[oliverhunt]

I believe that much of the incorrect representation of impaired individuals in the way you are talking about relies on a description of impairments as 'not normal' or as 'less than normal' rather than actually describing how a person is restricted by their impairment or disability (disability defined as social oppression due to impairment).

'The history of the portrayal of disabled people is the history of oppressive and negative representation. This has mean that disabled people have been presented as socially flawed able bodied people, not as disabled people with their own identities'.

David Hevey, 25 March 1992