Identity vs. Perception

Identity should be how one views oneself, including all of the complexities “that round out a character and make (one) whole” (Mairs 14). However, often, as shown in “Disability” by Nancy Mairs, others’ perceptions often overtake one’s own views and become identity instead. In “Disability,” Mairs writes about how by leaving disabled people out of the media, disabled persons are made to feel degraded and alienated. They feel like the outcasts in a world of able-bodied people when, ironically, they are the normal people. Everyone else is simply a TAP, a Temporarily Abled Person. Mairs points out, “if you live long enough, as you’re increasingly likely to do, you may well join (us)” (Maris 15) as a disabled person. Even though disability is normal, society’s perception that disability is taboo overcomes disabled persons’ identities and becomes their defining characteristics.

The same concept holds true for the African Americans shown in Maya Angelou’s “Champion of the World.” Society disregards African Americans as inferior simply because of the color of their skin. Angelou talks about how her community depends upon Louis’ win to change the perception of them being a lesser race and how losing would mean reverting back to slavery. Even when Joe Louis proves they are “the strongest people in the world” (Angelou 90), African Americans are still perceived as inferior and fear Whites as a result.