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Karen Casillas
Professor N. Armstrong
Anthropology 371
November 28,2017
Anthropology Course Journal

1. Hunchback of Notre Dame analysis/discussion

To start off, the title of the movie just sounds bad. It is putting out the name in a
negative cogitation towards him. The mentioning of the Hunchback within the title points
out his back posture. Personally, I do not like how his posture and physical appearance
are pointed out throughout the film from the moment he was born until the ending of the
film. I feel as if the name that is given to him gives a negative thought, Quasimodo is
defined as half formed and half deformed and to give this name to a human just means
that they are seen to the public eye as a monster or not fitting to be with society.

As children, many of us have grown up with the fairytale stories and the catchy tunes
that are included in the film. What we do not realize most of the times is there are some
of these catchy tunes that we have grown up with, there are mean and ugly words
describing a person with a disability. During the opening song narration, there are
multiple words that describe Quasimodo as a monster, a creature, misshaping, unholy and
even as an “it”. Describing a person, as an “it” not right. It affects not only their self-
esteem but also their perspective towards themselves. Throughout the film, he is treated
as a monster just because of his appearance being different. Aside from the horrible
words that were being told to him, the unfair and inhumane treatment by Frollo who he
called his master just made me mad because Frollo was the reason why Quasimodo
believed in the first place that he did not belong in society. The planting of a seed at a
young age is very important; a child believes what is being told to them while they are
growing up. One should be careful with the words that come out of someone’s mouth
because words are powerful.

2. Death With Dignity Analysis and Discussion

Rethinking the autonomy of an individual requires the rethinking of
independence. Having independence to many is seen as having dignity, saying “I can do
everything by myself, for my own self.” Connecting to the reading of Wendell the body is
believed to be controlled not by the person inhabiting the body, but instead of medical
practitioners and society itself. Often times the body is just viewed as a burden, as a
needing of fixing. Machinery can be fixed, but the difference here is that a human is not a
machine. Humans are dependent on one another. Independence is the sensation of being
liberated.
We chose to do as we please, but not everyone has that choice of choosing what
he or she wants in life. There are people who want to end their lives for multiple reasons,
such as a way of ending their suffering if they have a terminal illness. Many of the times
the double standard is misunderstood between being “disabled” from “terminally ill.”
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According to Wendell, the cognitive and social authorities are the ones who get to
determine what is disability. As humans we are dependent on one another. Independence
is the sensation of being liberated the illusion of control here is disability being wished
away as if it were never to have happened. Instead of trying to change people who have a
disability, we should change society since they seem to be having the issue of disability
still existing.

3. Advocacy Work Reflection Disability Week: Dr. Budesa 11/16/2017

Dr. Budesa is an amazing activist and also a great speaker. Just like Maria Palacios
and Cheryl Green, Dr. Budesa gave a great speech on how with age disability is
developed over time. Just like there are people who have a disability at birth or even after
an event that changed their life, we are all bound to get a disability in life when aging.
The elderly and the disabled are the ones who are projected to being treated more to
society as a burden in life rather than what they are, as a human.
Also, Dr. Budesa goes into depth onto how our structures, our own homes are
sometimes not designed adaptable for a person with a disability. Many of the times, the
modeling of the structure within the apartment or house does not have enough space to
get a wheelchair through or even sometimes there is no way in which a person with a
mobility issue has to get around the house without worrying of hurting themselves. I
liked how she mentioned several places that are located on our campus as factors that
people on our campus may not be aware of. Such as how near the College of Education,
in the girl's bathroom there does a curtain that is used as a door for the bathroom seem
accessible for the disabled. Not only does it invade ones privacy, but it also just shows
how instead of placing a physical door they simply just use a curtain like if that were to
fix the issue. If money were to be blamed for not having enough funding, then where
does the rest of our tuition go? Instead of limiting the resources that are available to the
students, there should be more availability. Putting use of our money to our campus will
benefit all students.

