Harry Potter: Are there disabled wizards in the world?
LONDON, ENGLAND – (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images for LTA)
Being in a wheelchair and having a host of disabilities, I often wonder what, or if, there are disabled wizards.
It seems like there’s a potion for anything in the wizarding world, even including bone regrowth! So are there even disabled wizards in the magical world?
So what if a child was born like me, who can’t walk? Are there magical wheelchairs that can go up steps and need a special apparating license? Do wizards who can’t see have their textbooks read to them by their wands? Or wizards who can’t hear have what the teacher is saying written in front of them?
Surely not everything is perfect in the Wizarding World. Throughout reading the books, I couldn’t help but wonder: What if I was Harry Potter’s friend? Would I just slow him down because my lack of ability to move down flights of stairs?
Disability recognition is slowly becoming a larger part of media, and with that, I have to question how Wizards with disabilities are treated! What if there’s an entire extra part of Hogwarts just for people with wheelchairs? There could be movable ramps to get up to the common rooms, spells that the children have to learn to get the steps to turn into ramps?
While this may seem like an odd thing to think about, as a child I thought about it a lot. Hogwarts is set up in a castle, an old time castle when wheelchairs weren’t made. If I was a Wizard, how would I make it at Hogwarts at all?
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And above all, how would I be able to join Harry and his friends in all the adventures if there isn’t any real way for disabled wizards and witches to join in? It’s a sad thing to thing to think about, but something I do think about often.