Greenberg 1

Annabel Greenberg

English 1201-511

Professor Porter

January 20, 2019

Normalizing Disability

In my AP government class in school, we were given the assignment of writing a bill for
the upcoming mock Congress. I decided upon the topic of sex education, but I needed to narrow
my topic. I searched through the ideas of LGBTQ+, education standards, and existing laws.
Eventually, I decided on sex education for disabled students. Through the weeks of research, I
came across the many related topics: accessibility, workplace rights, inclusion in mainstream
media, etc. This interested me in the normalization of disabilities in society and the media,
especially in the internet age of information and alongside the rise of mental illness awareness.
The idea of putting disabled people into mainstream culture feels hopeful for change. It
feels like there is progress being made, and the idea of understanding exactly what is happening
interests me. I think effects will provoke controversy, including sexualization and accessibility. I
think some people fear characters with disabilities being written by uninformed, abled creators. I
believe there is a lot of ignorance toward the subject, and people need to be informed. I also
believe movements toward acceptance can benefit society, as well as overall empathy and
consideration within communities. I do know there are movements being made, but I also know I
cannot possibly provide the most experienced, informed viewpoint. I have never dealt with any
kind of disability myself, nor do I have direct experience in a relationship with someone who
has. I understand I am not the most credible source, but I can use statistics and facts to study the
progress and effects of this change.
I want to better understand the effects of the normalization. I want to know how it could
help society and how some could possibly be against the movement. I will mostly use the
Sinclair library and scholar.google.com to search its progress, what is being done, and how it
works moving alongside the mental health movement. These ideas beg a few questions, like how
would the normalization of disability in mainstream media affect society as a whole, or why is
there such a big problem with normalizing disability in the first place?