EMBODYING LITERACY: FROM COMPULSORY TO COMPLEX

From a cursory glance at Jean’s poem, one might primarily note her emphasis on bodily injury as she comments on how her brain won’t “allow” her to think, write, or talk, and on her efforts toward recovering from her “loss.” In this way, focusing on one’s body could be understood as a clear-cut internalization of the medical model of disability: “something is wrong with my body, and I need to fix it to make it normal again.” What’s more, the tension between “brain” and self may be understood as reinforcing rigid mind-body dualisms. These lenses certainly do help to explicate