Hannah Lutley #9

This week we read two stories, The Transformation of Silence Into... by Audre Lorde and The Mountain by Eli Clare. Both of these stories show woman with difference in their lives that makes them outcasts in their society. Comparing with these two stories we watched an episode of the show Glee where we saw how a boy in a wheelchair was treated by the people around him. We also saw a young girl with disabilities try to make it as a cheerleader.

In my opinion Clare wanted us to see that even though people are different from others doesn't mean that they don't have the same or close to the same abilities. She shows us that all these people want is to be treated equally and to be given the same chances that others are given. The producers of Glee also have an outlook like Clare. They want the viewers to see that disabilities may not limit us to the standards that can be met. The way society views people who are "different" is wrong and both Clare and the producer of Glee want society to change their mind set.

Bobby Stroud

This week in class we discussed disabilities in both of the stories written by Eli Clare and in the episode of "Glee." I found it interesting that the episode and the stories both sent very similar messages. For example, in the episode we they discussed Artie's disability and how some way overlook how difficult it may be to function in a wheelchair. We seen the disabled cheerleader trying to find a way onto the team.

I think that what Clare and the producers of Glee were trying to convey is that people with disabilities deserve the same rights and treatment as all others. The way society tends to look down upon these people is unfair and that is something that needs to change. Although a disability may hinder the pace at which someone can accomplish something, it does stop necessarily stop them from being able to do it. The episode and stories were messages being to out to society to make us come to this realization.

Laura Giunta Post 9

In Eli Clare's essay The Mountain a girl discusses her life with cerebral palsy. All her life she just wants to be treated equally. She enjoys running very much and even participates in her schools track team. Whenever she runs she wears a shirt that says "Piss on Pity" on the back of it. She may have a disability and may not be able to do everything the same and as quickly, but she works hard. She talks about how after every meet people look up to her for her hard work and determination, and she just wants to be noticed as any regular person. Another time she went running up a steep mountain and she had to realize how her body just could not handle it, it was very upsetting for her having to accept the limitations of her disability.
By comparing this story to the episode of Glee we watched in class, we notice how people with disabilities are treated from different perspectives. One being that they should be treated like any other student, or the other that they should have special treatment because of their disability. I believe they should be treated like anyone else. People with disabilities know what they can and cannot do, so treating them equally should not be a problem.

Molly Rutter, Post #9

In Audre Lorde’s “The Transformation of Silence Into Matter and Action,” she encourages the individual will to speak out. She emphasizes that what is important “must be spoken, shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood” (19). When Lorde mentioned how her silence was not going to keep her alive, it reminded me of Aimee Bender’s story “Ironhead.”

The ironhead boy struggled to fit in due to his physical abnormality. Because of this, he never found his voice, and ultimately past away. Similarly, after Lorde’s cancer scare, she realized that by being invisible, she was not truly alive. If the ironhead boy was to have spoken out about his troubles, perhaps someone would have been able to help, and possibly saved him. Thankfully though, Lorde found the perspective to live a life without silence, and realized how necessary it is to make herself heard.

Ashlyn Zgoda Post 9

In the beginning of Eli Clare's essay "The Mountain" he talks about how we all choose to climb this theoretical mountain because it is seen that life is better from up there. And at one part he talks about how we love the wrong people. This made me think of the Glee episode we watched in class and Finn and Quinn's relationship. In the episode we learn that Quinn is pregnant and she has told Finn it is his baby even though they never had sex, when really she had cheated on him with Puck. So Finn is trying to get a job to support this child he is "having" with Quinn. Loving the wrong people made me think of their relationship because clearly Finn loves Quinn, enough to raise a child with her, but she treats him terribly throughout the episode.

In his essay "Freaks and Queers" Clare discusses the definitions of words to describe people not like us. One word that he describes as bothering him greatly is freak. He talks a great deal about the freak shows of the past, and how they are still in our society just seen in different places. It is normally seen that most people are trying to escape this singling out, yet in the Glee episode we learn that Tina does not actually have a stutter and has been hiding behind a fake disability because she is shy. This is interesting for the fact that she was trying to run to this thing that other so much despised, and eventually realizes she does also. Yet Artie is very upset that she did this and pushes her away when he finds out.

