But he has lovely arms!

"AUGH! AUGH!"

You and me both, sister. *throws popcorn, and not in the good way*

If the singing was better, it might be some tiny consolation, but it's every kind of awful.

Edited at 2009-10-22 09:56 am (UTC)

But...but... Jane Lynch in a zoot suit!

I agree completely. And when Shue grabbed the chair it was so hard and violent looking, I was afraid Artie was going to fall out, or his whole chair was going to tip over. It freaked me right out. The whole episode was full of WTF moments for me. (Though admittedly shirtless Noah was incredibly distracting. And awesome.)

It drives me insane every time someone grabs his wheelchair without asking..

Well, they don't list one anywhere.

*sigh*

My favourite show that dealt with this issue was The Office. All the yanking around of the wheelchair David Brent did was wonderful, but my particular favourite was when they abandoned the wheelchair user halfway down the stairs during a fire drill.

Now I hate Glee. Which is a shame, because I haven't seen it yet. I am pre-seething.

I'm not at all surprised. My best friend and business partner is legally blind, and if flying alone she's always told by the cabin crew that if there's an emergency she should stay in her seat until a crew member collects her. She thinks this is hilarious and, as a former Olympic squad sprinter, is likely to be first down the chute.

Not to take away from them always having people grab and move him like an object. But at least in the musical numbers when it happens, it seems to only happen when he's playing the guitar when his hands are occupied so he can't move himself as part of the choreagraphy...

I was thinking about the whole wheelchair pushing thing during the last episode, actively looking for it, and I think it has partly to do with the fast pace of some scenes. Something like, well, he can't get himself out of the way fast enough, so we'll push him.

Which is an admittedly weak excuse.

Here's what I can't figure out - WHY CAN'T HE HAVE AN ELECTRIC WHEELCHAIR? People who have full range of upper body movement get electric wheelchairs! It happens! Especially if you're underage and you probably get some kind of government subsidy.

He'd be moving faster than everyone else! Problem solved!

Also, my fiance says they should let him sing more often. But I'm thinking they best address poor Tina's lack of solos or even dialogue before they get to Artie. Yeesh.

(I still love this accursed show, BTW. Can't help it!)

I am still holding out hope for an Artie-centered episode in which some of these issues are addressed, but I know full well that is naive and overly optimistic and that it's never going to happen. Oh, well, maybe we will get a B-plot somewhere about Artie and maybe he'll get to do a solo number, but I'll be extremely surprised if the show ever wises up to how obnoxious it is to treat him like he's this helpless nerd-kid who can't push his own wheelchair, let alone dance in it.

I'd like to see Artie run over Mr. Schu's toes. Repeatedly.

I would SWOON for a romantic Artie B-plot. And yes, that one line would go a long way.

Now that I think about it, I realize that in a couple of places in Knife I have a wheelchair-using character being pushed around without explicitly mentioning that he's given consent, but I hope it comes across that he's not the kind of guy who would meekly endure having other people push his chair if he didn't want them to. Certainly he shows himself to be physically active and capable in many other scenes... Still, now that I realize I didn't make it absolutely clear that it's not cool to just push someone because they're using a wheelchair, it's kind of bothering me.

There's a sequel already in production for 2010, and two more books on proposal, so I suppose it's never too late...

I blame Madeline L'Engle and her character of Matthew Maddox in A Swiftly Tilting Planet for making me determined to write a wheelchair-using hero who could be the romantic lead and do action-type stuff. I loved Matthew, but I hated the way his part of the story and his relationship with Zillah turned out, and it just sort of boiled in me all through my teen years and into my twenties until... voila.

This show. EVERY TIME IT STARTS DRIVING ME NUTS they do something like Puck shirtless and the total lack of fake pregnancy storylines and I'M SUCKED BACK IN AGAIN.