vivdunstan

I posted the quoted text below in a comment on a friend's thread, but I think it's worth reposting here. BBC Children in Need's TV show on Friday night included a 5 minute scene, featuring the Fourteenth Doctor meeting an able bodied Davros at the creation of the Daleks. Many watching like me assumed this was a pre-injury Davros version. Possibly, but in the Doctor Who Unleashed documentary later that night Russell T Davies said this is how Davros will be shown in the programme from now on: not a wheelchair user, and able bodied. This was a deliberate decision to redress problems in the series's representation before, including the evil cripple trope. However the response has been mixed, and not just among ardent Davros fans.

Here's what I said in a comment earlier today:

Re RTD and Davros the response has been quite mixed on the Gallifrey Base Doctor Who forum. Including from wheelchair users like myself. Yes some have experienced or witnessed bullying inspired by Davros and are concerned by the evil cripple trope. But others found RTD's words in the Doctor Who Unleashed documentary patronising and virtue signalling. One father also wrote about his daughter (11 or 12 years old I think) who is a wheelchair user, and was extremely upset by what RTD said and this change. She had always found Davros a strong character to look up to. And I think it's fair to say that one of the worst offenders in this area in the past has been RTD himself. Which makes his about turn understandable. But doesn't stop it being viewed by some wheelchair users as patronising and unwelcome. So it's complicated.

People have also been giving feedback on RTD's Instagram post, including more parents of now very upset disabled children. And to be honest his responses have often been really rude. My views on this whole issue are definitely "complicated". But it's fair to say that RTD's words and his reactions on Instagram have not exactly endeared him to me this weekend.