Corinne’s Blog

“On Being A Cripple” by Nancy Mairs

Nancy Mairs, in her essay “On Being A Cripple,” writes about her life with multiple sclerosis. Mairs voluntarily calls herself a “cripple” instead of “handicapped” or “disabled.” She does this because the term “cripple” most often thought of as rude or not politically correct. For Mairs, calling herself a cripple seems like the more honest thing to do, because the connotations associated with the word “cripple” are more closely related to her condition that those associated with “handicapped” or “disabled” or any other more polite expression. 

I think that when people willingly accepts a typically insulting or rude label they are just being more honest with themselves, they are accepting that the term is something that others will think about them and call them when their backs are turned. So by accepting the term or label, the person is suggesting to others that he or she is fine with being referred to by that, he or she knows that it is something that applies to him or her. Mairs knows that her peers will call her a cripple, but by calling herself a cripple she is making the effect of their words less painful, because she already accepted it. The other people who have come to terms with their various labels, like Gates, Eighner, and Hurston, have obviously felt the sting of the words that they later chose to embrace, which is why they chose to accept them. What is gained from doing this is making the pain of social labels subside, and making a more positive situation from it.