Power & Privilege Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Power & Privilege - Essay Example With an eye towards balancing a calculation with relativity, I think a good working definition of poverty is the one Bagdikian offers. As for Ehrenreich’s writings, I found them to be interesting and evocative, but not particularly surprising. It doesn’t take an MIT graduate to figure out that $7.00/hr. for 40 hours a week isn’t going to buy three dollar-per-gallon gasoline while paying rent and groceries. Q2: What makes a person disabled? Similarly to defining poverty, disability can take both an objective and a subjective form. A person with a physical or mental condition that prevents them from functioning in a â€Å"normal† way is disabled. That said, however, it is far easier to recognize an individual imprisoned in a wheelchair than one locked up in her own mental hell; yet both are equally hampered when it comes to interacting with the community. As for my personal observations, the thing I dislike the most is the way that those with obvious disabilities are ignored in social settings, and the way those with cognitive function disabilities are mocked behind their backs. I have seen people in a crowded room act like the person in the wheel chair is not even there. I think everyone has seen people make fun of the mentally retarded. If I put myself in their place, I think I would want to be treated with the same respect and dignity as any other human being. Even if I am in a wheel chair, at least look at me and acknowledge my presence. Talk to me; introduce yourself. You know I am disabled, and I know I am disabled, but I am not invisible.