This is an interesting prompt, as I can relate to each in very different ways. I will try to explain that each of my experiences have the same thoughts as the writers, but in very different ways. Maybe we all look at the physical aspects of a handicap the most, but we should always remember that there is a person in each one, and they also have a perception of what they are in. So look at what they think, not just the physical part of the handicap.
In Mirrors, there was a part about looking into objects that I related to vary strongly .
Grealy said, "I began as an amateur, avoiding merely mirrors, but by the end of the year I found myself with a professional knowledge of the reflected image, its numerous tricks and wiles, how it can spring up at any moment: a glass table top, a well-polished door handle, a darkened window, a pair of sunglasses, a restaurant's otherwise magnificent brass plated coffee machine sitting innocently by the cash register."
This brought me to I time when I helped people that were recovering from drug addiction as a counselor. On one occasion I talked to a person who became paranoid, and was in really bad shape because of it. He got to the point, slowly at first, but still to the point where he couldn't function any more. He would look into any object with a reflections to see if something, or someone behind him was doing anything . He could see things in the distorted reflections that weren't there . If you can see where I went with this, that this one thing can distort the thinking of an otherwise intelligent individual.
In McBryde Johnson's essay, I have some thoughts on here work. I have lived with a person with Schizophrenia for a very long time, and always thought about there quality of life. In my experience, they for the most part are not suffering. Now when I say this, understand for us this is suffering, and at points it can be quite devastating, but again they have some type of resilience that makes them bounce back. For us, if we have a bad situation, it can be a life changing experience, and we will change our life if it happens. They will continue to do thing to hurt themselves, and others with the same things. They never get it, but it don't seem to bother them.
Back to the article by Johnson, I think we just don’t understand the lives of others, and try to put our own experience into them. We think about how someone might suffer from and affliction, but we usually look at the physical, and try and see the mental. Are they suffering to the point we think they shouldn't have been born? I don't want to sound mean here, but I think some people don't want to see the handicaps, they can be very unappealing. I don’t think this is one of the rights we have as a civilization. We have the right to care for people, and to govern them, but not the choice if someone can be bourn or not. McBryde makes a comparison of herself and her brother saying that, "eachof us with a combination of gifts and flaws," and this is one of the points, that each person has gifts, and each has flaws. We are all people.
Again I say, The subjects in the essays cover many subject, and I could go on point by point, but even with the points I bring up. The very minor point in Mirrors an the far larger point on right to live in Unspeakable Conversation I haven't covered the entire issue, and couldn't even come close. I wonder how off subject I got with this
In the above article I write about two essay that I was to fine something about myself in. I have to say that English 1A is the thinkers class, where 54 was the writers class. I learned a great deal from 54 that has carried over to the 1A curriculum. I have to thank Mr. Murphy for a great job teaching, and yes he did teach me everything about writing an essay.
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