The article under study is titled “A Call to Improve Campus Accessibility for the Mobility Impaired” and is authored by Manasi Deshpande. Deshpande is a University of Texas at Austin alumni who has been riding a wheelchair for years due to her disability. In her college years, Deshpande was a firsthand witness to the enormous challenges that disabled students (especially those in wheelchairs) experience as they try to navigate through various college facilities. These students are added an extra problem of not only worrying about getting good grades, but also being constantly worried about getting to class, finding buildings that are accessible and determining which doors to use. It was these challenges that inspired Deshpande to draw attention to this problem through this essay. Deshpande ethos shines throughout the essay and it is very easy to believe her course because she comes as a person of good character who simply wants to see a certain issue that is ailing the society to be addressed. The thesis statement is identified at the end of the essay’s introduction where Deshpande writes that the University of Texas at Austin must make campus accessibility an issue higher priority and must take more seriously the difficulties and hardship that the college grounds at present levies on individuals with mobility impairments. According to Deshpande, better accessibility would not only benefit the permanently disabled but will benefit members of the student and the faculty body who may be temporarily disabled and will also assist the University to admit and recruit a body of students and faculty that is more diverse. Through the essay, Deshpande uses an impartial tone. She does not exhibit feelings of anger but rather expresses hope for the initiation of measures by the University authorities in terms of improving the experiences of disabled students. Her sentiments are all expressed in a positive manner.
Deshpande uses all the three rhetorical appeals in this essay. In the beginning of the essay, she uses the pathos appeal whereby she presents an emotionally laden case study of Wes Holloway, a student whose entire campus experience was turned upside down when he was injured and had to start moving around in a wheelchair. Deshpande talks about the experiences of this boy in a manner that is without a doubt meant to touch the emotions of the reader. She also uses the logos or the rational appeal to persuade the audience about her proposal. This is particularly in the section where she is explaining about the benefits of better accessibility. She rationally expresses how this endeavor will not only benefit the disabled students, but also other students, faculty and the university as a whole. The ethos appeal is also visible because Deshpande is herself disabled and is a former student of the University of Texas at Austin, and she, therefore, has full credibility to make a proposal on this matter. Most of the sources used by the author are personal interviews from relevant stakeholders of this disability issue. These include university staff and personnel such as the Dean of students as well as disabled students. These are credible people because once again, they have experienced or have come across issues related to the impaired accessibility of disabled students to crucial University resources. In a nutshell, they enrich the content and argument of the author. Overall, Deshpande’s essay is well structured and sound. She starts the essay by giving a touching example of an individual whose life has been impacted by the problem and goes on to suggest ways of solving the problem and then comprehensively explains the benefits that are likely to be accrued if the problem is solved. Her essay contains all the elements of the popular Toulmin model and is devoid of fallacies. All these elements make essay and indeed the whole argument very solid.
Manasi Deshpande essay is very persuasive, and it is quite unimaginable that anyone would disagree with her suggestions. She uses all the three major forms of rhetorical appeal to present a solid argument that is bound to convince the reader. In addition, she uses credible sources that are all in one way or another related to the central issue. At the end of the essay, it is accurate to state that anyone would agree that something needs to be done immediately in regards to improving accessibility at the University of Texas for the disabled students.
Works Cited
Deshpande, Manasi. A Call to Improve Campus Accessibility for the Mobility Impaired.