Brittany Coppinger

I loved "Mountain" by Eli Clare. From the very beginning, this story was very strong. I love that it started out with a metaphor. I feel like that really gave the story a creative beginning and made me want to read more. There are a lot of topics that i think are important to talk or read about, but most people don't because they feel like they have heard it before or it just isn't interesting, or it is too painful to talk/read about. But i think that "breaking the ice" with a metaphor is a great way to ease people into the topic of disabilities. For people without them, its hard to put ourselves in their shoes. We think we are, but we will never know the pain and the frustration and the embarrassment that Clare describes in her short story. You think you know, and then you read a story like Clare's and you realize you have no idea. I think that the worst possible thing we can do in life is to think that we know what people are going through because we know about their condition, or we think we know them. Because we never will truly know and we cause the most pain when we pretend that we do.

Zack Schwartz Post 9

In class, we watched an episode of the show Glee. During this show, an interesting question was raised, "Should disabled people be treated like people who are not disabled?" I believe they should be treated like everyone else, with slight exceptions. I believe that deep down, disabled people do not like when they are talked down to, and different rules are made for them, and anything that makes them feel different. They do not want to take the easy path, but the path that everyone else takes. I do believe, however, that in some situations they must be treated differently. Sometimes they simply to not have the capability to do the things others can, such as physically or mentally strenuous tasks.
I support the female gym teacher's decision to add the girl with Downs Syndrome to the cheer leading roster. I also support her decision to treat her like the other girls on the team, and demand a lot from her. This is most likely all the girl ever wanted; to be a member of a team and to be a part of something alongside her peers. I also trust the gym teacher made the right decision because she has an older sister with the same disease. She is undoubtedly well versed in dealing with people with Downs and she knows what they truly want and desire. She is in a good position to do the best thing possible for this young girl.

Nadia i dont remember the number

This week was when we read about disabilities. Not only did we read, but we watch an appropiate episode of glee. I think the most impactful part was when comparing Glee and how Artie wasn't really in a wheel chair. I think when learning about people with disabilities, and reading about how conquering the mountain meant more than just climbing it but the attempting so that it can be done. It was just awkward to find out he was not in a wheelchair regularly. I think it is cool that he is portraying those who are in a positive way, and that he almost represents them through the glee episodes. I also think that (using Becky) this episode showed how those who have disabilities what to be treated the same. They want to be on the cheer leading team, hell they want to be able to jump rope with the rest of the group and keep up. We don't realize it until you have a disability or know someone who does. I think that when reading the stories we see that, although someone is disabled, they still can bat a .456 or whatever that means. They still can dominate in whatever they put their mind to. And that's the lesson that I took away from this weeks classes.

Nadia A

Zack Schwartz Post 8

In Octavia Butler's story, Speech Sounds, she describes a world in which human beings suffer from an epidemic that takes away their ability to speak. This piece made me realize how vital speaking and communicating in general in every day life. Human beings are a very social species, and communicating with other human beings is something that comes natural to us. Every day, we are in hundreds of situations where we communicate with others for various reasons; it is merely how we live our lives. Had this epidemic struck a different species such as an owl, not much change in lifestyle would occur. On the contrary, if it stuck ants, the species would undoubtedly become extinct. This story explores which path the human race would follow.

As a class, we discussed if we would prefer to have the ability to read and write, but not talk, or have the ability to talk and not read and right. I would much rather retain the ability to speak. If i was deprived of this, it would be virtually impossible for me to assimilate and be accepted into society. If I could still speak, I could have friends and great relationships and continue a similar lifestyle to the one I am leading now. I would, however still feel a little inept.

Maggie DeMarco Post 9

In the episode of Glee that we watched in class, the sensitive topic of disabilities was addressed. Similar to this, in Eli Clare's "The Mountain", we saw a similar theme. Stereotypes of handicapped are discussed in that many people feel that people with disabilities should get special treatment, and they often treat them different then others. Eli Clare discusses this in detail, and says she does not agree with it. Speicically, the term "supercrip," or someone who is handicapped and does something that a normal person could do with no problem, is what Clare does not agree with.

In Glee, even Mr. Shuster treats Artie and Becky, two students with disabilities, different. It is not that he wants to single them out, I think it is the fact that he feels bad and that he should give them sympathy to try to compensate for their disabilities. Opposite of Mr. Shuster, Sue Sylvester treats Becky like an average student, pushing her to her limits and not giving her an easy time. This is interesting because we find out that Sue has a disabled sister, and that maybe all she wants to do is make Becky feel normal. The students are not sensitive to Arties handicap, and until they are forced to see how hard is life is, they take advantage of simple things in life. Things such as walking up stairs, getting food, and wheel chair dancing, are all things that the students are forced to learn.

