All Shades of Ableism Matter ("iZombie" 1)

Recently, I’ve been rewatching iZombie (2015 - 2019) on Netflix.

In doing this I’ve noticed a lot of ableism I didn’t pay attention to my first go around with the show.

The first episode I have a huge problem with is season 2 episode 11 entitled “Fifty Shades of Grey Matter”.

The episode is about the murder of a librarian that secretly wrote erotica.

The lead detective on the show (Clive Babineaux) believes the murderer is always the spouse, so he and the main character of the show (Liv Moore) go to interview her [the librarian’s] husband.

The first thing I noticed was the look between Liv and Clive when he comes out in a wheelchair. A look I interpret as both of them thinking there’s no way the husband did it because he’s in a wheelchair.

I don’t like this because a character being a wheelchair user does not automatically mean they could never hurt someone. Not all nondisabled people are good people, not all disabled people are good people.

Then came the research:

As far as I can tell, the actor that plays the husband character is NOT in a wheelchair.

This bothers me because they tried to include a wheelchair user but didn’t succeed. Why have a wheelchair user character but not cast a human being that actually uses a wheelchair? (Rhetorical question)

As mentioned, iZombie was on the air from 2015 to 2019. This means season 2 episode 11 aired in 2016. Around 8 years ago. That may or may not sound like a long time ago, but it was less than 10 years ago. There are shows and movies older than that that treat wheelchair users with more respect. WTF? (Rhetorical question)

No matter how long ago, casting an able-bodied or nondisabled person as a wheelchair user is not okay.