"cripple". At the same time, car accidents, cancerous tumors, and many

other misfortunes cause thousands of people each year to lose use in their

arms, legs, or other parts of their body. Nancy Mairs was one of those people.

She became handicapped (though she prefers the term cripple) as a result of

multiple sclerosis. Being a professor of writing and composition at The

University of Arizona, she decided to write about her atypical lifestyle in an

essay entitled, On Being a Cripple. This piece comes from a collection of

poetry and essays called Plain Text that was written in 1986. Mairs uses many

tactics and techniques to show the reader what it?s like to be disabled. She

applies an emotional appeal to persuade a change in the readers? stereotypical

thoughts about living with a disabling, terminal disease. In this essay, Mairs

shows that an individual has choices in life, no matter what the situation.

Her methods include description, tone, and the first person perspective.

Throughout the whole piece, she never seems angry or bitter at her situation at

all. The writer actually comes off as grateful and content. She demo

this. These are two examples of her not being mad at her current condition,

She starts off the essay by saying that she isn?t offended by the word

herself a few times during the essay.

sitting on the porch, sipping amaretto, and smoking a cigar. While doing this

Some topics in this essay:
Tucson Mountains, Plain Text, Nancy Mairs, Arizona Nancy, University Arizona, , multiple sclerosis, nancy mairs, happy normal life, makes reader, normal life, university arizona, professor writing, happy normal, cripple result, mairs example,