S5 Spencer Reid Appreciation
So, I have a bone to pick with this fandom. The other day I saw someone complaining about seeing Spencer with mobility aids. First of all, this is absolutely abhorrent on its own because we all know that he only had mobility aids because Matthew needed them, but that’s not even the only reason I’m angry.
As many of you know, I’m a cr*pple (that word is only for physically disabled people, please). I use a cane and occasionally a wheelchair. And let me tell you - Seeing Matthew Gray Gubler openly using a mobility aid was life changing for me as a teenager. At the time of the injury, he believed that he would be using them forever and CBS kept him in the show, and acted like nothing was different at all.
Do you guys understand how big of a deal that is? Normally when actors are injured, they are almost never shown, or only shown in situations where it’s not obvious. They could have done this with Spencer, but they didn’t. Instead, they showed him disabled and no one acted like anything was weird about it.
THEY HAD AN FBI AGENT WITH A PHYSICAL DISABILITY AND IT WASN’T A JOKE. They showed him doing normal things! Like participating in crime scene investigations! They showed him sitting on elevated spaces so he could be the same eye level as his team!
At Haley’s funeral, he walked with them since he couldn’t carry the casket!
They showed him being normal compassionate Spencer! Independent Spencer!
People still shook his hand! (I think they forgot he doesn’t do that, lmao)
They made sure he always had a chair!
Criminal Minds gave me the chance to see someone like me on screen and he wasn’t a joke, he wasn’t ignored, and he wasn’t shunned into a corner for the season. So if you see this and you think it’s annoying or (gag) ugly, then you can go ahead and escort yourself the fuck off my blog. And while you’re at it, I want you to consider why it bothered you so much to see your favorite actor with a disability.
Disabled people are constantly desexualized & dehumanized. We’re treated like we’re invisible or a burden to everyone around us. Criminal Minds didn’t let either of those things happen. If you didn’t like Matthew because of a mobility aid, then you don’t like Matthew. You view him as an object for your aesthetic viewing pleasure instead of the living, breathing person he is and that is NOT OKAY.
Anyway. That’s my rant. S5 Spencer rules and that’s that.
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