4. Semester Wrap-up/Course Review

When first signing up for this course, my complete thought of disability studies
was simply just the study of what came to be the acknowledgment of the disabled
individuals. Although I have struggled with learning what I consider to be as high tech
words I still managed to understand the basic meaning that best fitted to my vocabulary
knowledge. The readings may have been long, but they were very interesting even more
than a lot of them are actual people who have a disability. Taking this course brought has
more to me to rethink on issues that are still continuing in today's world that once were
happening years ago.
This course has made me change my perception onto how people with disabilities
still deal with unfair treatment in today’s society along with the misrepresentation that
they are given by the media to society. I learned about how the medical model is different
from the social model, to be honest, I did not know the difference between these two
models. Also to mention I learned that disability is constructed by the abled body, not by
the people who have a disability. There are many people who have a disability, but they
do not categorize themselves as disabled instead they are categorized by society. Not to
mention the existence of ugly laws, the constant naming and lack of names. This course
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has helped me take action onto helping out and being an advocate of the disabled
community. It was an eye-opening course because it relates to human life, it's still an
issue that is still happening as we speak and we have to power to take action to stopping
this injustice to continue happening to our brothers and sisters abled or disabled. We are
all humans at the end.

5. Palmer – “Old, New, Borrowed and Blue: Compulsory Able-bodiedness and

Whiteness in Avatar”
Despite never seeing the movie Avatar, it never captivated my attention. The
whole idea of having blue characters just simply did not catch my attention, but once
reading this article by Sara Palmer it made me not want to watch it even more. The
central message projected throughout the entire film is that being disabled is not an
indication of a wonderful life. The main character Jake Sully, who is brought to life by
actor Sam Worthington, is portrayed as a character with a physical disability. If we were
really to think about it, there really aren’t many protagonists represented disability in
movies. This movie created a lot of controversies when their main protagonist was
disabled in the real world, but if traveling to the dimension called Pandora he would be
able to walk in ambulatory. The script of the movie was intended to make the viewer feel
happy about the character when he is able to walk again when traveling to Pandora. It is
to say that having a disability is projected to being a failure in the fictional world. This
contributes to how disability continues to be invisible, through media and film. Not
having a disability is projected as the absolute body perfection. Being a person with a
disability continues to be viewed as weak, how can a hero of a movie have a disability.
What really bothered me was how they went to the extreme to make the main character
seem like a real disabled person. They even beyond using the legs of a person who uses a
wheelchair. That really bothered me, so much technology and for what. Especially not
giving the actor whose legs they used throughout the film wasn’t even given credit.
Instead of viewing and categorizing who is weak and who is strong, with or without a
disability we should just admire and give recognition to those who play disabled actors,
just as well giving credit to the disabled who gave their body parts to be part of the film
just like in Avatar.

6.Analysis of Media Campaign: The Only Disability In Life Is A Bad Attitude

This famous quote by the famous ice skater Scott Hamilton has created many heads
turns, either for it or against it. To me, it just confused me onto how the quote is intended
to mean. When searching up the quote on Google images search the only images that
seem to appear are of children or adults not having legs or a part of their body giving
their back to the person taking the person as if they are hiding their identity to the
audience. There are so many things that are not right, such as how is that they often place
a person with prosthetics next to a person does not have any physical disability. It seems
that this quote is more objectifying people with disabilities. As if a picture of a disabled
person along with the quote is intended to be a way of telling the view if a person with a
physical disability can do it so can you. It is just straight out wrong in many perspective
ways, it is giving the message that a bad attitude is a disability and if getting rid of that
bad attitude then the disability is no longer linked to it. This is commonly known as
inspirational porn, objectifying a disabled person to a non-disabled person as a
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“inspiration”. It has become a tendency of the disabled more to society by the own
society rather than the own body and the disability that the person has. Instead, an
emotional feeling and the disability should no longer be linked together in the same
sentence, we should take in consideration that people with a physical disability are
working hard with what they have on a daily basis.

7.Kafer – “Letting Justice Flow”

Often times we tend to take many things for granted. What we are not aware of is that
one of the many things that an abled person tends to take advantage is having the
privilege of access to them. Unlike the abled body, many who have a physical disability
must face obstacles such as finding a way of obtaining accessibility just as well as
facilitating a way of mobility just do a basic need, such like going to the restroom.
Alison Kafer, who was a once abled person, is now part of the disabled community
faces the struggles that many disabled people face everyday. Despite the constant glaring
of people, Kafer does not see her disability as the issue in society; but instead, she sees
that people are the ones who have an issue. Kafer once in law school needed to use the
restroom, she thinking that there would be an accessible bathroom in the nearby library
soon realizes that the bathroom is not structured well enough to permit her and her
wheelchair to enter in such desperation, she results in just peeing in a public space, which
she soon realizes is the Bible meditation garden. Kafer felt both anger and embarrassment
when returning to her class, who would blame her I myself would feel furious knowing
that there is no accessible bathroom for a person with a disability. Kafer along with her
instructor and her classmates write letters to the President of the University whose
response is absurd. His excuse is that there is no money to build an accessible restroom
at the moment, which does not make sense since there are many construction projects
taking place on campus. Kafer’s clap back to the president’s response is to continue
peeing on the Bible meditation garden, along with going to the press pointing out him not
compelling to the Disabled community attending the school.
After this reading, I have now understood that it takes one to be the voice of an entire
community. Kafer became that voice; after she faced that issue herself in her own school
of not having an accessible bathroom. I have now understood that there continue to
access factors, which one could not see if they do not look at it through a disability lens.
To conclude as Kafer stated, “Justice and righteousness were rolling down at last. They
had just needed a little boost from a girl, her wheelchair, and a full bladder.” In order to
obtain what not as an individual person needs, but a whole community one much
sometimes does the extreme to get justice.

