Disability, defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a physical, mental, cognitive, or developmental condition that impairs, interferes with, or limits a person’s ability to engage in certain tasks or actions or participate in typical daily activities and interactions”, is a state of a person without a concrete definition (Merriam Webster). This definition is one of many in history, an ever-changing meaning attempting to define this condition with one sentence. The principal definition of disability can be best defined by using another word, normal. As defined by Lennard Davis in Lennard Davis, Introduction: Disability, Normality, and Power, he states being normal is “constituting, conforming to, not deviating or different from, the common type of standard, regular, usual” (Davis 1). Having a disability is seen as the opposite of being normal, deviating from the usual type. However, the problem with disability was not created on its own, but purely made from the concept of normalcy. Davis’s novel revolves around how “normalcy is constructed to create the ‘problem’ of the disabled person” (Davis 1). This ideal is seen to be evident in the crevices of society, within communities, in movies, and filling the pages of novels. Wonder by R.J. Palacio demonstrates a life of a boy who’s known nothing but being seen as abnormal. By examining the perspective of Lennard Davis of how disability is a construct created through the idea of normality and applying it to the story of an unordinary ten-year old with facial deformities, who attempts to rise against the social standards held against him, the message of these pieces of literature become not only significant today’s age but how these notions can change. 

The idea of being disabled may seem one of old, but in reality it is a remarkably new subject. Lennard Davis is adamant in having his audience understand how disability was only created as a product of the idea of normalcy. Without there being a standard created with the features, personalities, and tendencies of the “average” person, an “extreme” portion of that standard wouldn’t exist, thus the idea of disabilities would cease to subsist. Davis sees that the concept of normality “implies that the majority of the population must or should somehow be part of the norm” (Davis 3). He provides a visual example, using a bell curve to show that those that are the majority in the population would be under the arch of the curve and those who are abnormally different would fall as outliers in the curve. With this visual depicting the majority of the population as normal, people with disabilities are automatically seen as deviants in society. Davis continues to write of more ideas where humans have been standardized, especially observing the writing of Charles Darwin whose ideas “serve to place disabled people along the wayside as evolutionary defectives to be surpassed by natural selection” (Davis 3). Natural selection aimed to eliminate those who were considered defectives, disabled individuals. Davis mentions how another science forefather, Sir Francis Galton, created the modern system of fingerprinting, making a method of identification for people. This was seen as a method of identifying people, as a “serial number written on the body” (Davis 4). Furthermore, Davis is able to connect this approach to how the body is then given an identity based on its physical qualities. These fingerprints show that the signs of physical marks “become synonymous with the identity of the person” (Davis 4). This extends his point that disabilities are unwillingly made the identity of those affected by these conditions. The messages Davis tries to establish are seen to be rooted deep in science; he recognizes how strong the distorted view of disabled people is in society. 

Davis recognizes that the creation of the disabilities from the idea of normalcy has been planted in many aspects of society, with one example being a novel written far closer to the present, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. The story follows the life of a 10 year old boy named August Pullman, who was born with Treacher Collins syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes deformities on the entire face. His entire life has been far from normal, especially when he physically has different qualities that the average human in society. August has been called “Rat boy. Freak. Monster. Freddy Krueger. E.T. Gross-out. Lizard face. Mutant” so much in his life that it’s become something he’s numb to (Palacio 79). Society was quick to label him as far from the standard of normal, even though he was just a fragile child. The prejudiced standard that Davis recognizes shows its effects in this narrative, how deeply this alienation can affect a child, with August cryingly asking his mother “Why do I have to be so ugly[?]” (Palacio 60). Davis pushes the concept that without the idea of normalcy, disability would be nonexistent and it is clearly shown in the section of August’s story when he dresses up for Halloween at school. Previously when he would walk the halls of his school, kids would be repelled from him, making sounds of disgust and wanting to do nothing with him because they all thought he wasn’t normal. However, the day that August and the entire school wore costumes for Halloween, August was seen as completely normal because his mask covered his face. Normality was created that day in August’s school, where the majority of kids who wore costumes would be seen as normal and it can be then inferred that if anyone did not wear a costume, they would be the ones not normal, possibly even seen as “disabled”. The point painting disability as a social construct comes into fruition through this single scene, setting a stage for the perspective of those who surround August, and many others who may be in similar situations as his. Davis’s points are seen to permeate reality through the life of a truly ordinary boy who lives an extraordinary life. 

August has experienced the oppressive nature of society, as depicted through the writing of Lennard Davis, having to live most of his life constantly seen as far from normal. Even those close to him believe that he isn’t normal due to the average person’s perception of normal. They all see August as distant from the normal known in society, creating their thought of disability for August and those with similar situations as him. Although it seems that Davis does not mention the ability of those with disabilities to be able to move past the idea of normalcy in society, Davis’s points intend to show that this normalcy curve in society forces some “abnormal” individuals to rise against what normal is. At the end of the novel at his elementary school graduation, August wins the Henry Ward Beecher medal for his quiet kindness despite the circumstances. He receives high-fives from people he doesn’t even know, the inverse of the actions of those around him in the beginning of the story. August Pullman depicts that even through the hardships that are set by society, it is possible for one to overcome these and not reach the standard of ordinary, but extraordinary. 

By examining the concepts found in society that neglect the presence of those with disabilities due to the creation of normality, it is found that Lennard Davis’s ideals are seen throughout the lives of human beings. This notion is seen in a piece of literature, Wonder, that follows the life of a boy with facial deformities. But Wonder introduces a new point that can be inferred by Davis’s ideals, where he does not let those around him to impede him from achieving greatness past normality. Although society is still troubled by the effects normalcy brings to every individual, it is always possible to rise above the normal and achieve excellence.