LaForge is one of the primary characters aboard the USS Enterprise D. He is also blind, but wears a VISOR (which stands for Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement) in order to see. The devive works by transmitting electromagnetic signals though neural implants in the VISOR, straight into his brain, allowing him to see, albeit slightly differently than most sighted humans. He is able to see the full spectrum of light, which includes ultraviolet and even infrared. These skills make him an important member of Starfleet, as he is able to use his “disability” as a way to come up with and create solutions most officers couldn’t.
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While his skills are appreciated aboard the ship, and his blindness never an issue among crewmembers, this is not always the case when dealing with those he comes across. In the episode “The Enemy’’ audiences are presented with the first real example of nasty prejudice towards LaForge, simply due to his lack of sight. In the episode, LaForge is stranded on a planet with harsh electromagnetic storms. While exploring the planet, he is attacked by an injured Romulan called Bochra, who tries and fails to take LaForge prisoner. His injuries are too severe however, and the two realize they must help one another in order to survive. While talking, Bochra is shocked to learn of LaForge’s blindness, and then horrified once he finds out he was born that way. He aggressively asks how LaForge’s parents could possibly have let him live, unable to understand why they allowed such a “weakness” to live, wasting time and resources on “defective children.”
As the episode continues, the electromagnetic storms get worse, starting to affect the two of them, slowly but surely doing damage to their brains. The storms start affecting Bochra before LaForge, rendering his legs more and more painful, until they are completely unusable. It affects LaForge shortly after, messing with the transmissions from his VISOR and rendering him blind. However, he comes up with a plan, and uses the VISOR and his tricorder to act as a compass, leading them towards a gap where they can be transported off the planet. With the Romulan unable to walk and LaForge unable to navigate, and they come up with a mutually beneficial agreement: Bochra will be their eyes, and LaForge their legs, carrying his captor to safety. What is most notable about this episode is that LaForge is the key to their survival. His mere existence and his accessibility device save the day, despite Bochra’s deeming him unworthy of life.
This discrimination happens multiple times in the series, but most notability in the episode “The Masterpiece Society,” which explores a hidden society of humans whose entire race is heavily genetically engineered. Their leader, Martin Benbeck, explains this to the crew. He specifically singles out LaForge as exactly what their culture has “evolved beyond,’’ bragging no one in their society would be born blind, as a “mistake” would never happen when specifically engineering genetics. As the episodes progresses, LaForge’s blindness receives more and more attention from the inhabitants of the planet, with one engineer named Bates apologetically asking about it. LaForge talks openly about how he’s never been embarrassed by it, and asks her whether he would have been allowed to live if born in their society. She answers him honestly: no. The woman goes on to explain that their leaders would not want anyone to “suffer” through a life with a disability. LaForge angrily retorts, questioning why they had the right to decide if he should live or die, or whether a life with blindness held meaning or not.
While some may find it easy to deem disability as something that should be eradicated for the “good” of a society, it also highlights the problem with eugenics. At the end of the day, someone has to make a decision as to what their “perfect” society looks like. If that means no one is born with a disability, where does it stop? Should sexuality be controlled too, or even the color of skin? LaForge is not defective or broken, and the show goes out of its way to illustrate this fact. Instead of making him suffer, LaForge’s blindness acts more as a superpower, allowing him to do things that many others are unable to. What’s more, he only ever shows kindness (if not just a little sass) to those who are derogatory towards him. He confronts their ignorance unabashedly, refusing to be ashamed of his existence — an aspirational quality for viewers to see in a disabled character.
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