Nancy Mairs describes herself as a "cripple" to accurately portray her condition of losing full use of her limbs due to multiple sclerosis. While others are uncomfortable with the term "cripple", Mairs states that it is the most truthful description of her situation. She believes other terms like "disabled" or "differently abled" distance people from her actual physical condition. Mairs asserts that she has the right to define herself however she chooses, and has elected to be known as a "cripple" rather than pretend she only differs from others in ordinary ways.

1. Crippled by Nancy Mairs Essays
Nancy Mairs – Crippled and Strong
Throughout this passage Nancy Mairs uses the word cripple to describe who she is and the beliefs of her condition. She does this by describing her
condition in a few different ways; the opinion of others and the opinion of herself. As anyone should she decides what her title as a person should be
and she doesn't listen or care for anyone's opinion outside of her own. Her tone is very straightforward throughout the passage. Mairs describes her
condition and how it relates to the actions and response of other people in any situation. Mairs uses the term cripple loosely making sure it is not
offensive to anyone. By starting her passage with, "I am a cripple," Mairs doesn't hide anything. She...show more content...
As a cripple Mairs is extremely proud to be who she is. She goes on to say, "I like the accuracy with which it describes my condition." She explains
whit this that she is comfortable a certain way knowing that any other word or any other title to describe who she is would not suit her. In the last
paragraph of the passage, Mairs begins to justify her opinion and reasoning for wanting to titled as a cripple. "Whatever you call me, I remain a
cripple," she states very blunt and bold revealing once again how she wants to be viewed by the world. She later uses the term, "differently abled"
which in her opinion is verbal garbage. Mairs calls it verbal garbage as a way to vent her feelings towards the topic in general. She feels that
differently abled is something that limits any abilities that she may have. Nancy Mairs shows the world just how powerful the English language is in
this passage. She strongly shows that yes, she may have lost full use of her limits but she refuses to pretend that the only difference between her and
anyone else are the carious ordinary qualities that distinguish any person from another. She clearly gets her point across to the audience by letting
them feel where she is coming from. Her decision to be called cripple was her decision not chosen or influenced by anyone else. The strong, blunt,
start to this passage that said, "I am a cripple," ended in the same straightforward sense. She states that,
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2. Nancy Mairs Dashes
Dashes communicate more emphasis than a comma, but they are more relaxed than parenthesis, colons, and semicolons. Nancy Mairs may have used
dashes in order to communicate a specific emphasis surrounding the situations.The quote from paragraph four is extremely informal. Mairs needs the
readers to understand her informality but with more emphasis than simple commas can give. The dashes also give the page visual appeal; they set apart
the phrase "damn that woman!"(4) in a way the separates it from the original sentence. Moreover, in the quote from paragraph seven Mairs uses the
dash in place of a comma to communicate her relaxed tone. She is showing the readers that she innocently followed directions and then her teacher
accused her of doing
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3. Analysis: Nancy Mairs
Nancy Mairs Essay In the passage Nancy Mairs presents herself in a way which demonstrates that she has many characteristics of a strong woman.
She includes tone and a high quality choice in words to describe herself and why she used the word "cripple" as a name for herself. Mairs uses a
high quality choice in words throughout the essay to describe her condition and herself as a person. In the passage she states that people "wince at the
word cripple because they can't handle it .She also states that the other words that people would use to describe her don't correspond to her condition.
In the passage she quotes George Orwell's thesis which states "the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts." She
agrees
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4. Nancy Mairs Cripple
Nancy Mairs who has multiple sclerosis start the passage with "I am a cripple." She states that she was "unaware of [her] motives for [using the
word cripple to name herself]." Mairs understands that it might be difficult for others to call her a "cripple," but "[she] wants [people] to see [her]
as a tough customer." She wants to be known as a person who can "face the brutal truth of her existence squarely." Furthermore, to Mairs the word
cripple is just a regular "clean" word. Mairs believes that the word "cripple" describes her the best because it defines her condition of "[loosing] the
full use of [her] limbs." She also mentions that other words such as "disabled" and "handicapped" seem to "[move] away from [her] condition." Lastly
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5. Nancy Mairs Summary
While reading this story, we get to see what it is like to live with MS or Multiple Sclerosis. Nancy Mairs in a way shows the negative effects of her
condition which others do not always experiences. Yet, she always follows up a paragraph about the negatives with the positives. You see that while
she has issues with being a cripple and this disease slowly taking over, she is still loving her life to the fullest. She talks about this quote from George
Orwell that says "the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts." she uses this quote to elaborate on why she does
not use certain terms and why she chose the term cripple. She believes that everyone has the right to choose who they want to be. Which is difficult
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