... but has played her cards right. Nancy Mairs would be highly offended if one called her a cripple. However, it is okay for her to refer to herself as one. "People- crippled or not- wince at the word 'cripple,' as they do not at 'handicapped' or 'disabled.' Perhaps I want them to wince. I want them to see me as a tough customer, one to whom the fates/gods/viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely. As a cripple, I swagger." Page 29. Mairs is not ashamed of her disease. She has come to terms with the fact that she has to live with this illness for the rest of her life, so she is not going to let it take over her life. She does not want to come across as someone that is "handicapped" because she feels that being "handicapped" implies that ...

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