At The Establishment, Mariah Ramsawakh discusses the damaging, unrealistic “miraculous cure” trope often found when the media portrays characters with disabilities:
People with disabilities are tired of being lumped together as less than able-bodied folk, and being told they’ll only be the “real” versions of themselves when they’ve been cured. When I asked my three disabled participants what they wanted out of the media instead, I heard the same thing from all of them: they wanted real, full characters who have good days and bad days. They wanted characters who loved their disability, who wouldn’t give it up if they even had the option.
