Kyle Kovacs' AP Literature Final Project
Invisible People: an extension of Ralph Ellison's famous novel Invisible Man
What is invisibility?
Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man follows a black man through parts of his life in white society in the 1940's. The novel's narrator is constantly complaining about people seeing him as an object rather than a person. This is his "invisibility:" people see right through him as if he isn't there at all.
This concept can be applied to any number of other groups of people (not just blacks). This webpage will talk about handicapped persons and why they are invisible. If you want to read about other groups of invisible people, feel free to visit the homepage.
The Mentally Handicapped
People with mental illnesses are not looked at the same way as people with "normal" brains, and thus are considered to be invisible in our society. The following are examples of mental illnesses:
- Down Syndrome
- Symptoms
- Somewhat abnormal facial features, including wide nose and enlarged tongue
- Shortness
- Generally lower IQ and some speech impediments
- Increased risk of Epileptic seizures
- Hearing and vision disorders
- Hypothyroid
- Causes
- Extra chromosome 21 in genome
- Aids
- Hearing aids
- Speech therapy
- Removal of tonsils can help with large tongue
- Sign language
- March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day
- Autism
- Symptoms
- Lack of social skills
- Lack of intuition
- Sensory abnormalities
- Causes
- Unknown
- Gene deletion, duplication, or inversion are suggested
- Aids
- Therapy to increase functional independence
- No single treatment exists
- Tourette syndrome
- Symptoms
- Verbal or physical tics
- Causes
- Unknown, but genetic
- Aids
- Moral support for the individual helps
- Klinefelter syndrome
- Symptoms
- Weakness
- Male breasts
- Infertility
- Executive function deficit
- Causes
- Additional X chromosome
- Aids
- Early intervention can help brain development
- In vitro fertilization has been successful to help sterile males
The above disorders often cause people to feel rejected from society and can often lead to depression. The most important help they can get is support from their peers. Often if people suffering from these disorders are made to feel more welcome in their social circles, they do better as individuals.
Videos
Here's a video from the Bethesda Institute about What Causes an Intellectual Disability. It briefly explains what causes people to have intellectual disabilities.
Here, the Special Olympics has an article on What is Intellectual Disability?. It gives information about intellectual disabilities in general and covers their causes.
Here is a video from the National Down Syndrome Congress titled We're More Alike Than Different. It presents testimonies form individuals with Down Syndrome and showcases their success.
Solutions
As mentioned above, the most popular solutions to aiding these mental disabilities are those
that involve support and therapy for the affected individuals. Other more violent or unfair
yet viable solutions have been proposed for eliminating the invisibility of this group. The
most widely accepted solutions are those proposed by groups such as
The Autism Society,
Autism Speaks,
The National Autism Association,
The National Down Syndrome Society,
The National Tourette Syndrome Association,
The Klinefelter Syndrome Awareness Council,
This Klinefelter Syndrome Information and Support Page, and
Tourettes Action (UK).
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