The Acorn People

The bulk of the first chapter consists of Ron’s detailed descriptions of the many disabilities he sees in the children arriving at camp and how those disabilities make settling in incredibly difficult, for them and himself. He uses similes and metaphors and often resorts to hyperbole to help illustrate how unfamiliar he finds the disabilities at first, emphasizing the difference between himself and the campers to a degree that is, by many standards, dehumanizing. For example, he calls them “[b]eings without visible life” (2), removing their personhood and reducing them to the descriptions of their bodies, which is likely how many people in society viewed them during this time when people were fighting for disability rights. He questions how to deal with “hydrocephalic children with heads that look[] like melons about to burst” and campers “pallid in color and spirit” (2), dramatic language that emphasizes the divide between him and them, before the children themselves later break down that divide.

Through hyperbole, Ron chronicles his journey from overtly ableist to understanding the plight of children with disabilities and seeking to support them, clearly defining both his starting point and his upward trajectory from there. The language is uncomfortable, inappropriate, and offensive, and while he says none of it out loud, his attitude noticeably impacts his actions, as he is frustrated and snappish with the children by the end of the first night. In the memoir, Ron chooses not to soften his initial perspective of disability and perhaps intentionally chooses inflammatory language to be open about how he internalized values from the society-wide oppression of people with disabilities. This sharply contrasts with the extremely sympathetic, appreciative, and humanizing language he uses to describe his experience once his perspective changes.