Disabled Trek...

[HRHTheKING]

We could definitely have more people with glasses on in Star Trek.

Some disabled officers in hoverchairs would be nice too.

Just, if anything, to show that medical science isn't "uber" in the future.

 

[DonIago]

Except that I don't see any reason why we wouldn't be able to cure most of those conditions given another 200-300 years of medical advances, especially when presumably some of those came from alien cultures that were even more advanced.

Also, as was pointed out previously, we're seeing the lives of Starfleet personnel who may not represent Joe Average Person. It's quite possible that there's plenty of humans out there who do have disabilities...they just can't serve in Starfleet for the same reason many handicapped individuals can't be in the current armed forces.

 

[HRHTheKING]

Well in itself is a problem I have with Trek medical technology.

If it's too advanced, where's the drama. If you get injured, you'll be fixed.

Unless you're a departing cast member or redshirt.

While I understand the argument that Starfleet isn't open to everyone, it isn't just a armed force, it's also a scientific organisation, so I don't see why some science division crewmembers or officers couldn't be in a wheel/hoverchair for example.

 

[DonIago]

Given how many times we saw people die in Trek, I don't think there's much credibility to the "if you get injured, you'll be fixed" argument. Also, breaking the fourth wall, we all know that whatever happens th major crew members almost certainly won't die in any given episode, so there's already no suspense from that angle.

Now if Joss Whedon was running the show...

Given that we had relatively little exposure to the science teams on any of the Trek series, I think an argument could be made that there may be plenty of disabled crewmen there who we were just never revealed to us.

 

[jamestyler]

Except that I don't see any reason why we wouldn't be able to cure most of those conditions given another 200-300 years of medical advances, especially when presumably some of those came from alien cultures that were even more advanced.

Cures might not be effective to the patient, such as Kirks allergy to whatever it was in Khan, or Geordie sticking with the visor despite having alternatives (I can't remember where that was from or the detail - might have been Encounter at Farpoint which was a long time ago...)

With the 'evolved sensibility' a lot of people might be more comfortable with their problems from simple things like being short sighted to losing an arm and not getting a replacement.

 

[Jadzia]

People have got to die of something. There would be plenty of new diseases which would emerge and kill us should we cure all of our 20th century ailments.

Or do you expect they all get killed by disruptor blasts and exploding consoles? I'm sure the actuarial companies would provide the figures:

Causes of death in 2390

Homicide: 40%
Exploding console: 25%
Disruptor blast: 19%
Suicide: 16%
Plasma burns: 8%
Alien Parasites: 7%
Space vacuum: 6%
Borg Assimilation: 2%
Klingon Pain Stick: 1%

Yes it seems so.

 

[captcalhoun]

a lot of genetic disabilities are probably going to be cured in utero, as "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?' revealed that genetic alteration for medical reason was permissible, so no more Downs' kids or MS sufferers or probably even cancer or leukiemia(sp)...

Kirk's allergy to his meds in TWOK may have been a rarity, or there again, maybe most other folks with it use contacts. there could be lots of short- or long-sighted people in the fleet using contacts and we'd never know...

maybe when Geordi was screened for blindness, his folks decided to ignore med advice and have a blind kid.

as for Miranda whatserface in "In Truth There's Few Titles Longer" she could've been blinded when younger and refused treatments...

 

[Marie1]

I'd almost suspect that there are physical requirements for SF, so we just don't see some of the worst off.

Neck/brain injuries could potentially still not be solvable, for instance. There are just sooo many little pieces.

 

[Hofner]

Travis Mayweather lacked the power of speech.

Along these same lines Harry Kim was "special" in that he managed to stay an ensign the whole time he was on Voyager!

That's true. I think it was implied in one episode he had a skeletal deficiency, meaning that the weight of an extra pip on his uniform could have crushed him instantly.

Or maybe remaining an Ensign made his lack of a personality less obvious. Can you imagine him being a starship captain?

"Space, the uneventful frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Monotonous. It's endless mission to explore little, seek out not much of anything.
To blandly go where no dull man has gone before."

Robert

 

[Red Ranger]

People,

Well, the most obvious answer to that question would be Geordi, as a main character in TNG. True, he had a device, the VISOR, which compensated for his blindness, but if it was detached, he was blind and helpless, as shown in several eps like Skin of Evil and The Enemy.

Also, as mentioned: the DSN ep Melora, as an allegory on paraplegics and quadraplegics; Dr. Miranda Jones from TOS ep Is There in Truth No Beauty; and Captain Pike in TOS ep The Menagerie.

However, it's also quite clear there are fewer disabled people in the future, certainly those of a genetic kind. But there are many other diseases that they still are working on. Witness the future Captain Picard in All Good Things was supposed to be suffering from the early stages of a neurological disease that sounded a bit like Alzheimer's.

Red Ranger

 

[Red Ranger]

I'd almost suspect that there are physical requirements for SF, so we just don't see some of the worst off.

Neck/brain injuries could potentially still not be solvable, for instance. There are just sooo many little pieces.

There was a TNG ep where Worf had suffered such an injury and if it weren't for an untried procedure, he would have committed ritual suicide (Riker wouldn't help him, as I recall). -- RR

 

[Astraea]

The Worf ritual suicide ep was "Ethics."

There were also Kalla-Nohra and Pottrik Syndrome (from DS9's "Duet", which appeared to have a treatment but no cure.