8.Americans with Disabilities Act: Capitol Crawl

On July 26, 1990 back then President George Bush signed to what we know today
as the Americans with Disability Act law to be guarantee equal rights of disabled people
in society. Before this passing of law happened earlier that same year on March 20 many
people with physical disabilities who relied on mobility devices decided to leave them
behind and crawl up Capitol Hill, as a way of protest to having their voices be heard by
the congressman who through many years ignored the disabled pleads. The Disability
Movement has been compared to the Civil Movement lead by people of color. Both
cultural movements were rooting slowly; it first began with a small group of people,
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which quickly expanded to hundreds of people joining their fight to receive equal
treatment. The people that were once hidden away from society were tired of hiding, no
longer did they want their voices not to be heard. People with a visible disability have
always been seen as a burden to society, and once coming out from their hidden place not
many people were accepting of a physical disability being out for display openly.
Bringing interaction and acknowledgement in a public space, especially on the Capitol
captivated attention nationwide and it sure did work into resulting of the passing of the
Americans with Disability Act later on that same year. Actions speak louder than words.

9.Stigma Being Staged (Freaks Film)

In the 1932 film Freaks, the introduction credits to the cast who were real life
disabled people were described in very ugly words, claiming such things that freaks were
people who were smothered at birth or that people with disabilities were to get rid of.
Back then it was thought of having a disability was a result of being a bad person. It was
believed that the “freaks” had a code of ethics among themselves, in which it was
believed that they were up to no good, plotting against the abled body. At the beginning
of the film, we see one of the owners of the freak show to be describing and introducing
what he claims the freaks did to the once beautiful Cleopatra who was transformed into a
chicken who gives the appearance to have no arms and a shorter height difference from
what was seen throughout the film. It is blamed upon the freaks of such life-changing
event that happened to Cleopatra, through their “code of the freaks”.
Humans back then still resemble what we still may see today, with the disabled
community. Bodies that seemed and appeared differently were seen as monsters and if we
were to really think about how our society is modeled we continue to not accept people
within society for simply having a different appearance. The term Freak is not only a
reinforcement of normative hierarchy, but it also creating on normality, valuing to the
audience to what is correct to being normal. To many, the fact of being different physical
or mental different does not fit the category of being “normal” to society. Being abnormal
is not normal, nor is it acceptable.

10.Disability Literacy Quiz (In Class Activity)

Before taking this Disability Literacy Quiz in class, I was a bit confused onto why
were we doing this. Later Professor Armstrong explained that every month there is a
dedication to awareness, and in the next upcoming month of October there would be
recognized on national disability employment. To the best of my ability and with
complete honesty, I completed the quiz within ten minutes. Professor Armstrong did say
that there would not be any right or wrong answer at the beginning of the quiz, although
when finishing the quiz apparently there were acceptable answers that were submitted by
the Longmire Institute on Disability.
When coming back together as a class, it was very surprising of the answers that
were given as a high rated response. It was very surprising to me, in the sense that I felt
that maybe a lot of people were seeing the response options as objectifying the disabled
through the lens of pettiness. I must admit some of the options were a bit tricky, but I
understand that they were intended with that intention just to confuse the quiz taker. What
I learned from learning the results of the quiz is that there is a lot to be done for the
disabled community. I learned that many people with disabilities must face the daily
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factor of how society views them along with unfair treatment that they continue to face
for simply having a visible or non-visible disability. My own results were very surprising
to me when I saw the “correct” answers I never expected those to be the answer. I felt
like they were either too broad or simply they did not make any sense. This has made me
realize that there should be more aware of disability, instead of it being dedicated one
month it should be always taken into consideration. Also, it has caught my attention to
become an advocate to bringing awareness onto our campus on how the disability affects
everyone, not just only the disabled.