Outside reading post #12

In Moving Violations, the author John Hockenberry reflects on where his wheelchair has taken him and what he has accomplished since his accident. From the moment he first lost control of his legs, Hockenberry has been a fighter, always looking for ways to challenge himself and defy all odds. His father noticed this as well and noted his observations by telling Hockenberry, "'You know, John, your mother and I think you use your wheelchair as a crutch...Your mother and I think that if you weren't in the wheelchair you would never have gotten this far'" (180-181). Because of his wheelchair, Hockenberry has not settled for just scraping by. In fact, he would search for obstacles and in doing so, he would reach extraordinary heights. But Hockenberry's father was not only referring to his son's determination to triumph over impossible challenges. John Hockenberry knew exactly what his father meant and said, "He was talking about pulling my own weight for all the world to see" (181). Hockenberry would never let anyone assist him. He was determined to make it through under his own power in order to prove to the world that his will to succeed was not abated by his disability. Hockenberry always had this strength within him, but his parents believed that if it weren't for the wheelchair, his fortitude may never have had a chance to present itself. Hockenberry's life provides a perfect example of how only the worst of situations can refine us to excellence.

Outside reading post #11

John Hockenberry in Moving Violations is struggling to break through the stereotypes of the rest of the world. He has been fighting to do so ever since his accident but he comes to realize "There was a biblical inevitability to it. The person who confronted a stereotype would end up living it" (160). This statement proved to be very true. As Hockenberry himself admits, "I have become the angry young man, like the black actors compelled to play all the pimps, terroists, and athletes." (160). By being exposed to people's ideas of how he should act for too long, Hockenberry actually starting acting that way. It was these stereotypes that haunted Hockenberry for a long time afterwards. After getting a job for National Public Radio, he is afraid of interviewing people. This shown when he says, "It was more than bashfulness: I was afraid of irritating people, I was afraid of their ignoring me... I was trapped between twin stereotypes, theirs and mine" (165). Over time, the stereotypes of others became his own, and they prevented him from having confidence in himself.

Outside reading post #10

In John Hockenberry's Moving Violations, he is finally starting to realize that trying to fight against all the odds does not pay off in the end. Hockenberry spent all of his time since his accident not submitting to the limitations of his disability. In this section of the reading, he made an incredibly rash decision to buy a car that was not designed for paraplegics just for the sake of it. Afterwards, he reflects on his purchase, "I had just purchased not one, but two cars that, at the very least, were illegal for me to drive, assuming I could ever modify them enough to get either of them out of the driveway" (153). Perhaps Hockenberry saw it as his fight against his disability, but in my opinion, it was sheer selfishness. Because of his massive and foolish purchase, both he and his wife had to move to a lower rent apartment. (He bought the cars only by his wife's reluctant consent.) Also, though Hockenberry may have viewed it as a physical challenge, he was actually endangering people on the roads by driving illegally in a car not designed for people in his condition. I find it discouraging that Hockenberry would not take anyone else into account as he made these decisions. However, he has seen at least one example that has shown him that doesn't have to do outragious things like driving a car or going to a college that isnt' designed for paraplegics. Hockenberry is unable to play most songs on the piano because he cannot reach the pedals, so a music professor suggested that he try the harpischord, which does not require pedals. This would allow him to focus more on the music, rather use his inadequate pedal operator. He unenthusiastically agreed, feeling that he was being cowardly, but after trying it he commented, "It was a harpischord that suggested to me that there was a way through life without all the confrontations" (151). That is when Hockenberry first considers that it is not cowardly to avoid the routes he is physically incapable of taking and that his fights weren't worth the pain he was causing himself and others.

