[NFBOH-Cleveland] Two Good Reads!

[smturner.234 at gmail.com]

'Wicked: For Good' Script Changes Improve Disability Representation, but
Issues Remain


Variety

December 20, 2025 

Since its release back on Nov. 21, I've had several social media followers
and friends ask me: "What did you think of 'Wicked: For Good
<https://variety.com/t/wicked-for-good/> ?'" There's a hidden undercurrent
to this question. They aren't asking me just because I'm an entertainment
journalist and critic; I'm also a disabled person who routinely writes about
representation on-screen. So the question they're really asking is: "What
did you think of how they handled Nessarose in the movie?"

Nessarose, the half-sister to heroine Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), has been a
character I've had trepidation over since the movie was greenlit. The first
movie in 2024 was a pleasant surprise. I knew they'd have to cast an actual
wheelchair-using actor or risk the ire of social media, and Marissa Bode
<https://variety.com/t/marissa-bode/>  has been a highlight of both the
first film and its sequel.

Disabled women of color are still a rarity on-screen. Per this year's
Annenberg Inclusion Study, 61% of the disabled characters seen on-screen
last year were men and 70.8% were white, so to see someone like Bode given a
character who, historically, has never been played by a disabled woman on
stage until March of 2025, is amazing.

The first movie gave director Jon M. Chu <https://variety.com/t/jon-m-chu/>
and screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox an opportunity to combat some
of the ableism from the stage play. In the film version of "Wicked," Elphaba
pokes fun at those who consider Nessa "beautifully tragic" and "tragically
beautiful," lines that are presented without irony in the original stage
version. There's also more inclusion presented in Oz. Little people aren't
specifically relegated to Munchkinland (though no little people seem to live
there at all), and if you keep your eyes open, you'll see ramps discretely
integrated into the set design. I knew the first movie wasn't going to be
problematic because Nessa's journey at Shiz University is woven through the
earlier part of the film, and she is accepted like any other student.

The reason an abled actress plays Nessa on Broadway is because Elphaba,
hoping to reconcile with her sister, grants Nessa's wish to be cured by
bewitching her silver shoes and giving her the ability to walk. The magic
cure, another common disabled stereotype, presents the idea that every
disabled person wants to be fixed. So the question arose, how would "Wicked:
For Good" combat the magic cure Nessa asks for in Act Two? Bode said earlier
in the year that the plotline would be changed to be "less harmful to
disabled people" and, honestly, what ends up happening is about what I
expected. It is less harmful, but it's not setting the world of disability
discourse on fire.

She doesn't ask Elphaba to fix her but is irritated that Elphaba has never
used her magic to benefit Nessa. Instead of giving Nessa the ability to
walk, the shoes are enchanted to give her the ability to float. The slight
change gives this a different vibe than the magical cure. Nessa, now the
governor of Munchkinland, is still mired in a mix of mourning the loss of
her father and condemnation of her sister, but it's clear there's an
undisclosed change in her mentality. She doesn't want to be fixed but
instead wants to recreate the nostalgic feelings of her youth, and the
feeling of love she once believed was present between her and her unrequited
love, Boq (Ethan Slater).

The Boq/Nessa storyline remains fairly similar on screen to the stage
version, and it's still problematic. Boq wishes to go off and see the world,
only for Nessa to change the laws so Munchkins can't leave, especially Boq.
On the one hand, disabled people are still people at the end of the day,
with all manner of flaws and the ability to hurt people they care about. The
problem is that Nessa's plotline still boils down to her villainy stemming
predominantly from being rejected by an abled man. Interabled relationships
on-screen are still a rarity for women; disabled men participate in them
frequently. Boq doesn't necessarily reject Nessa because she's disabled, but
because he's still hung up on Glinda (Ariana Grande). There's little in the
way of depth to Boq and Nessa's relationship.

Both characters have apparently been pining for people who haven't appeared
to have shown them any consideration since the first movie. Nessa's 180 into
witchery and fascism feels as abrupt as Boq seeing Glinda on a magazine
cover and believing he can suddenly change her mind about getting married.
So while Nessa isn't rejected because of her disability, her journey still
feels like a stereotypical disabled-woman arc. We never see her lead and
only act as a villain.

Her ending is also expected because of the play. Madame Morrible (Michelle
Yeoh) uses Nessa as a pawn to draw Elphaba out, conjures up a tornado, and a
house ends up dropped on Nessa. Nessa's only given one major segment in the
entire movie, and while it's all necessary to the part, there doesn't appear
to be any good in Nessa's life this go-round. We don't see her do anything
positive as a leader. She doesn't get the guy. And she's angry at her sister
for her magical abilities.

