Nancy Mair

In this passage Nancy Mair’s describes herself using the word cripple. Nancy Mair’s presents herself as a normal person, but with a slight challenge in her life. Nancy says the word cripple seems to her as a word that is very clean and straightforward. Mair’s says that she would not call any other person a cripple just herself. Mair’s shows us that she does not want us to feel sorry for her or to pussyfoot around her disability. She says that basically she is a cripple and there is nothing more to it. Mair’s does not feel embaressed about her situation and she just wants the outside world to see her for what she is.

In the beginning of this passage the tone is informative and towards the end the tone is accepting. Throughout the whole speech Mair’s presents a tough tone, because she is presented as a tough individual. The reason the tone in the beginning of the passage is informative is because she talks about how and why she choose the word cripple to describe herself. She also informs us about how people wince at the word cripple and how they are not comfortable around the word cripple. People would be much more comfortable using the word disabled or the word handicapped. At the end of the passage the tone becomes more accepting, because she talks about how she has grown accustomed to people calling her handicapped or disabled. At the end of the passage the tone changed completely than from the beginning because now Mair’s says that she doesn’t care what people call her whereas in the beginning of the passage she said straightforwardly