Andrew+Johnson

Hi. My name is Andrew Sang Johnson. I am a Korean-American and damn proud of being one too. I currently live in Flushing, New York, but I've also lived in Brooklyn, Texas, and Florida. I like Mexican food and Italian food, especially tacos. I love dogs and dislike cats. My favorite color is Black and Blue and I love to work out. I have some experience with leadership skills because I was the captain of the gymnastics team. I was interested in math and science in my high school so I decided to be a civil engineer in Syracuse University. This summer I just came back from studying and sightseeing South Korea. I'm interested in South Korean history and I would like to catch up Korean history. http://www.mp3lyrics.org/s/stevie-wonder/stevie-wonder_2.Jpg http://www1.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Animal+Rescue+Center+Cares+Dogs+Disabled+Earthquake+X6yg_3G2QjAl.jpg

Disability Argument Essay:

MVH: Most Valuable Handicapable

We tend to judge individuals by their outer image. In addition, when we meet someone for the first time, we subconsciously take an overview of their height, the clothes they wear, and how he/she carries their figure. Consequently, we take a visual analysis of how normal the person is compared with the social norm. If we decide that the individual does not meet the social norm because of a noticeable disability or an unpleasant feature, we tend to not associate ourselves with the disabled individual and ignore the individual. Now imagine yourself being raised as a normal child, and joined a football team as an adult. Suddenly, during one of the practices, you were severely wounded and were only given a choice to amputate your right leg. You then go out into the world and experience people staring at you. Strangely, when you stare back at them, they quickly turn their heads and pretend to go on minding their own business. Looking past that, you go talk with friendly acquaintances and all they can talk about is how they feel so sorry that you experienced this unfortunate experience. Instinctively, you tell them that it's fine and that you are over it and want to get on with living a normal life. Unfortunately, the people around you don't acknowledge you as a normal individual and you have to live in this judgmental environment for the rest of your life. This is the life experience of Michael Ishiguzo, a disabled individual on the Amputee Football team in the United Kingdom. With proper support from Rosemarie Garland-Thomson's the "Beholding", we will be able to understand and realize the ignorance towards the disabled society and the "bad staring" that reflects the passive negativity towards the disabled individuals. Michael Ishiguzo is a disabled individual that was hurt during football practice and caught Gas gangrene in his chin. Unfortunately, the only thing his doctor can do was to amputate his leg in the United Kingdom. In place of his lost leg, Ishiguzo was given an advanced artificial leg that allows him to play in the disabled football league in the United Kingdom. Despite the fact that he lost his leg, Ishiguzo continues on living his live with a positive mindset. He believes that, "everybody is disabled in one way or the another. Physical, mental, spiritual and financial disabilities are all somehow disabilities.” (Berk) and that he does not feel the need to hide his amputated leg or feels any sort of remorse or shame of his own disability. Similarly, in Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s, the "Beholding", she writes about Harriet Mcbryde Johnson disability story. Harriet Mcbryde Johnson accepted her disability, like Ishiguzo, and said, "I've been entirely comfortable in my skin." ( She explains that she is entirely comfortable with herself, but the way people treat and "stare" at her conjures a cumbersome problem for her. This resulted in Johnson to explain her feelings towards the bad staring and good staring theory that Garland-Thomson supports. To further explain bad staring and good staring, lets look into the picture of Michael Ishiguzo. In the point of view of a good starrer, they can see that Ishiguzo is practicing football. He shows his determination to become better in football despite his disability. Looking closer, they see that his jersey spells Nigeria, which explains that he’s from Nigeria, and has pride for his country. Consequently, they tend to wonder what will become of his future and if he will become a famous disabled athlete. On the other hand, in the eyes of a "bad starrer", they can see that this individual is missing a leg and replaced it with a mechanical leg. They wonder why he is missing a leg and that they are lucky that they have both of their legs. They feel sorry and pity for his misfortune and thank God that they are fortunate enough to have all their limbs intact. In the case of the first scenario, the “good starrer” would treat the disabled individual like they would treat any normal athlete. They would recognize his pride for his country, and acknowledge his potential to become a great athlete. They would look past his disability and would most probably be able to have a normal conversation with him. The second scenario complying with the “bad starrer” is relatively contradicting. First off, the “bad starrer” notices Michael Ishiguzo’s disability. They are curious on how his leg was amputated and have pity on Ishiguzo but can’t relate with Ishiguzo because they believe that it could never happen to them. They cannot get past Ishiguzo’s leg and would either avoid talking or have a hard time engaging in a normal conversation because they cannot relate or believe that they can’t have anything in common with a disabled individual. Looking at these two different scenarios gives us a vague but accurate description and support towards Garland-Thomson's idea of "good and bad staring". They explain the contrasting actions that the normal society does in the presence of a disabled individual. Unfortunately, society has an inane habit of expressing "bad staring" and not getting to fully understand disabled people. Michael Ishiguzo is a prime example of an individual who lived a normal life but became a handicapped individual after an unfortunate accident during practice. I believe that Michael Ishiguzo has a clear look on how much his world can change by becoming a handicapped individual and he can visually relate to both the normal society and the disabled society. Michael Ishiguzo can understand Harriet McBryde Johnson's statement that," Its not that I'm ugly. It's more that most people don't know how to look at me.” because he encounters visual prejudice with friends and strangers. This new lifestyle dittos the lives of current disabled individuals and further support's Johnson's theory that people do not know how to look or talk towards a disabled individual. If society gets more involved and gained more experience towards encountering the disabled society, people will know how to "look" at disabled individuals and can further relate with them.

