Living With Disabilities, Essay Example

The movie: Murderball features people who suffered an accident and refuse to change their lifestyle just because of their disability. They fight back and enjoy what they like doing: make the most out of their situation. While their lives are harder, they can maintain a positive attitude and are self-motivated. The below review will analyze one particular character’s coping mechanisms: Mark Zupan’s.

Personality traits

According to his parents, Mark was always a “tough guy”. He remained the same after his accident. His girlfriend says that he is a typical “macho”, and an arrogant person. She also says that she never believed she would go out with a person who behaves like him. She does not say that she could not imagine herself going out with a man in a wheelchair. She does not look at Mark as “different”. He has an outgoing personality, and – just like before – he likes having fun, being with friends.

Challenges

Mark cannot move his lower body, and has limited functions in his fingers. It takes him a lot of effort just to get out of bed, dress up and take care of his personal hygiene. Still, he refuses to ask for help. Many people in his condition stay at home, never go anywhere, and have a home carer to look after them.

Motivation

Mark is – just like other wheelchair rugby players – is highly motivated to beat the other team. When his team loses first time in a long period against Canada, he does not give up; he trains even harder. He is motivated by the competition: there are 500 players who applied for the national team in the United States, and only the best 12 can be in the Olympics. He loves challenges; no matter if it is a game of cards, or murderball. He is motivated by the opportunity to prove that he is able to be better than others. Further, he wants to achieve more as a disabled person than many people achieve without disabilities.

He talks to other people in wheelchair about his experience and states that he achieved more after his accident than before. He advises the audience not to give up, and not to let their disability stand in the way. When he talks with his teammates, they agree that they do not go to the Olympics to get recognition for the achievement: their goal is the gold.

Coping mechanism

When Mark got injured, he was sleeping in the van of his friend, after a night out, drunk. The friend was drunk, too, and this was why they had an accident. On the ten year reunion, Zupan goes, but his friend does not turn up. This indicates that Mark has the strength to face with the past and the consequences, but Igoe, his friend is still feeling guilty. After the accident, Mark had little chance for survival. His friends say that he is not an emotional type, and this means that he might not even talked a lot about the accident with his friend or his family. He decided to cope with the events on his own. He tries to call his friend to talk about it (or more like to confront him), but he does not answer the phone. According to Mark, his family suffered a lot because he could not get closure from his friend. He tells the reporter that the beginning was the hardest part, when he was constantly reminded of what he used to do; playing football, going out, or simply driving. He felt as if his home turned into a prison.

In sport, he has a similar attitude: he bounces back. On the match that gets the American team the gold, he gets injured and knocked over in the beginning loads of time. However, his accident has taught him how to stop thinking about negative things and focus on the goals. He wins the game for the team.

He invites Igoe to the Athens Paralympics; maybe to seek closure, to show that he can live a full life, or to prove that he is still the same person. While they lose the game against Canada and have to settle with the Bronze medal, the reunion is complete. Even though the team is disappointed, all people think that they did their best.

Conclusion

What other people can learn from Mark is that no matter if someone is injured, paralyzed, and disabled; they are the same person. They should find a motivation to carry on; something to fight for. Mark found his challenge in wheelchair rugby, and achieved more than he did before the accident, according to his account. He can make other people treat him as a human being who is unique, instead of labeling him as someone in a wheelchair. Mark, however, was always an outgoing and extrovert person; his coping mechanism of finding a challenge and pushing himself to the limit might not work for everyone. Still, his example shows that disability cannot limit a person: their thinking can.

ThinkFilm. “Murderball” 2005. DVD.