Yes, but when every setting does it, it's not a single instance, is it? It's a societal thing. It's a disabled person's constant experience, day after day, every time they look at any type of media. It's Palpatine and Vader and Voldemort and Dr Doom and the Joker and Captain Hook and Dr Evil and every James Bond villain and... well everything. The point is that in media disability is often used as a code for evil. The fact that it only happens once in each setting is irrelevant (and also untrue)--it should just stop happening.
Again, I have a disability. Media tropes aren't my problem in life. My problem in life is being able to put food on the table because I can't work as much and I can't work outside my house, dealing with people who don't understand the limitations my disability puts on me and other similar frustrations. Disabled characters being portrayed as interesting villains (even villains with family curses) is not on my list of concerns. Those aren't what cause people to be cruel, uncaring or dismissive of the disabled. That comes from a basic lack of empathy, ignorance about the conditions in question, etc.
Disabled characters aren't often villains because they want to code disabilities as evil. It is because disabilities make a character more distinct, and they can give a bad guy a little more pathos sometimes. Should every disabled character be evil? No. Of course not. But we shouldn't get rid of wonderful character types like Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame.
People should definitely write about disabled heroes. And also about combat wheelchairs, etc (to state a high profile example in the last couple of years). But they don't because they get attacked and brigaded for doing so.
My first thought here is yes people should absolutely write about disabled heroes. One of my favorite wuxia films is about a one armed swordsman (and it is called the One Armed Swordsman). There is a venoms movie called the Crippled Avengers, where every character in the film becomes disabled (the villain, the heroes, everyone).There is also a really cool character in The Four who is in a wheel chair (and at certain points she gets a kind of walking body armor she uses from time to time as well). All these movies are set in the ancient past and I think those characters work great. Like I said they should be able to be heroic, but they should also be able to be bad guys. And the disabilities should be explored in different ways because having a disability is a complex thing (some movies might emphasize ones ability to overcome the limitations of a disability, another might be more about coming to terms with a limitation, etc).
On the combat wheel chair specifically. No one should get brigaded for supporting a combat wheel chair. However I think if people want to criticize it because they think it is anachronistic or doesn't fit D&D that is fair too. People have kind of lost their minds on these things and tend to see it through highly divided lenses (when the reality is most people make D&D characters that aren't like them: I don't usually make PCs who have my kind of health issue. But will sometimes explore the feelings I have around my condition through setting design and NPCs. Bottom line is, I have no problem with someone wanting the combat wheel chair. I have no problem with someone thinking it is silly. I think what matters is more in the behaviors around that discussion (i.e. are people brigading, bullying, are they rediculing disabled people, are people putting words in each others mouths, etc)
So, I guess the question is: what, specifically, is your objection to avoiding the trope of 'disabled=evil'? You honestly think that is something should perpetuate?
You are putting words in my mouth here. I am talking about a trope where a character's external characteristics can reflect internal nature. That isn't saying "disabeld=evil" that is allowing for a type of character where they are cursed for example or where their soul is expressed physically. Again we should have characters like the One Armed Swordsman, but we should also have characters like The Phantom of the Opera (and here it isn't that his disfigurement is a product of his evil, but his evil is certainly rooted in part in the life he led as a disfigured person being rejects by even his own mother). We can have the more heroic characters without throwing away classic character types as well. I don;t think going through and purifying the tropes is going to make the world better. If anything I think it is going to make it worse. It is about what is interesting and compelling. A gothic story with a cursed family that is disfigured is interesting and creates a very cool mood. Again if there is a horrible message the writer is trying to convey, that is another story. But I have a disability. It is extremely unpleasant. I can see how it could work as a curse.
