Ashley "X"

In our society we would regard a person with a strange physical appearance as an outcast and sometimes even disregard their existence at all. For People that have physical disabilities and inabilities it is hard to fit in and fit in like a “normal” person. Inevitably they will remain to People that experience this kind of treatment by others sometimes consider Plastic surgery, which aims to restore both function and form to deformities, and other physical and mental disabilities as well. When a person is regarded as being physically disabled they are automatically judged and labeled by today’s society, because socially we have established who the typical good-looking person is. The mainstream media establishes this point as well. We have gotten used to seeing what the good looks likes that anything else that doesn’t look like what we see is considered to be the opposite. We also discriminate in a way that we do not accept people for who they actually are, this may not be the case for everyone but for the most we do this unknowingly. Especially if a person has physical disabilities they are judged before anything. It is not always the case for children because there is a sense of pity for a child that that has disabilities and needs help. Also the child might not be affected by the pity shown by another person as an adult would have the cognitive ability to feel pity. A prime example of is the case of Ashley X which has a peculiar disability. She is 9 years old but her mental age is that of a 3month infant. Although she would never get better there is still hope because she is a child. This would not be the case given that she would an adult because in a sense people would consider and adult even if they have a disability able to comprehend and think for themselves. “The innocence of children makes them ideal for use in a pity appeal. But by celebrating disabled children and ignoring disabled adults, it seems to proclaim that the only socially acceptable status for disabled people is their early childhood. The handicapped child is appealing and hug-gable - the adolescent or mature adult is a cripple to be avoided” (Kemp). By this the author means that it will be inevitable that individuals would feel sorry for a young child that is disabled because they are a child. But the same way people regard disabled children, that same view should be seen on adults that are disabled as well. They are no different than a child because they might have the disability just that they are older.

The way this is monstrous is because people are never going to see Ashley the same. This is a characteristic similar to a monster, once they are seen as a monster or a strange creature they are never looked upon the same.  They will always carry that with them because a first impression is the way most people judge others.

Work Cited

Singer, Peter. "A Convenient Truth." New York Times. New York Times, 26 Jan

2007. Web. 1 Feb 2011.