| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 外國語文學系研究所 === 85 === The portrait of people with disabilities or deformities are oftentwisted
to conform the overgeneralized, exaggerated, and rigid stereotypeswhich overlo
ok variability and deny individuality. Stereotypes hurt. In orderto alleviat
e the additional suffering caused by stereotyping, a penetratingunderstanding
of this issue is in great demand. In Chapter I, I focus on the general con
ception of stereotyping, and theparticular origins of the stereotypes directed
toward people with visibledefects from the cognitive, motivational, and socio
cultural aspects. Then, inChapter II, I attempt to exemplify the disability/d
eformity stereotypes with agreat amount of literary works. From the defective
literary representations,we can see how the stereotypic attitudes have greatl
y penetrated into differentranges of literature--classical, popular, and child
ren''s literature. Disabled/deformed charactes are often readily fit into the
stereotypic models that precede them. They are repeatedly either negatively p
ortrayed as brutalmonsters or pathetic figures, or "positively" depicted as "s
uper crips" or virtuous creatures. These figures are, therefore, constantly r
endered as subhuman or superhuman, but rarely as "normal" people who happen to
have visible defects. In order to redress the misconception and reduce the i
njuriescaused by stereotypes, the possible solutions for countering stereotypi
ng arediscussed in Chapter III with the examples taken from three literary wor
ks. Literary representation can help resist stereotyping by providing more ne
utraland individuating information about the stigmatized people. Stereotyp
ing should be challenged so that people with disabilities/deformities do not h
ave to suffer more from the handicaps caused by the stereotypes than from thos
e imposed by their disabilities. Only when stereotypes are subverted, can we
constitute a true barrier-free society--asociety without attitudinal as well a
s physical barrier.
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