She flirts heavily with falling into the trope of the "bitter cripple,"
wherein the character is written to have little in their life other than
anger and sadness. This could have been negated had the movie not been split
in two, as Nessa gets a lot of happy scenes in that first movie. And while
it's clear that her bitterness is more of a recent phenomenon, there's
nothing to counter it. The audience doesn't even really get a chance to
mourn her passing. They just see the famous shot of her striped socks under
the house before Elphaba and Glinda start fighting. To watch this movie,
Nessa died as she lived: alone.

None of these are specifically issues exclusive to the movie. They're all
issues inherent in the original 2003 movie musical. So, for me, because I
knew they weren't giving Nessa an entirely new plot, my expectations were
not hopeful of a radical change. The movie is fine. Removing the ableist
walking plotline is great, but it's the one major change. The rest of
Nessa's plotline is still there and still troubles me. Marissa Bode's acting
gives more life to the character, but there's little more to Nessa than
existed at the beginning. It proves there's more awareness of ableist tropes
in movies. Knowing is half the battle.

  _____  


35 years after ADA, people with disabilities still find hotels
unaccommodating


NPR

December 24, 2025 

Eileen Schoch traveled to her mother's funeral in Asheville, N.C. and found
the hotel room - the one she'd called about in advance - wasn't accessible
as promised.

Schoch, who uses a wheelchair after two strokes, couldn't use the room's
toilet without assistance from her husband or daughter. The grab bars were
in the wrong place. She couldn't get into the shower because it had a door
too narrow for her wheelchair. She got sponge baths for three days.

Nor could she reach the tall bed from her wheelchair. The hotel gave her an
uncomfortable cot, instead.

"You feel that you're treated as a second-class citizen. And you don't
count," says Schoch, a retired educator from Schenectady, N.Y.. "And it's
not a nice feeling."

Schoch said she considered switching hotels, but she wanted to be close to
other family members. After all, they'd picked that hotel because she'd
chosen it first. The family brought business to the hotel, booking four
rooms for three days.

Schoch asks: "After that experience, who would want to travel?"

Despite 35 years of federal law requiring hotels to be made accessible for
guests who use wheelchairs, those travelers tell NPR that hotels still fail
to fully comply with basic and often easily achieved requirements for
accessibility.

NPR interviewed 50 wheelchair users. And more than 200 people who use
wheelchairs, scooters and other mobility devices, or their family members
and caregivers, responded to an NPR survey. They told NPR they want to
travel and use hotels - for work, to visit family and friends, for fun or
when they travel for health care - but they frequently run into problems.

"It's anticipation and it's a little bit of dread," Don Bergman of
Jacksonville, Fla. says of the moment he opens the door of a hotel room.
"You hope for the best, expect the worst and then deal with what you got."

Among the stories NPR heard:

*	Wheelchair users described showing up at a hotel to find there's no
accessible room available, even when they reserved one online or in a phone
call directly to the hotel.
*	Rooms designated as accessible often had design flaws, such as
misplaced toilets and grab bars in bathrooms, or showers with thresholds and
doors that block wheelchairs.
*	Many complained of unsafe beds too high off the floor to reach from
their wheelchairs. Some told us of falling when they tried to get in or out
of a tall bed. Some broke bones.
*	Respondents praised hotel staff who go out of their way to help but
also expressed frustration when staffers seem to lack training to understand
or fix problems with rooms that are inaccessible.

NPR found multiple reasons why wheelchair users continue to run into
accessibility problems at hotels: the hesitancy of the hotel industry to do
more, which can cost money; the often complicated ownership of hotels which
creates confusion over who's responsible for making things accessible; a
lack of consistent, forceful regulation by government agencies; and the high
turnover rate of hotel staff.

Read or listen to the full story on NPR
<https://www.wvxu.org/news-from-npr/2025-12-24/35-years-after-ada-people-wit
h-disabilities-still-find-hotels-unaccommodating> 's website.

  _____  

 

 

Suzanne M. Hartfield Turner

National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, Vice President

Ohio Legislative Director

Cleveland Chapter, President

 

The National Federation of the Blind advances the lives of its members and
all blind people in the United States. We know that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. Our collective power, determination,
and diversity achieve the aspirations of all blind people.

 

P: (216) 990-6199

W: NFBOhio.ORG

Facebook:  <https://www.facebook.com/ohiosblind/photos/>
https://www.facebook.com/ohiosblind/photos/

 

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