Eli Clare and Glee

In Eli Clare's short story "The Mountain" she talks about the difference between having a disability and having an impairment. This can be related to the "Wheels" episode of Glee we watched in class. Eli's definition of an impairment is having something physically wrong with you such has loss of use of a limb. Her definition of a disability is a mindset established by society. These two definitions can be related to some of the characters in Glee.
One character that has an impairment in Glee is Artie. He lost the use his legs in a car accident when he was younger. His disability according to Clare would be the loss of use of his legs. One impairment was having trouble getting into school because they only had one handicap ramp which was at the end of school. Another impairment was that he could not take the bus with the rest of the Glee club to their performance. Artie faces many of these impairments each day because of his disability. The Glee club had to have a fund raiser to raise money to get a handicapped bus. The Glee club spent a few hours each day to get a feel for the impairments that Artie has to deal with every day.
Another character that had a disability was the girl who tried out for cheerleading. The disability she had was down syndrome. She had to deal with problem in education and social problems. All she wanted to do was to fit in and be treated like everyone else and i think that the cheerleading coach saw that. That is why the coach added her to the team and is trying to treat her like everyone else on the team.