4. Treat His Blindness With Honesty And Respect
I've gone a bit soap box with this article. Please bear with me as I revisit a previous argument: I want more diversity in our mainstream entertainment... and that includes having people with disabilities as regular characters in our TV shows. Characters with a disability who are not entirely defined by their disability, might I add. Look, there are a lot of us out there with medical problems or disabilities. I fall into the "medical problems" category - with a lot more good days than bad. Still, there's a weight that comes from managing a chronic illness or disability every day. It shouldn't bother me, but it annoys the hell out of me every time a diabetic character is written into a story just so they can go into some inaccurate diabetic shock when the plot needs to raise the stakes. I want someone who goes out to fight bad guys, takes a break, checks his blood sugar, eats a sensible meal, and then goes out to fight more bad guys. Anyway, Daredevil is blind. And I want his blindness taken seriously. It's not just his Kryptonite for Kingpin to use to render him powerless. Matt Murdock still lives a normal life by day, and his day includes extra challenges that, again, do not entirely define him. I want audiences to understand those challenges. After all, it's one more reason to root for the guy.