A Movie, a Word, and My Family’s Battle is written by Patricia E. Bauer, a mother of a daughter with Down syndrome. Bauer writes about her family’s struggle, emotionally and physically with the word “retarded” being used in a joking manor. She emphasizes that fact that the word “retarded” is an actual diagnosis, making the word a hurtful phrase when used casually to describe something or someone. Bauer begins with the production of a movie called, Tropic Thunder, that was made to make audiences laugh at the story of a character who struggles living with an intellectual disability. Due to the fact she has a daughter who actually lives with an intellectual disability, she finds this movie full of political incorrectness, hate, and false assumptions intended to make people laugh at someone else’s reality. Using the example of the movie, and then following up with how the movie portrays individuals like her daughter, makes them feel, increases the use of pathos. She uses a real movie to create …show more content…
Results of a survey conducted by the University of Massachusetts not only is a credible source that collected heart breaking data for readers to comprehend, but also forces the reader to question what their response to the survey would be. Bauer argues that what most see as a progressive society, accepting people of all differences, is actually oppressing the percentage of the population with disabilitie’s rights and feelings. Moving into common phrases that are used by well known people brings her to the reason why that the word “retarded” has become so acceptable. I like that she pulls in real word examples that the reader can connect to. Even if their role models or favorite celebrities don’t joke around about people with disabilities, there has to be another circumstance where their opinions and thoughts were altered by that famous or important individual’s