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Resilience

Student’s Name

Department, College/University

Course Number and Name

Instructor’s Name

Assignment Due Date

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The theme of resilience in Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body

by Rebekah Taussig is very relatable to my determination to succeed in the face of a demanding

academic environment. Rebekah Taussig’s essay, “A Life’s Work,” details her experience growing up

as a disabled child. She describes her process of discovering new ways to see herself, despite seeing

herself through the eyes of others who may subjectively perceive her as disabled. In this way, she

begins to understand herself as both differently-abled and able-bodied. She develops a sense of

resilience that allows her to navigate social settings without fearing how others see her or treat her.

This dynamic attitude toward how she perceives herself is an essential element for me as a

neuroatypical undergraduate student. As I enter into the workforce after graduation, I know that I

cannot become too wrapped up in social situations outside my comfort level. It would be easy for

me to hide behind my neuroatypicality—to let it define me instead of allowing it to be a trait that

defines some part of who I am but not all of who I am. Resilience is a word that is often used in the

context of disabilities. It is also a word that can be misused and misunderstood, as it is often used to

describe people who have disabilities rather than the disabilities themselves. In her book, Sitting

Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body, author Rebekah Taussig clarifies her idea

of resilience, which she describes as “the capacity to endure hardship and transform suffering into

accomplishment.” Her narrative is full of examples of how she maintained a positive attitude despite

the challenges she faced. She details the importance of finding beauty in small things and finding joy

in life’s simple pleasures.

This theme of resilience is also essential in my own life. As a college student, I face many

challenges every day. I have to balance schoolwork with other priorities, such as my job and

relationships with my friends and family while maintaining a healthy sleep schedule. I think that how

I approach these challenges reflects the same attitude toward resilience that Taussig articulates

throughout her book. Ever since entering college and taking on new responsibilities, I have become
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much more aware of how essential it is to be resilient to achieve success in my academic and

personal life.

Taussig asserts that the only way we can understand disability is through seeing it as a body

in motion. She focuses on her physicality and how her body is affected by her depression and

anxiety. She draws from the work of sociologists and critics who have theorized about the disabled

body, precisely how it moves through public spaces, to show how perceptions of disability are

inherently intertwined with ideas of social class and race. Taussig also draws on her personal

experience to show what an ordinary life can look like for the disabled.

In my personal experience, I have always strived for academic success despite my

demanding job environment. One of the ways I have done this is by using my schoolwork to escape

the pressures of work. By looking forward to assignments and readings, I can get through the day-to-

day duties of my job and come home feeling that I have accomplished something worthwhile.

Additionally, I can still manage an active social life while doing well in my classes by keeping up with

deadlines and managing time effectively. For example, when taking on a strenuous workload in

college, I tended to focus more on school than friends to keep up with all of my assignments. This

was effective since I received several prestigious awards despite working over 40 hours per week.

Many people expect me to fail. I know that I can succeed in my field and go far, but sometimes it can

feel like everyone is just waiting for me to fail. But I refuse to let that intimidate me.

In a society that places such great value on physical beauty, it is no wonder that the disabled

rarely share their perceptions of themselves. Taussig exposes her daily life as a disabled person to

the public to help others better understand what it is like to live with a disability. She does this by

relating her experiences with her own body to those of many other disabled people and conveys her

message through storytelling and metaphors. Taussig’s story can be used as motivation for all those

who feel like their bodies have betrayed them and have given up because of pain or imperfection.
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Her use of resilience shows how she has overcome obstacles to continue living life as normally as

possible despite having a disability that causes pain and exhaustion.

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References

Taussig, R. (2021). Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body. HarperCollins

Publishers Incorporated.