You love who you love

        I want to start this blog with a quote from Hershey's "Choosing Disablity" which really caught my eye on pg. 175. "Raising a child with disabilities is difficult, but raising any child is difficult; just as you expect any other child to enrich your life, you can expect the same from a child with disabilities." I honestly have not had much interaction with disabled people in my life, so I've never really known how to treat them. In Hershey's article she repeatedly mentions how society oppresses disabled people and views them as burdens and thinks they lead miserable lives just because they are disabled. That's how I feel, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. Ask yourself right now if you look at everyone equally. If you said you look at everyone equally that's probably false because everyone instinctively categorizes people when they see them. If you look at someone who is not as privileged as you dont you automatically feel pity for them? After reading that quote I realized that I have to force myself to look at disabled people the same. Everyone should, even when it comes to abortions.
        I thought Hershey had a very strong argument supporting women's rights and individual rights, but there was one thing in particular I didn't completely agree with. Hershey said on pg. 73 that "Guaranteeing basic living services has become a top priority for the disability rights movement." I think that disabled people should be treated the same as everyone else. So why should they automatically receive services that others don't? If they don't want to be separated from society then why are they asking for services that plainly set them apart. Am I being selfish by saying that I don't think disabled people should receive so much extra care, or is that normal to think?
        Overall this article has me confused and I can't seem to straighten my thoughts out. I support pro-life activists but at the same time I support pro-choice activists. Then Hershey comes in and says that you shouldn't abort fetus' just because they are disabled. As of now I don't know where I stand on the whole abortion topic, but I agree with Hershey when she says you should not abort just because your child might be disabled. If I was to take one thing away from the article though it would be this: Before making a judgement on a topic, do research of your own and form an opinion based on your own findings. Don't base your opinions on those around you.
-Brandon Reilly
       

Enfreakment of photography post

"Disabled people are almost entirely absent from photographic genres or discussion because they are read as socially dead and as not having a role to play."
       This was a quote taken from Hevey's article "Enfreakment of photography." The beginning of the quote speaks for itself. There aren't normally pictures of disabled people seen in magazines filled with beautiful models, or on the front cover of newspapers. This quote explains why this happens. It's because disabled people are seen as useless. One of the many definitions of disabled is "not whole." People see disabled people as not whole and they feel that they aren't able to fully contribute to society. That's how I interpret the quote. 
        In the quote Hevey mentions a "social death" which I think means basically having no part in society. Being disabled sets you apart from those who are whole and immediately makes it harder for you to fit in. In the Hevey's quote it says that "disabled people are read as." the key term to me in that sentence is "They are read as." This means that the disabled people might have completely normal personalities but because of how they are treated they are not able to have healthy social relationships with everyone. As a result of how they are seen by others and treated by others, they are not seen in photographic genres.
       In one of the photographs shown on Claire's blog I believe it is the jewish giant and 2 other people looking up at him. The expression on the womens face is what gets me the most. It makes me think of the above quote because it makes me think that the jewish giant is stuck in a social death. Anytime he goes out in public people will look up at him like that. Because he is disabled he is stuck without choice in a social death that everyone around him unconsciously thinks. This is why you dont see disabled people in photographic genres.
-Brandon

The Fat Journal Entry

       Beware I will be using the word 'fat' in this blog post. I read Lionel Shriver's "Warning: I will employ the word fat." I found myself agreeing with a lot of the things Shriver was saying  and telling myself that I've thought that way about someone before and even that I've felt that way. In response to Claire's question about fat prejudice I definitely have personal experience that I can relate to it.

In the article Shriver says "In literature, fat has persistently marked a character as disagreeable." Right when I read that line I thought of my neighbor. Shriver continues to gives examples of characters in several well-known books including Harry Potter. I agree that this prejudice of how fat people act does occur in books and in reality too. From personal experience I have a neighbor from my hometown who I have known for most of my life. I am very close with her and her family. She can be a very angry person though and I think it might have to do with how she has been treated because of her size. Shriver describes one of her characters in her book "The New Republic" named Edgar. He was ridiculed as a kid and now as an adult he takes his anger from that out onto his peers. My neighbor bullied kids in elementary school, but she was also made fun a lot. It seemed like the same scenario as Shriver's character Edgar. She is very defensive and can be set off easily. She's also a very caring person though which is part of the prejudice that fat people are jolly. She wants to become a special education teacher. I personally think she wants to do that because she knows what it's like to be made fun of and she doesn't want others to go through that. As I was reading the article everything that Shriver was saying seemed to be characteristic of my neighbor so that's why I thought of her as a personal experience to fat prejudice.

The next question Claire asked was to find a quote which shows the relationship between beauty and aging. I picked "Besides, as I get older, I grow less involved with feeling beautiful than with finding beauty." This quote is trying to say that with age you become less concerned with your physical look and more concerned with being who you are and finding true inner beauty. Basically it was saying to be who you are. I think this relationship is gendered becasue from my personal experience I have always told myself that I should find inner beauty and not focus so much the physical part of it. So yes I think this relationship between beauty standards and age is more gendered toward women.

Now I have to ask myself what did I get out of this article. I think most of what was said in the article is common sense, especially how you should look at everyone the same. Just remember to "Be in Piece not in pieces. "