Charles Xavier

This week, we read a short story called "Disability" by Nancy Mairs.  In this story, Mairs reveals that the media severely hurts the disabled by failing to represent disabilities as normal.  In addition, the media's portrayal also hurts the "Temporarily Abled" because it influences people to believe that disabilities can't happen to them (Mairs 15).  However, people can become disabled "without warning, at any time" (Mairs 15).  Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, fell victim to the media’s lack of portrayal when he gets paralyzed from the waist down.

Charles Xavier, along with the other X-Men, is a mutant.  Each one of them has a different special ability.  Charles has the ability of telepathy.  While on a mission with the X-Men in Cuba, he was accidentally shot in the back, paralyzing his legs.  He adjusted well at first, but over the years he becomes very depressed.  Charles was already an outcast of society because he is a mutant; now he is also an outcast of his own community because he is in a wheelchair.  He wants to be seen as "normal" so badly that he enlists the help of his friend to develop a serum that will allow him to walk again.  However, if he takes the serum, he will not be able to use his telepathy again.  In order to be considered "normal," he is willing to give up apart of himself that makes him truly special.  Nevertheless, he takes the serum anyway.  Finally he realizes that being true to himself is far better than conforming to society's standards.  Maybe if the media portrayed disabilities as something that "complicates but does not ruin human existence," the transition for Charles would have been easier (Mairs 15).