Post #9

The topic of this week's classes dealt a lot with disabilities, as could be seen in Eli Clare's writings and the episode of Glee that focused on Artie and his hardships. People often don't know how to treat someone with a disability, whether to treat them no differently than a non-disabled person, or treat them in accommodation to their needs. Despite being determined not to treat someone differently, we often find that we alter something in our mannerisms when dealing with a person with a disability. This may not be done intentionally, but it can still be considered as giving a person special treatment when all they want is to be treated the way everyone else is treated. In the episode of Glee we watched, Artie wanted to be treated the way everyone else was. He didn't want people to see is disability as a hindrance. After trying to live their lives in wheelchairs, Artie's friends soon realized what kind of struggles Artie had to go through on a daily basis and they admired how capable he was in preforming tasks that they themselves couldn't. Another example from this episode was Becky's wish to be a cheerleader. Becky, like Sue's older sister had Downs Syndrome. After allowing her on the team, Sue pushed Becky as hard as she would any of her other cheerleaders. Upon seeing this, Mr. Shuester questioned whether Sue was being to harsh and she said that all Becky wanted was to be treated like everyone else. Although its not exactly right to treat those with disabilities differently, it is sometimes required to take their handicaps into perspective, but there are still ways in which to do this without treating the person differently. Chelsa Wlodarczyk, post #9

Jaime Wallace Post #9

This week we compared a glee episode to a couple of Eli Clare's essays from the book "Exile and Pride". Artie is a character from glee and he is a parapalegic manual wheelchair user. In this episode Artie has a tough time fitting in with the rest of glee club because of his disability. So in order for his classmates to understand what Artie has to deal with at a day to day basis they are force to stay in a wheelchair for an entire week. All of the glee club members realize how hard Artie's life truely is becasue of his disabilty, they are put at the same level as Artie and figure out it is very difficult. In one of Eli Clare's essays, "The Moutain", the main character goes through much difficulty living her life with a disability as well. She tries to climb a mountain with very poor legs. Every step she takes she throws off her balance and that makes in very difficult for her to reach her goal, meaning the top of the mountain. She later realizes that even though she can not make it to the top she still suceeded because she isn't like normal people becasue of her disability.

This week in class we watched an episode of Glee, since I have never seen the show I didn't know what to expect. It was a good show and in this specific episode Artie was in a wheelchair and therefore different from everyone else because of his disability. Although I think that this episode was suppose to relate more to the Eli Clare pieces but I related it to Lourde. In Lourde's essay it talks about speaking your mind and standing up for what you believe in. That although some may ridicule you and not agree with what you have to say, you will suffer if you do not say it, inside you will begin to grow angry and upset. Artie never said anything and then when he finally said something everyone could tell that he had been holding it in and becoming upset. Also, Lourde talks about being a warrior because she fought breast cancer, Artie is also like a warrior in a sense. He had to be in a wheelchair unlike everyone else so he had nobody to relate to, and also the school was not very handicap accessible which made things even more difficult. I think that watching Glee put the lessons from this week's classes into a better perspective and something we could really enjoy. Cassidy Weeks Post 9

Allison Shubert Post # 9

This week we watched an episode of the TV show Glee. The episode focused on discrimination both physical and mental. It made me think of whether treating someone different because of their disability is the right thing to do, or if it's wrong because it is out of pity for the individual. This episode was focused around a student who previously had gotten to an accident when he was younger, which led him to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

In the beginning of the episode the group of kids in glee club get to go and preform at an event, yet Artie faces an obstacle when Will, the director of the glee club announces that the bus they will be taking is not wheel chair accessible. Will brought up the idea of a bake sale to support Artie and raise enough money for him to be able to travel with the club. The rest of his club mates seemed to not be so thrilled about this idea and thought of the bake sale as being a hassle. This enraged Will, therefore he made it mandatory for all the kids in the club to be in a wheelchair during school throughout the rest of the week. This really showed the children what it was like to be in Artie's shoes and truly taught them a valuable lesson about what they take for granted every day. Even though Artie was physically different, he just wanted to be treated as if he could walk. After his club mates were put in wheel chairs, I think they appreciated Artie a significant amount more and truly saw how talented he was.