Artifact Presentation: Disability

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktEYIBdPFII

Description:

            For my artifact I chose an interview with professional surfer Bethany Hamilton and AnnaSophia Robb who played Bethany Hamilton in the movie Soul Surfer, on the Travis Smiley Show. Soul Surfer, released in 2011, is based on the true story of surfer Bethany Hamilton who suffered a severe shark attack at the age of thirteen resulting in the amputation of her left arm. The movie portrays Bethany Hamilton’s life after the attack and how she grew and coped with her disability becoming a successful professional surfer and not letting her dreams go. I chose this artifact because I thought it related well with the articles chosen for class and their relation of feminism and disability together.

Analysis:

            In the first reading “Integrity Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory” by Rosemarie Garland – Thomas I feel as if Thomas imposed a negative outlook on disability. Although I believe this wasn’t her purpose, her purpose was to discourage the negative outlook on people with disability especially women, yet she portrayed many different outlooks on why disability is seen as bad and how it fits into the list of feminism, racism, and so on. After reading her story I got a sense that the disabled, especially women, should accept being disabled and be happy with it, and although I see no problem with this I see it as sort of improbable. A disabled person is already in most cases limited to what they can do, so I would imagine that they want to be able to do the most that they can disregarding their disability. For this reason if a person with a disability had the opportunity to overcome it even the slightest bit they would most likely strive for that, because they are probably not pleased and comfortable with being handicapped and needing assistance or special treatment. This is ideal because it is a characteristic of being a human, to be independent, and with a disability this is limited. For this reason I chose the story of Bethany Hamilton because I feel as if she takes a whole different outlook on her disability, she doesn’t hide her disability, she almost flaunts it, and she has achieved great success from it. She has shown that although she lacks an arm, she has overcome adversity and still achieved her dream by adapting to her new conditions. She portrayed a message that it isn’t a bad thing to be disabled. The fact that Bethany is a female also added to the situation as Thomson connected feminism and disability, it shows that a young disabled girl can overcome this tragic thing in her life and put a positive light on it, showing others that they don’t need to dwell over their disabilities. I think the story sort of disproves Thomson’s ideas, not that hers aren’t true because in many situations Thomson’s points are valid, but Bethany’s story sheds a light on the positive outlook that can be taken by disability. I also related the soul surfer story in more of a similarity to the short story by Andrea Avery because I feel that Andrea took her disability and tried to cope with it as positive as possible. Although Andrea didn’t necessarily do anything special she learned to accept her condition and live happily with it and eventually was granted her wish of having a child. With a different outlook she could have just accepted that it would be painful and exhausting to raise a child and let her life waste away in sorrows, but she didn’t. I feel as if both these stories show that disability doesn’t need to be a negative thing, and those who are not disabled should be accepting of the disabled especially if they are happy and accomplished. Being disabled shouldn’t be a connection of thoughts that disabled people aren’t like others, that they need pity and sympathy, that they cant achieve what others do without disabilities, because they can. Disability should be seen as individuality not limitation, because a lot of disabled individuals do what any other person does, but do it with a disability.  Those with disability should be seen as a motivation to everyone else, and just because they may want to improve, dose not necessarily mean that they want to improve because they want to be “normal”. If they have the opportunity to improve their disability they shouldn’t be judged on doing so, because it’s not necessarily about being like everyone else, or not being disabled anymore, or “normal”, it’s about getting the most out of their life that they want, which is what most humans aspire to achieve.

Discussion Questions:

1.     If the case of Bethany Hamilton happened to be a male, what do you think would have been different about the situation; would there even have been a story to be told, a book written, or a movie produced?

2.     On page 27of Thomson’s article she mentions how there is no positive advertisement about being satisfied with life in a wheel chair. I feel like in this portion of Thomson’s article she shed negative light on people wanting to overcome their disability, suggesting that it is perfectly fine being disabled. During the interview with Bethany Hamilton it was clear that Bethany was in no way accepting of being limited after her accident, and insisted on continuing on with her dreams and surfing. Do you think in most cases that those who have the ability to overcome their disability would take the chance in doing so or would they just give up and accept it? Do you think with the choice of overcoming a disability that it portrays that being disabled is a bad thing? What would you do?

3.     As AnnaSophia mentioned in the interview that Bethany used her disability as a catalyst, and to inspire others. Why do you think it’s so hard for others to accept disability as individuals and as an outside community especially if the disabled person themselves have overcome and accepted it?

4.     Why do you think Thomas so strongly related disability to feminism, as there are many males who have experienced disability in similar ways?