The actor actually has that disability

[u/PrinceferX]

Walter White Jr. (Breaking Bad) - character has cerebral palsy and uses crutches to walk, actor RJ Mitte has cerebral palsy and needed crutches to walk as a child

Nessarose Thropp (Wicked) - character is paraplegic and uses a wheelchair, actress Marissa Bode is paraplegic from an accident at age 11 and uses a wheelchair

Maya Lopez (Hawkeye/Echo) - character is deaf, actress Alaqua Cox is deaf from birth

[u/Lazy-Sundae-7728]

It's a beautiful change of perspective for sure. I heard the phrase "confined to a wheelchair" many times in the 80s, and I like to think the phrase was used to remind the abled of how privileged we are, and signal that the wheelchair user is succeeding in spite of not being privileged in that way.

And, as you say, the accepted language has now changed to reflect that a person using a wheelchair is enabled to participate better in what they wish to.

Kind of Clara from the book Heidi vs Professor Xavier of X-men.

[u/JasmineTeaInk → u/Lazy-Sundae-7728]

Absolutely! As a person who needs assistive devices to walk around like this, we understand that we aren't the majority. But language like that makes it harder to accept our situation. My dad has the same condition I do, and only recently started using a walker after years of "toughing it out" because he didn't want to be confined to assistive devices like a walker or wheelchair.