Susan Robinson believes the word disabled, “detonates a mindset of less than that utterly disregards capacity, ability, potential, instead prioritizing brokenness and lack.” Robinson is a woman who is legally blind and can be labelled by society as “disabled.” In her TED Talk speech, she reveals how she “fails at being disabled” by challenging stereotypes regarding disabled individuals. She gives listeners the five tips she uses so that others can fail at being disabled. This blog post will analyze Robinson’s advice and connect her story to Couser’s disability rhetorics.

Her first tip is “know your superpowers” (Robinson). This is valuable advice because it makes people acknowledge their strengths. Robinson explains that her disability forces her to develop a set of skills to accommodate her disability.   “The trait that prevents me from recognizing my mom allows me to smoothly adapt, to quickly absorb and accurately process an exhausting volume of cues” (Robinson). It is important for one to focus on their strongest abilities and build them until they are your superpower.

Her second tip is “be supremely skilled…at getting it wrong” (Robinson). Robinson believes it is necessary for individuals to know their weaknesses and admit when a mistake has been made. Just as individuals need to celebrate their strengths, they also need to acknowledge their weaknesses. Robinson’s next two tips directly relate to her second, as they require people to recognize that everyone is disabled in some way and that we must point out the disabilities in others.

Finally, Robinson’s last tip is to “pursue audacious goals.” There are stereotypes and stigma regarding disabled people. Robinson observes that prejudicial views can be obvious or discrete. “Sometimes, the hidden bias is so sweetly conveyed. ‘Wow, Susan, look at everything you’ve done in your career and your life. How did you do all of that and be visually impaired?'” Robinson wants individuals with special needs to “fail at being disabled” by defying society’s beliefs concerning disability.

When I first watched this video, I thought back to a reading I completed for my ASTU class. The reading was by G.T. Couser and he wrote about 5 rhetorics that are often used in disability memoirs. Couser reveals that 4 out of the 5 disability rhetorics do not remove the stigma from individuals with disabilities but, instead, can actually reinforce the stigma.

A specific rhetoric Couser describes is the rhetoric of triumph. He says triumph rhetoric, “removes the stigma of disability from the author but leaves it in place for other individuals” (Couser 34). When I first watched the video, I was concerned that Robinson was fitting into the rhetoric of triumph. This was because she explained her successes and how she has accomplished many goals in her life.

After watching the video again, I came to the conclusion that her narrative fits into what Couser describes as, “the rhetoric of emancipation” (Couser 33). Couser says the rhetoric of emancipation, “is not the function of removing or correcting…impairments, but of getting the world to accommodate them.” (Couser 44). In her TED Ted, Robinson describes her experience as being partially sighted. She uses humour and her life-narrative to talk about a serious topic. She simultaneously acknowledges the stereotypes about disabled people and tells listeners how she overcame them through her advice. Robinson’s TED Talk follows the emancipation rhetoric not just through her story, but because she is telling others how to break the disability stigma. She is actively advising others to break free of the stereotypes and “fail at being disabled.”

 

Works Cited

Block, Laurie. “Essay: Stereotypes About People With Disabilities.” Disability History Museum,http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/edu/essay.html?id=24. Accessed Oct. 21, 2017.

Couser, G. Thomas. “Rhetoric and Self-Representation in Disability Memoir.” Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing, University of Michigan Press, 2009, E-book. https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/162047, pp. 31–48

Hoffan, Auren. “How to Focus on Your Strengths Instead of Your Weaknesses.” Forbes Magazine, Jan. 6, 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/01/06/how-to-focus-on-your-strengths-instead-of-your-weaknesses/#31b4a57a7b03. Accessed Oct. 21, 2017.

Pillay, Hyma. “Why It’s Important to Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses.” Lederonomics, Mar. 24, 2014, https://leaderonomics.com/personal/why-its-important-to-know-your-strengths-and-weaknesses. Accessed Oct. 22, 2017.

Robinson, Susan. “How I Fail at Being Disabled.” Youtube, uploaded by TED, August 3, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZG5aPkZyM