Disabilities and impairments/ Eli Clare Readings

The works of Eli Clare focused on the sensitive issue of society's treatment of individuals whom we deem less valuable than us. The classification of these people vary in the opinion of Clare. Clare sheds light on the common misuse of the way we define people. Clare writes that an impairment is something like down syndrome, they person has the capapbility to preform the action it just might take them longer than a regular person. Where as a disability would be something like being a parapalegic. If there are stairs in front of a parapalegic there is no possible way the person could get to the top of the stairs. In class we discussed these definitions and applied them to the episode of "Glee" that we watched in class. We talked about the portreyal of the student in a wheelchair and the criticism the show recieved for the episode. I feel that the show did nothing to misinform the audience or make light of the situation that parapalegics face everyday.