The Brief Bedford Reader

X.J.Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennnedy, Jane E. Aaron

'Disability' by Nancy Mairs

"And if you live long enough, as you're increasingly likely able to do,

you may well join it. The transition will probably be difficult from a

physical point of view not matter what. But it will be a good bit easier

psychologically if you are accustomed to seeing disability as a normal

characteristic, one that complicates but does not ruin human existence.

Achieving this integration, for disabled and able-bodied people alike,

requires that we insert disability into our field of vision:quietly, naturally,

in the small and common scenes of our ordinary lives."

To me this passage says a lot because there are days when I am going about my business and I will see a handicapped person, and without realizing it I will stare, and I feel horrible when I realize I do. If the world were to make disabilities not such a big deal then we would go about our daily routine without staring at disabled people and making them feel like they are some freak.. Eventually people would stop staring, denying them work, and giving them the cold shoulder, and disabled people would be able to become more important because people wouldn't be holding them back. Who knows a disabled person could become the next president for all we know. This is a great essay to read, and has a lot of in depth material.