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Doctor Who and disability

After Simon Pegg played an evil albino in The Long Game (season 1 of New Who), I started noticing more that Doctor Who uses ‘othering’ stereotypes for villains.

The only person in a wheelchair in ‘Rise of the Cybermen’ and the ‘Age of Steel’ two-part story in season 2 of New Who is the villain.

I give DW credit for including Mickey’s ‘blind’ gran although she’s done badly as a blind person – dark glasses inside, groping about trying to hit Mickey with her WALKING STICK (no mobility cane) etcetera – and she’s violent, hitting Mickey.

The cybermen story made me start thinking of all the times Doctor Who has used disability to create villains; I can think of a few people in wheelchairs used as villains in Classic Who.

Has there EVER been a character in Doctor Who in a wheelchair who was NOT a villain?

How many characters with disabilities feature in Doctor Who and where can I find them?

Please let me know.

Nalini
Nalinihttps://www.darkmatterzine.com
Nalini is an award-winning writer and artist as well as managing editor of Dark Matter Zine.

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