Outside Reading Post- armrests

In his book, Moving Violations, John Hockenberry describes his search for a role model. He wanted this role model to be independent and strong, but what he discovered was that his view of strength verses weakness was incorrect. For a long time, Hockenberry was convinced that armrests on a wheelchair were a sign of weakness. He proudly stated, "People often ask why I don't use armrests. I have only one answer... armrests are for the Tiny Tim, cup-in-hand, poster boy, "Jerry Lewis Telethon" crips" (136). To Hockenberry, the absence of armrests were is declaration of independence from helplessness and weakness. Without his armrests, he felt more capable and would down on those he thought were his role models because they had armrests. "'Hey, Hawking! When you gonna lose those pansy-assed armrests?"' (139). "Because he has armrests, he's a wimp" (140). He says this of two successful people who have been confined to wheelchairs. He doesn't realize that one can still be substantial while submiting somewhat to their disabilities. He spends a lot of time thinking that he is somewhat above all other "crips" until he goes to a Vietnam War memorial and talks with some of the veterans. The ones he talked to were all in wheelchairs and he had a great respect for them and felt below them. While he was with them, he observed, "What I noticed when I looked at his chair was the armrests. They all had armrests except me" (144). Hockenberry finally realized that whether or not you had armrests had nothing to do with your strength of will or character. When he saw those veterans' wheelchairs, Hockenberry came to see that his incessant fight against dependency was only hurting him.

Outside Reading Post- Outcast

In Moving Violations, John Hockenberry recounts his struggles to be treated as a normal human being. He became paralyzed at age nineteen in a car accident and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. Even though years have passed, he is unable to get over his obvious differences from most people in society, not because he himself can't, but the rest of the world can't. Everywhere he goes, people are staring at him and treating him as an entirely different class of human. When he and his wife would go out in public, people would ask her questions like, "How long were you married before his got in an accident?", and they were always shocked to find out that they married after Hockenberry was already paralyzed. Hockenberry felt that "it was as though she had joined a leper colony as a way of meeting new people" (132). Even though Hockenberry is a fully capable person, able to take care of himself, people immediately classify him as a helpless deadweight when they see his wheelchair. Hockenberry is painfully aware of how the rest of the world sees him. Being an employee at a care center, he had taken two mentally handicapped clients in wheelchairs down to the beach one day. Although the clients were blissfully unaware, Hockenberry knew how the three of them must have looked to outsiders. "They were oblivious of the skeptical world outside the care center... It seemed that I was trained to look for anticipate, even provoke the very people who would get the wrong idea of what we were doing. I was defending Jeanie and Jeff from a world they were'nt even afraid of. They were mentally retarded... and they seemed more free than I" (130). It appears as though Hockenberry can never be free from the staring and the stereotypes and the prying questions. His appearance automatically sets him apart from the rest of the world. It is so easy to treat someone differently simply because of their outward impression.

Outside reading post- independence

In John Hockenberry's Moving Violations, he describes the importance of independence and the shame of accepting help from others. Hockenberry is in a wheelchair because of a car accident when he was nineteen. Ever since then, he's been fighting to keep his independence and escape from the pity and helpfulness of people around him. When he is choosing a college, he immediately rules out wheelchair-friendly colleges. "In my view, any school that would go out of its way to attract crips must have something wrong with it..." (115). He ended up going to the University of Oregon because "no one had suggested it to me" (115). He knows that he won't be able to stand a place that treats him special because of his disability. He wants to get through life by his own accomplishments; not with special priviledges. Before he had a job, Hockenberry was offered to have welfare and food stamps. Since he felt like he didn't need welfare he decided to only accept the food stamps, but even that humiliated him. "...pulling out food stamps in a check-out line was like offering to trade one of your kidneys for a bag of groceries... I felt guilty if I was purchasing anything besides ten-pound bags of grain and powdered milk" (118). Being dependent on food stamps makes Hockenberry feel as if he is a burden on society and he is unable to take care of himself. Finally, when Hockenberry starts to look for a job, he describes the three categories of jobs in the "crip world": jock jobs, crip jobs, and real jobs. Not wanting a job designed for disabled people Hockenberry decides to get a real job saying, "Real jobs are ones that are not crip-designated, that take on humanity at large" (120). He wants to get a job with his own skills and be able to have an impact on society. John Hockenberry feels that nothing is as important to him as independence and the satisfaction of earning his way through the world.