Cockeyed by Ryan Knighton features a “powerful” narrative about his progressing blindness through adulthood that shows he is “impatient with the preciousness we’ve come to expect from books on disability” (according to the summary on the back cover of the book). As the disability studies scholar G. Thomas Couser states, “such narratives not only attest to but advance the work of the disability rights movement; in their consciousness of their own condition as culturally constructed and as shared by others, their author may move beyond the familiar formulas of disability memoir and point the way to broader critiques of the construction of disability in America today” (48) relating Knighton’s unconventional disability memoir to a greater purpose: de-stigmatizing the discriminatory views that some people  have against disability. So what makes Knighton’s autobiography “powerful” rather than triumphant? Knighton’s use of constant dark humour plays a major role in making his memoir untraditional – but can his jokes be too much? Does Knighton’s dark sense of humour – shown by making jokes about his disability, hinder the process of changing the stigma surrounding disabilities through writing a memoir? To be explored further, Cockeyed can be seen as “irreverent” (according to the back cover of the book) for quite a valid reason.

Disabilities take on a variety of forms throughout the population – epilepsy being one of them. Epilepsy’s relevance in the context of humour in Cockeyed is that this forum exemplifies how some members of the disabled community feel on the use of humour in regards to their condition. As everyone has a different sense of humour – some lighter than others – Knighton is surely to upset some people. Right from the beginning, Knighton makes it clear that his darker sense of humour is incorporated into the book by signing “This book is a work of memoir. All people, places, events, and neuroses are representations of the facts. That includes encounters with dead philosophers. Should a reader determine that the author is not disabled, please contact the appropriate authorities. He would gladly delete his blindness from any further memoirs” which shows Knighton’s acceptance of his disability by acknowledging the reality of it. This acceptance reflects the grasp that Ryan Knighton has on his limits and the life situation he is facing; he is able to demonstrate “self-assertion” (44) according to Couser. By doing so, Knighton empowers his own disability so that he is able to portray himself in a way that he wants to be seen, rather than allowing criticisers to do that job for him.

So to answer the question, “does Knighton’s dark sense of humour – shown by making jokes about his disability – hinder the process of changing the stigma surrounding disabilities through writing a memoir?” I believe that his ability to maintain his sense of personality (whether it is offensive to some audiences or not) shows that he has normalized his disability, relating it to what we (so-called “normal” people) can understand. Knighton’s disability memoir is powerful in the sense that he shows readers a perspective that relates to them and helps eliminate stigma by normalizing his disability, thereby effectively freeing himself from the discrimination he has known by taking control of it into his own hands.

Works Cited:

Couser, Thomas. Signifying Bodies. University of Michigan, 2009.

http://www.epilepsy.com/connect/forums/family-friends/making-fun-yourself

http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-preventing-discrimination-based-mental-health-disabilities-and-addictions/5-ableism-negative-attitudes-stereotypes-and-stigma