Arguement Paper

Before I turned 18, I have not encountered, or rather, made any relationships with disabled individuals. In fact, I have zero disabled friends, zero disabled teachers, and zero experience on encountering a disabled individual. I have absolutely no happy or sad memories to share and no recollection of arguments or compliments for them. Before 18, I didn't know much about the disabled society and was ignorant towards the situation. Although, I didn't know much about the disabled population, the fact that, "I didn't know", raises a difficult and controversial dilemma.

Now the fact that "I" didn't know does not only apply to me (the writer) but applies towards all those people out there who also "didn't know" about disabled people. Unfortunately, a large amount of the population, political parties, and important candidates have a tendency to avoid and discriminate the disabled population. For instance, large amounts of our young population are not familiar with or even had a friendly conversation with a disabled individual. The dilemma, one might ask? The problem is that the sweetest girl in the world will sing and frolic in front of her peers and elders, but that same girl may be rather awkward and silent in front of her disabled peer. The problem is that students will only focus on what normal is and lose focus on who the disabled are. The conclusion is that it is too easy to avoid disabled individuals rather then taking a few seconds to think of how to say "hello" and start a conversation. Most of these problems occur because majorities of the population are just not affected by the disabled society. Families introduced with a disabled family member will not go out of their way to telling their peers and friends that their brother-in-law is or recently became a disabled individual. It simply isn't a proud or welcoming statement for them to throw out at people. They will bluntly state that they don't think that their disabled family member would want people to know the fact that he is disabled. Consequently, the question remains, "Who is to blame? The ignorant normal society?; or the disabled people themselves?"

Although it seems that I am laying much emphasis that the normal population are ignorant towards the disabled society, we can't give all the blame to the normal population. Now earlier in the year, when I was introduced to disability in my writing class, I had absolutely no knowledge of disability beforehand. The most I could inform you are that Helen Keller is blind and deaf and that Anne Sullivan became famous for teaching her to communicate. As I started to read early passages from "The Beholding" by Rosemarie Garland-Thompson and learn about famous disabled people such as Harriet Mcbryde Johnson, I was led to believe that there are good starrers and bad starrers; I wanted to be a good starrer. In turn, I believed that all disabled people looked past their disability and moved on with their lives.

Earlier in the same month, I was introduced to a paraplegic in one of my writing classes in Syracuse University. His name is Greg Callen, and is an active player in the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF). He explains to us how his life was before becoming a paraplegic. He had a 6-figure salary job and was popular in his group of friends. He was affiliated with a fraternity and had a successful life. He then states his story of how he injured his spinal cord after drinking with his peers at the age of 30. Consequently, he went through denial, sadness, and depression. He was unable to walk and was confided in a wheelchair. Stairs that he could just walk up and down because a huge obstacle for him to pass in public stations. His depression led him to stay isolated in his room for a whole year and finally after much suffering he came out again to the real world. When a fellow classmate asked if he was completely over his traumatic loss, he replied "no" and that he might never forget but to compensate his loss is his ultimate goal for the future. This knowledge that even after 6 years, he still was not over his loss and made me quite confused on how to approach the topic. Are normal people to blame for ableism, or are disabled individuals, like Greg Callen, isolating themselves from society? I came down to a conclusion that there must be a procedure. As there is a process for growing up and becoming an adult, there may be a process for being a disabled.