on the topic of christopher diaz and disability, or how his disabilities are shown on the show;
i think there are some big gaps between what we see on the show, and what we're meant to believe by the show,
i.e. seeing: mostly sitting down or leaning, not much spontaneous movement, in earlier seasons we often saw eddie carrying/lifting him, in chris's first episode on the show we see him doing pt exercises with eddie but idr if pt/ot/logo is ever actually mentioned on the show afterwards;
meant to believe: self-sufficient, using his crutches most of the time as his only mobility aid, he goes out with friends, takes ubers by himself, walks short distances without his crutches, takes stairs unassisted.
this gap is probably for a lot of reasons (not the focus on the show, would maybe take up to much time to explore/explain on screen,...) and personally i'm not too bothered by it, but i definitely notice it.
the more you know about disabilites in general, neurological conditions, or even cerebral palsy specifically, the more you'll probably notice these discrepancies, and fortunately or unfortunately i'm an occupational therapist by trade, so idk how the more general audience reads these things, but for me, christopher diaz the character has probably a very light form of cp, while gavin the actor has more visible limitations (i assume, i don't know him and i don't watch a lot of bts footage etc, and i don't do diagnosis through a screen). that is one gap.
the second gap is that cp doesn't just affect mobility, but often also affects cognition, behaviour, emotions, speech, communication, etc, which the show almost never shows/wants us to believe about the character (maybe because gavin isn't affected in these areas, again, idk). here there is more a gap between what little we see or is alluded too, and how fandom deals with it at large.
what i noticed, especially in the last season, his social life seems to be very small compared to the pre-texas arc (but definitely not the constant friend hang outs and sleep overs as portrayed by numerous fanfics), which could obviously be explained by the texas arc itself, but it was never outright said on the show, instead we see a 15yo who hangs out with his dad on halloween watching movies, and, in almost every other scene, chris playing games with his dad. that's pretty much it for his social life in season 9. and then there is the scene in the hospital after eddie's stabbing, where a 15-almost-16 year old boy does not in any way complain about his dad feeding him chocolate pudding in front of people (family and buck, who might as well be family). idk what i think about the scene. might be disability related, might not be. might just be there to show how close chris and eddie are post-texas. might be a lot of other things. might be all of it.
i don't think the show wants us to believe that chris has cognitive issues, because that's never even alluded too, but you could argue back and forth about behavioural components (impulsiveness, anger issues/outbursts, emotional dysregulation, frustration tolerance, mental rigidity, etc) -- it is really hard to say where certain behaviour is stemming from especially in a teenager, especially in a teenager raised by eddie diaz, especially in a teenager raised by eddie diaz in the 911 universe. (btw, in case you didn't know: adhd, autism, depression, anxiety,... are more likely in people with cp than the general populance). so. it's hard to say! but arguments could be make in every direction.
personally i'm trying to just view chris as chris, and not analysing him only based on what i think/know about his disabilities/possible limitations/symptoms. because chris might not really be a focus character on the show, but he definitely is a focus character in my heart, because i happen to like teenagers and family stories.
but as this post by @livesbetweenpages (i love your post btw) says, and which i think about often, wrt how chris is often written in fanfics, even disregarding the fics where he's only there as a buddie warrior:
"Being disabled isnβt a failing. It isnβt something other people need to pretend doesnβt exist or to the severity that it does. But it also shouldnβt be something other people forget exists. Because a disability makes you who you are, just like not having one does. It doesnβt make all of you, but it does change how you interact and move, sometimes literally, with your world."
idk if i have anything to say here, i'm just having a lot of chris feels as per usual
(sorry if this is incoherent nonsense btw, i'm blaming the fact that i don't actually speak english, it's very hot out, and that my brain is fried)
