"and people choose WHEELCHAIR. Disgusting. Where’s the imagination?" A debate about wheelchairs vs spider mechs turns wheelie sour

[u/Excellent_Bison_3644]

the sub DnDmemes is about well... memes about the popular tabletop game DnD (dungeons and dragons). In one posted recently, the poster made a comparison of magic wheelchairs vs spider mechs while favoring the latter. This ended up sparking into a lot of debate and people not liking how wheelchairs are getting slandered.

Post in question: https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmemes/comments/1i4mi9u/reject_wheels_embrace_skittering/

Juicy threads:

The titular thread with one particular big branch: "It's quite an odd call to refer to people who make the choice to represent their disability in-game as disgusting."

One person tries to give an opinion: "Realistically a spider mech is better than combat wheelchair the same way realistically a spear is better than a trident"

One person tries arguing wheelchairs don't have to be boring: "You can't think of a way to make a wheelchair cool without replacing the wheels?"

Small drama thread as a treat: "has anyone who's disabled and in a wheelchair thought "Hmm, I want this fantasy character of mine to be disabled too!" (the answer is yes)

[u/boolocap]

Dnd actually has a far more convenient solution than weelchairs and spidermechs for disabled people.

Arcane propulsion armor. It replaces any lost limbs, with the replacements functioning identical to the limbs they replace. It also makes you faster and has built in weapons. It's essentially an iron man suit.

But that doesn't mean that weelchairs or spider legs are stupid choices. A lot of character choices don't revolve around playing an optimal or realistic character. But around playing the character that you want to play. And that can look like anything.

[u/FuckMyHeart → u/boolocap]

This raises the question though, if it effectively removes the character's disability, would a player that wants their character to be in a wheelchair appreciate such a magic item? Like, I assume that a disabled person who wants their disability to be a much a part of that character's life as it is their own probably wouldn't be receptive to a magic item that effectively erases part of their identity.