truth to them, it’s important to look into them and see what’s actually true.

Taylor: Stereotypes are very narrowing. It’s interesting how the article talks about feminism and race and how they connect to disability.

Maddie: So…. I found that admission that feminist theory tends to focus only on reproductive disability to be really interesting. Focusing on reproductive rights and advocating for reproductive equality isn’t all feminism and disability have to promote, and I like how this article focuses on that!

Sonia: It’s important to factor everything when trying to understand individuals.

Keona: We talked about how there’s not only one way to be an activist and in some way everyone is an activist to a certain extent and i think it’s interesting that this is coming up in this course. But yeah, it’s important to look at all factors when knowing someone instead of just the stereotypes.

Sonia: I liked what maddie said and I think it’s important to take into account that each community will have their own issues that may not be part of the whole, but that doesn’t make them unimportant.

Sonia: On page 264, there’s a bit where she talks about a poster with a girl in a wheelchair and I feel like that’s really alarming to see that they were pushing stuff like that on a large scale and it’s creepy that their wellness cards say stuff like “snap out of it.”

Keona: We shouldn’t even look at disabilities as something that needs to be cured. It’s not like disabilities are a disease so we shouldnt see them as one.

Maddie: The article talks directly about the feminist disability community focuses on the broad undersztanding of disability that focuses on marginalizing and stereotyping bodies. I think this broad understanding is both recognizing the entire community, but loses highlighting what is important in each aspect of the community.

Sonia: It’s odd that the sexualized pictures of the athlete don’t have any reference to her disability. And i think it’s odd because she said it’s hard for someone disabled to feel sexual

Keona: There’s a quote about how women have different identities and I think it’s interesting how women have to balance all of these identities.

Zachary Welsh’s Thoughts on Thomson’s Feminist Theory

In her Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory writing, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is explaining. to readers how gender, specifically in the aspects of representation, the body, and activism, can be looked at in certain ways as a disability. This of course hearkens back to Jasbir Puar’s The Right To Maim, where the author talks about how race can be viewed as a disability in the fact that Thomson is opening readers eyes to yet another form of every day disability that we may not realize we are witnessing. Thomson explains how stereotypes of individuals, particularly women can place these people in a negative light, but also put them is debilitating situations, essentially almost labeling them as disabled. Thomson even states that feminists, businesswomen, Asians, Northerners, and black professionals are oftentimes stereotyped as highly competent an so they are often envied, while on the other hand housewives, disabled people, blind people, elderly people, and the so-called retarded people warm and having low competence, thus they were pitied. I think Thomson’s approach and views are extremely important to take in and evaluate, as they do prove a point in that stereotyping can be a very debilitating and negative thing. With her piece, Thomson is also bringing to light a new way to look at feminist theory and how it can directly relate to disability theory.

If anybody has any exciting or interesting thoughts to share about Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory piece, or if they have any insightful discussions they want to have about the material, I would love to hear what your ideas are on that in the comments 🙂

Zachary Welsh’s Thoughts on Hypoesthesia by Laurie Clements Lambeth

With her poem Hypoesthesia, author Laurie Clements Lambeth is attempting to portray to her readers, what he life is like with a physical disability that can often result in pain and loss of physical sensation. Lambeth’s poem discusses the subject matter in a very personal way and brings to life the disability that is part of her everyday life. In her poem, Lambeth is striving to portray to readers the lack of sensation and her inability to share life’s most intimate moments with her significant other. With her poem, Hypoesthesia, Laurie Clements Lambeth is not only describing to readers what having this disability is like, but she is getting them as close as possible to understanding how her disability negatively affects her life.

Language vs. education

I saw this screenshot on twitter and thought I would share it! Here is the original tweet: X. I think this goes along with a lot of class discussions and readings, specifically the Kill or Cure phenomenon. It brings up a good argument that a lot of attention, especially from non-disabled people, is given to language instead of actions. While using non-offensive language is never a bad thing, I think this post showcases how sometimes there is too heavy a focus on language and less attention given to actions. What do y’all think?