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Fictional Worlds, Real Ableism

Something I noticed recently is most fictional worlds in TV and movies exclude wheelchair users.

There are obviously MANY examples, but I can only think of a few ones I’ve seen - most within the year.


In order of what I’ve watched:


1.) “Girl Meets World”: I watched it when it was on the air, but I recently saw a clip of them in high school on Tiktok. This helped me realize how inaccessible their high school - and world - was.


What’s up with all the stairs?

Someone sitting on stairs and 5 people standing at the base of the stairs and leaning against the wall. The stairs are circled in hot pink

2 people standing, facing each other, and holding hands. 3 stairs on the right side of the screen are circled in hot pink. A "Getty images" logo stating Ron Tom took the photo is on the photo

A high school hallway. 2 people standing and talking. The start of stairs at the base of their feet is boxed in. In the background is a few stairs and people going down them. The stairs are circled in hot pink. A "Getty images" logo stating Mitch Haaseth took the photo is on the photo.

If you’re ableist and don’t want to include wheelchair users, just say that. But I guess making extra work and making sets bigger by adding stairs is worth it so you can have an excuse as to why wheelchair users “can’t” be there.

This show (and so many others) is set in the real, present day world, but you wouldn’t want wheelchair users to ruin your aesthetic. To stick out like a sore thumb. To remind people too much of the real world. Do I have that right?



2.) “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” (from the 90s)


They actually had wheelchair user representation in one episode (season 4 episode 10 - “Ice Station Sabrina”).

A wheelchair user in the coffeehouse is circled in hot pink

This scene is in Hilda’s Coffeehouse. To get into the coffeehouse, though, you have to walk down steps from the sidewalk to the door.

The stairs outside the coffeehouse are boxed in drawn hot pink lines

This is not accessible. There is no way a wheelchair user, especially a non-ambulatory wheelchair user, could get into that coffeehouse independently. Wheelchair users are our own people. Being a wheelchair user does not automatically equal being fully dependent on an able-bodied or nondisabled person. Wheelchair users can travel alone or with other wheelchair users.


Also, as with “Girl Meets World”, “Sabrina” was set in the (then) present day. So where are the wheelchair users and the access? (And no, one wheelchair user in 7 seasons is not adequate representation. We are human beings, we are everywhere. We deserve to be shown that way.)



3.) The movie “Moxie” - (I will be posting an independent article about the ableism in this movie at a later time)


There’s a bunch of ableism in this movie.

First of all, again, it’s set in present day in our world. And yet, there’s very minimal wheelchair user representation and there’s a lot of exclusion. (More to come in a later post)


There’s also a bunch of stairs in this movie.

The front of a high school. A staircase goes from the ground outside to the doors entering the school. Many people are standing at the top of the stairs. There are also people standing on the ground more in the foreground away from the stairs.

Stairs going from one floor of the school to another. Someone is walking up them. There is a big white railing next to the stairs

This upsets me because the stairs would make it incredibly difficult, if not completely impossible, for wheelchair users to get in and around their high school.


The stairs at the front of the school (to get from outside to inside the building) is not okay. It really sends the message that wheelchair users are an afterthought. That we aren’t welcome.

The stairs inside the building basically sends the same message. It also can prevent wheelchair users from getting to class. It sends the message that our education is less important than nondisabled people’s.


There’s also a certain scene in this movie that upsets me.

In said scene two characters go shopping at (what I think is) a thrift store.

2 characters are walking into a thrift store. Another able-bodied customer walking is in the background - this customer is carrying a bag. Standing mannequins wearing different outfits are also in the background

It upsets me because there are no wheelchair users. There is another able-bodied customer, so why no wheelchair users? We wear clothes, we shop. Why not show that?


This movie does have a character who is a wheelchair user, but that is something I’ll get into in my article solely about “Moxie”.



4.) “How I Met Your Father” - (I will also be doing an entire independent article on this show at a later date)


This is one of the present day shows that give me hope and extreme disappointment at the same time.


Something I noticed in a recent episode (season 2 episode 17 - “Out of Sync”) is a symbol on a door of a public building letting the public know they’re accessible.


A sticker (blue background with a white stick figure in a wheelchair) on a clear door window

Meaning this place is accessible to wheelchair users.

But there are yet to be any wheelchair users in the show.

If you’re going to show a part of your show is accessible to wheelchair users, why exclude actual human beings that use wheelchairs?

It gives me the vibes of them wanting the recognition of being accessible without having to actually deal with actual human beings.


This is only a few fictional shows and movies that don’t include wheelchair users and/or literally make it impossible for us to be there. (There is obviously more, but I’ve seen this most recently, so they’re at the top of my brain.)

This exclusion is not okay and it needs to change.

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