Merial Boschung's Blog

Reading through various disability narratives, I am struck by a humbling realization: this is the first time in my life that I have ever been made aware of the disabled person’s perspective. Judging by the rhetoric of emancipation employed by the writers, I think it is also safe to assume that my situation is not unique, but that most non-disabled people have simply never – or rarely – considered disability from the ‘other side’s’ point of view. The question that arises from this realization, now, is how does the disabled writer point out this lack of understanding, and, consequently, how do they seek to change it?

Perspective in the disability memoir is explored in two areas: first, by revealing the disabled person’s perspective; second, by emphasizing the need for a change of the non-disabled person’s perspective. Professor G. T. Couser lends a helping hand in understanding the ideal rhetoric of disabled writers – the rhetoric of emancipation – whereby they challenge society’s existing marginalizing institutional constructs (Couser 33). This liberates them of other peoples’ discriminatory attitudes. We see this rhetoric employed in Ryan Knighton’s Cockeyed, when he describes an event that occurred during his trip in New Orleans. Two men, about to mug him, stop when they realize Knighton is blind, and they apologize (Knighton 93). Although he was spared from harm, Knighton comments that he feels a piece of his “dignity” had been stolen from him (Knighton 94): he doesn’t feel he needs special attention from anyone, in any situation, because of his ‘disability’. Knighton directly contests society’s constructed label of him as disabled: just because he is blind does not mean that he is unable to defend himself. In the description of this simple interaction, Knighton reveals that, from his perspective, non-disabled people must stop regarding the disabled as frail, fragile, and, ultimately, unable. By revealing his personal viewpoint, Knighton employs the rhetoric of emancipation to point out the marginalizing attitude society holds toward the blind. He sets himself free from the constraints of both his own embarrassment and from the effects of society’s discriminatory constructs.

It is evident that there is a deep need for social change regarding the way disabled people are perceived and treated in today’s society. Thankfully, by means of the rhetoric of emancipation in personal storytelling, disabled writers are able to identify and challenge the inequality that is woven through the fabric of our society. As a result of the disability memoir, a shift in the non-disabled person’s perspective is made possible, and the voice of the marginalized grows louder in sphere of the non-disabled world.

Works Cited

Couser, G. Thomas. “Rhetoric and Self-Representation in Disability Memoir.”Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2009. 33. Print.

Knighton, Ryan. “Whatcha Got.” Cockeyed: A Memoir. New York: Public Affairs, 2006. 93-94. Print.