The novels accommodate the Horta in Starfleet. There can be Horta domincated ships
Disabled Captain?
- Thread starter JeffinOakland
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Yeah, if you're so disabled that it's a potential risk to your command of a starship, but you're still capable of holding a position, they'd just give that person a ground assignment.
Okay, what is a "severe enough" disability. Geordi technically has one. I don't like how you use the word "fixed". Remember...Sight is the prime sense among primates. Is Geordi fixed? No. He talks as if blindness is still something he's aware of at all times, and he clearly doesn't want to be "fixed".
I have few words that should be reserved for the TNZ but I'm not going there. But who decides when it would endanger the crew, and how?
Oh, okay. I just didn't see anything there about limiting the hypothetical answers to humans and disabled folks inferior to humans. After all, Trek very seldom features just those two categories of folks...
Kirk has several. He's weaker than Romulans, an arch-enemy Starfleet should be ready to confront. He's dimmer than Vulcans, a rather mysterious ally known for its Romulan connections and one Starfleet would wish to outwit. He can't survive the environment of the Tholians, another repeating adversary. Is this why he's sent to deal with Klingons, another race with severe disabilities?
Starfleet at least in the TNG era appears to have realized that disability and species are synonyms, and is compensating by having multiple species aboard. This doesn't mean there should be multiple captains aboard, though.
Timo Saloniemi
I would think that Starfleet requires their officers to be physically capable of the possible requirements of their position. Starfleet officers may have an evolved morality but they still need to know their crew mates have their back in a fight.
However in Ethics we see that Worf could have had 60-70% of his mobility restored by machines when he was paralyzed. Or there could be other adaptations for a paralyzed person. 24th century medicine is magic.
Geordi does adapt to his blindness. He has a visor.
However in Ethics we see that Worf could have had 60-70% of his mobility restored by machines when he was paralyzed. Or there could be other adaptations for a paralyzed person. 24th century medicine is magic.
Geordi does adapt to his blindness. He has a visor.
Well, if we follow the example of the US Navy, I think it depends on the disability. I believe there is a regulation allowing for Naval officers who require a prosthetic (IE Leg) to continue serving, so long as they can still perform their duties. Also, you have Geordi (albeit an alternate timeline) who was captain of the USS Challenger, a Galaxy class ship.
I think a captain can easily serve if they are using prosthetics. They don't have to be at peak physical shape, but as long as their disability does not interfere with the performance of their duties (even if there are some accommodations to be made), they should be fine. But there is a point where the disability may be to much where not only can the captain not perform his\her duties, but actually can endanger the crew. Where that line is exactly, is hard to say, but Captain Pike comes to mind. He retained the rank of captain after his accident, but he was no longer a captain of a starship, after the delta ray accident.
It must be remembered that by the 24th century, most disabilities people have today are curable by the TNG era. Worf goes from quadriplegic to normal in the span of one episode. So, if a captain has a disability that is incurable, and interferes with their job duties, it must be pretty serious. Again, Captain Pike comes to mind. Kind of hard to command a ship when you can only blink\beep your commands yes or no!
But the comedic potential is enormous....
"Beep boop is irrelevant! You will be assimilated!"
"Should we adjust to a heading of 352 mark 47?"
BEEP! BEEP!
"352 mark 48?"
BEEP! BEEP!
BEEP! BEEP!
"352 mark 48?"
BEEP! BEEP!
How would one know and decide that a crew mate has their "back in a fight"? The D had over a thousand folks aboard. Many of those probably don't stay/live aboard that long as they seem to be folks coming on or leaving time to time. They wouldn't know each other that well especially if they aren't in the same departments.
And, as you said, an arbitrary human norm. The question is about a captain who is physically weaker or unable to match the rest of his crew. A human captain in a wheelchair is "disabled" because he's weaker than a "normal" human crew. But a "normal" human captain is still physically weaker than a crew made up of Vulcans. Or Horta. Or whales. "What do you mean, your captain can't breathe water?" Would we slap the "disabled" label on him even though he doesn't count as disabled under any other circumstances? If he was otherwise able to do the job, it would sound ridiculous.
Maybe such a captain would NOT be judged as disabled. In that case why would a wheelchair captain among humans count as disabled if he was otherwise able to do the job? Because he doesn't meet the human norm? That sounds equally ridiculous.
I thought he had one of those already.
Neither can whales.
Okay, that was foolish of me. How about, "What do you mean, your captain can't breach?"
Or better yet, "What do you mean, your captain can't sing?"
Or better yet, "What do you mean, your captain can't sing?"
Actually, yes, Geordi's blindness HAS been fixed. He has normal eyes now. Had them for the last couple of TNG movies, in fact.
And while I'm sure he made efficient use of his VISOR while he had it, there was never any indication that he didn't want his actual sight back.
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I thought they were cybernetic implants. They didn't look like normal eyes and they still gave him special vision.
IIRC, Geordi originally did have cybernetic eyes (post-VISOR) but they were later replaced by biologics. In fact it may have been Insurrection when the latter happened - i.e. his natural eyes grew back on their own as a side effect of being on the Ba'ku planet.
In any case, Geordi always wanted normal human vision. There was never any time when he said he didn't. His VISOR was a competent substitute but in the end he wanted the same vision everyone else had.
In any case, Geordi always wanted normal human vision. There was never any time when he said he didn't. His VISOR was a competent substitute but in the end he wanted the same vision everyone else had.
His eyes regrew on Ba'ku in Insurrection, but that was supposed to be a temporary effect.
I can't remember what happened after that. Did Geordi still have the normal eyes in Nemesis?
I know he thought they might not last when he went out of range of the Ba'ku planet after Insurrection but I don't remember any proof to that effect.
I know he thought they might not last when he went out of range of the Ba'ku planet after Insurrection but I don't remember any proof to that effect.
I don't think you get what I'm talking about. I didn't say fixing his blindness. I said fixing Geordi himself. Two different things.
As for the TNG movies, they weren't normal eyes. His irises were all weird and mechanic looking.
I don't remember which episode but Pulaski inquired why he didn't go for one of those surgeries they apparently have in the 2360s Starfleet. Pulaski clearly thought it'd be something...better than having a visor, but Geordi didn't want to.
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