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As a recently declared Anthropology major and Education minor, I found this article to be the most relevant to my academic and personal interests. Culture is a set of rules or guidelines for behavior, but this article reveals that it can dibilitate people with "disabilities" who don't necessarily see themselves as having a disability. The Martha's Vineyard example stood out to me because McDermott/Varenne mention that with the high rate of inherited deafness in the community, sign language had been adapted into their culture. Years later, when people were asked to reflect on their experience living in a community with such a large deaf community, they couldn't recall who was actually deaf and who wasn't. The deaf community lived, work, and engaged in their communities in the same ways as the non-deaf. The people who lived in Martha's Vineyard did not view deafness as a disability because their culture had developed to accomodate to the demographics of their community, however, as mentioned in the article, tourists and reporters were so puzzled, they felt as though something had to be done to "fix" their "problems".

By emphasizing the importance of certain abilities (physical, intellectual etc.) we are also emphasizing the lack of it which culturally segregates those who society defines as disabled. McDermott/Varenne mention the prevalence of seemingly simple social structures like stairs and the implications it has on those who are physically unable to climb them. 

Overall, I found the reading rich with deep insight into the threads of our culture.