Finding Oz

We recently watched a Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode in which the main character was "disabled." Technically, all disability and disease has been eradicated at this point in the future. This woman is native to a planet with very low gravity which makes it very physically exhausting to get around in normal gravity. I know how she feels, Damn Gravity! Seriously, I love the idea that a low gravity planet exists! I would love to go there. When I was a little girl I always wished I could live underwater.

So, this capable young woman finds the station's doctor smitten with her and of course he has a plan to fix her. Collective groan from my disabled readers. Although not as overdone or ridiculous the sitcom stand by of meeting a girl you like and then finding out she's (gasp!) disabled and having angst about perusing her, this plot's been done. My favorite example of this plot is actually a subplot in The Poisonwood Bible. A book that when presented to me as a gift bore the inscription "Can't wait to see you play Ada in the movie." Ada's is the disabled character who falls for a neurologist. Her doctor succeeds in "fixing" her and then one of my favorite audition monologues ensues. The gist is that she's not sure who she is anymore and how arrogant the able-bodied are always trying to "fix" people.

In Star Trek's version the doctor falls for her before he tries to fix her unlike the the asshole in the book. Other than that it's fairly similar. She undergoes the first round of treatment and experiences euphoria at her temporary change. Then she feels all the discomfort that goes hand and hand with a major change to your physicality and she starts to doubt herself. I emphasized with her struggle. She is already a strong beautiful woman who's struggles have made who she is, in her case a Star Fleet officer. In her situation though there is the added element of never being able to return to her home planet for any length of time once the changes are permanent. Another character compares her to the Little Mermaid which is funny after my underwater comparison, but completely apt. All the sacrifice and pain to be other than you are (each step is like walking on broken glass in the original fairy tale)and you can never go home.

I enjoyed the episode other than a fleeting moment or two of yelling at the screen. I understood her. I, like her have never asked to be "fixed", but there were some moving moments related to this in Oz the Great and Powerful (not spoilers). As he's performing magic tricks a wheelchair bound girl in the audience asks him to make her walk. He refuses, apologizes and flees the theater. At that early point in the film I was attempting to roll my eyes at the cliche, but his reaction to it was so human, I couldn't. Later, in Oz, he meets a little China doll whose legs have broken off. He produces super glue and that girl does walk. Again, I wanted to roll my eyes, but it was so real (feelings not circumstances) I couldn't. It is a shallow victory because she has her legs, but she's lost everyone she loved.

The china doll was a character I could relate to. Only her body was fragile, everything else about her was tough. She was braver and more resilient than most. She becomes an important part of the group, but the Star Trek character like so many disabled TV characters leaves the show after one episode. I think the it would have been fascinating if the doctor had married her. Than they would have had to navigate being military, living in space and her unique physicality. On top of which the doctor would allows be trying to fix her and it would cause all kinds of tension.

I'm not saying I would watch a show because it had a disabled character. I'm just saying we have lives and adventures too. It would be nice if television used disabled characters to further interesting plot lines and complicate character relationships rather than as token minorities for "movie of the week" style writing.