Selena Truong ASTU 100A

Life narratives are tools that can be used to dig deeper to further understand the complexities of our society. In “Reading Autobiographies”, the authors, Smith and Watson suggest strategies to keep in mind while reading autobiographies in order to understand them more thoroughly (235). One strategy that I will be focusing on is looking at identity in the memoir of Ryan Knighton, Cockeyed. I will be using the following strategy suggested by Smith and Watson in order to expand on the significance of identity in this particular narrative and how it affects the world in a larger picture:

Smith and Watson explain that when reading autobiographies and analyzing identity in specific, it is important to find evidence and to think about the significance in how the narrator may have struggled to define their identity (244).

In Cockeyed, Knighton initially does not want to accept the reality that he is slowly becoming blind. Knighton refrains from using his cane to see not only because he is in denial, but because he does not want to be labeled by others as a “blind person”. Knighton, initially afraid of other blind people because he feels as though he is defined and institutionalized by them, finally builds the courage to immerse himself in a blind community and comes to the epiphany that “there is no such thing as a blind person” (217). By being around several blind people at the same time together, he realizes that his disability does not define him into a homogenized group because other than their shared disability, they are all different people and have nothing else in common. After this event, Knighton no longer struggles to identify himself, not as a blind person, but as a unique individual who happens to be blind.

Knighton’s realization connects to the issue of stereotyping in terms of people with disabilities. In today’s society, it seems as though people with disabilities are identified only through their disabilities and limitations, and not by their unique characteristics and personalities as people. In this sense, it seems as though disabled people have been dehumanized by society. Labeling identities of disabled people is an issue that needs to see change. Perhaps if society took a look at disabled people through the perspective of the disabled, they would come to understand that these people are in fact just normal people with unique interests, strengths, personalities, and talents.

In Signifying Life Narratives, the author, Couser, states that “autobiography by definition involves self-representation” and thus allows people with disabilities to take a “high degree of control over their own images”(31). However, Couser adds that because the disabled are often devalued, society is less likely to consider them worthy of autobiography (32). Although learning about the disabled through their perspective may be the solution to the issue of generalized stereotyping that they face, it may take a larger effort; as Couser says, “stigma serves to silence the stigmatized” (32).

Unfortunately, people with disabilities have to deal with ignorant people who assume that all people with disabilities must “look” disabled. These ignorant people are suggesting that the disabled must collectively look abnormal, perhaps by looking sad, lost, ugly, unable and unconfident. Knighton, for example, who is a young (at the time), confident, able, and humorous person, explains in his memoir that people tell him that he does not look like a blind guy. Additionally, Jillayna Adamson, a girl who is deaf, explains a similar experience in her blog post, “But You Don’t Look Disabled…”. At the time, Jillayna was 19, and an ignorant boy told her that she didn’t look disabled because she looked too “beautiful”. The comments that inferred that people with disabilities must all look alike and pitiful dumbfounded both Knighton and Adamson, and likely anyone reading their narratives. Although, perhaps eliciting this reaction from the audience is the purpose of the narrative, as a different perspective may help non-disabled people realize their ignorance.

Overall, through analyzing the aspect of identity in a life narrative, one may observe that through the experience of an individual who struggled with defining his identity, one may come to understand the larger worldly issue that it was caused by: Due to ignorance, society has stripped the unique identities of people with disabilities and have identified them into pitiful, homogenized groups. Alas, it may only be through the disabled’s persistence to speak up and have their voices heard, and through the support of others, that society may come to correct its wrongdoings towards these marginalized individuals.

Works Cited

Couser, G. Thomas. Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2009. 31-45. Print.

Knighton, Ryan. Cockeyed: A Memoir. New York: Public Affairs, 2006. Print.

Smith, Sidonie, and Julia Watson. Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. N.p.: U of Minnesota, 2010. 235-244 Print.