Being a cripple sounds horrible to most able-bodied people, but not to Nancy Mairs, author of “On Being a Cripple.” Being an able-bodied person once herself, she grew up to have multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease that attacks the nervous system, making some of, if not all, the affected person’s limbs become useless, making them “crippled.” Mairs is however glad that she has this disease, as it allows her to see life more clearly. This belief can be extended to other people with same or different disabilities. In most cases, Mairs would be right in assuming that having a disability would allow a person to see life clearly. One such case would be the one of Eleanor Longden. Longden battled through the disorder known as schizophrenia.