So let's get real and honest about why there aren't more disabled characters in popular culture - I'll be using comics as a specific, but all mediums have the same main problem:

Poverty. FAR more disabled people live at or below poverty than able-bodied by %.

So, you ask?

So to break into comics, you almost HAVE to self-publish to start. Especially as a writer. No one takes scripts, they want to see finished comics. I broke into comics by being my own artist because I couldn't afford to pay one. Most disabled people can't, either. I can draw.

Most disabled people can't draw. I'm lucky to be able to do both. That means that right out of the gate there's a gate keeper blocking the way. No finished comic? No way in. I got in, but if I want to keep doing comics I have to keep doing it all myself, or pay an artist.

But again, MOST disabled creators don't even HAVE that option. They're sitting outside the gate. They can't get in. You aren't going to get more representation until that changes. Publishers need to do better at finding new and unique voices. We're out here.

I have a decision to make. I can't afford to pay my artist for every page of every issue out of pocket and wait 6-9 months to maybe make it back at a creator-owned label. I could Kickstart the book, but then I'm self-publishing and lose out on connections.

So do I KS/self-publish, make a little money and get the book made but not really seen or carried in any major way, or do I try to get a publisher knowing most creator-owned won't pay a page rate/advance?

Anyway, this is why your entertainment is so vanilla and homogeneous.