How are disabled people expected to look in order to be recognized as disabled? Do disabled people have to have visible indicators to let others know they are disabled? How do people react when they encounter someone who does not ‘look’ disabled? In the case of Jillayna Adamson, she found, that you are supposed to look unpleasant and awful. In Cockeyed, Ryan Knighton was continually not seen as a blind man unless he had his cane, or what he likes to call ‘a stick,’ (Knighton 64) and when people were notified they would say ‘you don’t look like a blind person.’

In Adamson’s Blog, ‘But you don’t look disabled…,’ she talks about an interaction with a man in a bar who did not take her for disabled. When she told him, this was his reaction: “You don’t look like someone who’s like… disabled” (‘But You Don’t Look Disabled… ‘). She also remarked that he looked “dumbfounded” (‘But You Don’t Look Disabled… ‘) and began to look her over, as if trying to find any indicator of a disabled person, like a cane or crutch, or a physically abnormal characteristic. To him, she replied: “Huh… What exactly does someone who is disabled look like?” (‘But You Don’t Look Disabled… ‘) and he reciprocated, “No, I just mean you’re beautiful. I wouldn’t have known” (‘But You Don’t Look Disabled… ‘).

This conversation is a true demonstration of how people perceive a disabled person. They have a list of criteria in their head of what a disabled person should look like, the same way we have criteria for males and females. They need to be ugly. Apparently to be disabled you need to look unpleasing. Second, there needs to be a physical indicator, a technology that is universally known to pinpoint a person’s disability, like the cane of the blind. If these are not present, then you are not identified as disabled by others.

Ryan Knighton is not seen as a blind person until he pulls out his cane and Jillayna Adamson is not seen as deaf unless you can see her hearing aids. The two of them know that these ‘helpers’ of theirs is what makes them disabled so they sometimes choose to hide it. Ryan Knighton likes the quick folding up of his cane, he thinks of it as “high-speed camouflage” (Knighton 66). And Jillayna used her hair to cover up her disability, her “high-speed camouflage” (Knighton 66).  They both knew they did not, “look,” disabled, but what did make them look disabled was their ‘helpers’ and universal indicators. Knowing this they can selectively hide their disability from others.

It is those who can’t hide their disabilities, by simply hiding their ‘helpers,’ that people expect disabled people to look like. They expect the disabled to have a Stephen Hawking look to them. Jim Jefferies makes this apparent in his new comedy special. He talks about the bell curve of the human population in terms of looks. Ten being the most beautiful people in the world and ones being the ugliest people in the world. And by explaining them on a bell curve he acknowledges that ones (and tens) are rare to see. He goes on to say: ones “know they upset the rest of us. The only time you catch a one is they’re going to a doctor’s appointment or something. And it really is upsetting. You walk by, they’re normally being lifted out of a minivan with a special crane onto a special chair.  And when you see a one, it does ruin your day, doesn’t it?” (Jim Jefferies: Freedumb). The audience laughed and connected to his point, showing, that is what people expect out of the disabled; to be ugly and have special indicators or ‘helpers.’

This is what we expect to see in a disable person and when we don’t see it we become confused much like the man Adamson was talking to at the bar. “No, I just mean you’re beautiful. I wouldn’t have known.” She was beautiful, so he wouldn’t know. She did not have her hearing aids on display, so he wouldn’t have known. Many of us would not know.

Work Cited

“‘But You Don’t Look Disabled… ‘”. The Huffington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

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

Jim Jefferies: Freedumb. Nashville, USA: Irwin Entertainment, 2016. film.

Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl, is known as a “world classic,” (The Diary Of A Young Girl . . . Amazon.Ca) that tells the story of a Jewish family in Germany, during World War II, that hid away in an attic to avoid the concentration camps.

After reading reviews on Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl, I found multiple common themes toward the way consumers perceived Anne Frank’s life narrative but also her, as the author. The reviews, and also the consumers, agreed upon the book being a “classic,” (The New York Times. . .) and “would recommend this book to anyone” (Anne Frank . . . Review). As well, find that the diary is a reminder of the significance of war and “offers. . . commentary on human courage” (The Diary Of A Young Girl . . . Amazon.Ca).

Anne Frank portrays the “human courage” (The Diary Of A Young Girl . . . Amazon.Ca) and “greater human values” (The New York Times. . .) that we all should have within us, as not limit one’s freedom or place restraints upon them because of religion, beliefs, values, or race. When under Hitler’s rule of propaganda, that forced his ideals and mentality onto the people, Anne Frank was able to resist their ideas and stride with hers. If any ordinary person were put under her suffering, I am sure their view of the world will change to the side of negativity. They would see the hate and the cruelest side of human beings, but Anne Frank did not think like the normal person, instead she is a ‘’testament to the human spirit’’ (The Diary Of A Young Girl . . . Amazon.Ca). And it is prevalent in her diary as The New York Times, in their review, shows in this quote of Anne Frank’s Writing (The New York Times. . .):

”It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart” (The New York Times. . .).

Anne Frank is also continually said to be “amusing,” (The Diary Of A Young Girl . . . Amazon.Ca) “spirited,” (The New York Times. . .) and a “cheerful person” (Anne Frank . . . Review) in the reviews. She is able to add happiness and humor to her suffering. Which makes it more appealing to consumers, especially, because it shows more than the cruelty of the holocaust, of World War II, or even her family. It further shows her values for all humans to be free. Her “[bubbling] with amusement,” (The New York Times. . .) being selfish, and talkative, are all characteristics of a “typical teenage girl” (Anne Frank . . . Review). It is usually assumed that people of others races and religions do not act in the same manner, but by Anne Frank allowing her teenage self to come to the forefront, we can see all the connections, we as humans have, through linking our experiences and our typical emotions to Anne Frank’s.

Another shared theme of the reviews and the consumers is that Anne Frank’s death was cut off too short, for she was “a born writer” (The New York Times. . .). There is sorrow felt when thinking of the potential she had and “how much [of her] creative power. . . was cut off through [the] genocide” (The New York Times. . .). She had more to give and especially more to write if she had a lifetime.

These commonalities convey the feelings that consumers have felt toward Anne Frank’s life narrative and to her. They adorned her wittiness and soft humor for is connected them to Anne Frank but also resurged to them that religion and race are not to be what separates them or restricted one’s freedom. There is also a want among them to have read more of Anne Frank’s writing and a longer life for her, for she truly had human values at heart.

Work Cited:

“The Diary Of A Young Girl: Anne Frank, Eleanor Roosevelt, B.M. Mooyaart: 9780553296983: Books – Amazon.Ca”. Amazon.ca. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.

https://www.amazon.ca/Diary-Young-Girl-Anne-Frank/dp/0553296981

“The New York Times: Book Review Search Article”. Nytimes.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/26/reviews/frank-levin.html

“Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl By Anne Frank – Review”. the Guardian. N.p., 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.

https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/sep/28/anne-frank-the-diary-of-a-young-girl-anne-frank-review