Levar Burton lets us know what it was really like under Geordi's visor

[Mangochin]

@smulder

Rob Lowe is a great example of an actor who is loveable in character but kind of a POS in real life

In contrast, LeVar Burton is a real mensch. I knew people who worked on Reading Rainbow in the early 90’s. Burton was always nice and patient with even the lowliest production assistants. Very professional.

Here he is responding to fans
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/26sn1c/im_levar_burton_but_you_dont_have_to_take_my_word/

[ghostbloke]

@Otherbrother

Still, stigma or no, I’ll bet that the Captain that preceded Kirk would have appreciated some assistive technology that was a little better than “blink once for yes, twice for no.”

I found a video essay on disabilities in Star Trek and it seems that the depiction of Pike’s only got worse in the new stuff trying to veer back from the reboot movies. The part on Pike starts after 25 minutes in, but the video begins with Geordi La Forge. Melora’s also covered, but there was so much else bad with her episode.

[tijtij]

I feel compelled to share these two images

[ChuckV]

The back story being he joined Star Fleet after the Revolution broke up?

[smulder]

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations Ƭ̵̬̊

[GutRot]

[Mister44]

Well, now I want to hear Geordi’s throw back 1980’s era R&B song about partying all night.

[Aztec_Cardiologist]

Thanks for the extra info! To be clear:

@Brainspore

It was a way to include visible representation of people with physical disabilities in the show.

This, I like.

@Brainspore

Throughout the run of ST:TNG and its movies there were hints that Geordi could have upgraded his prosthetic for a conventional looking sight aid sooner, but chose not to because he didn’t feel any need to conform to other people’s expectations. Riker, who was briefly made an honorary Q, even used his powers to restore Geordi’s sight but Geordi asked him to turn him back to the way he was.

This, I do not. At least to me, my desire to not be disabled has absolutely nothing to do with “other people’s expectations”, and I find it infuriatingly patronizing when people suggest that. (not that I’m saying that’s what you’re doing btw)

@Brainspore

By making the visor a surgical appliance that only worked for Geordi it gave his character unique abilities that turned what might have otherwise been considered a liability into something akin to a superpower. If anyone could put on a super-vision-granting VISOR whenever they wanted then he wouldn’t be as valuable a crew member.

So actually, he’s not disabled at all. That’s not how it works IRL.

Now I don’t mind the trope of giving a disabled person a superpower to compensate. I really like Toph, from Avatar: the Last Airbender. What I like about her character is that she developed a separate ability on her own to compensate for her blindness, and in some ways it actually enhances her perception. Notably though, there’s no reason others wouldn’t be able to develop similar abilities (and indeed do so) other than that Toph has to rely on her earthbending more. Also, it doesn’t compensate fully: she still can’t read, see flying things, or really knows what people look like. And she makes jokes about that that make others uncomfortable.

[zzzz]

A bit late, but to save the link to the main article -

LeVar Burton Couldn’t See While Wearing His “Star Trek” VISOR | Literally! with Rob Lowe

[smulder]

IIRC there was only one episode where it got really silly, where Picard sent LaForge down to an observation deck and they implied his little VISOR was more sensitive than the entire sensorium of the whole starship

I guess the writers realized that was a mistake because I don’t think they ever did it again

[ddmone]