Image of a normal body from Adult Swim cartoon, Rick and Morty.
“Anything with less than 8 limbs is considered disabled here”
-Rick Sanchez
(Rick and Morty).
This quote highlights that being called ‘Disabled’ might be a surprisingly malleable concept.
Prior to watching this cartoon episode, I would not have thought of people with two functional arms and two functional legs to be considered visibly handicapped in any context. However, If it was a frequent recurrence for entities to have at least eight limbs, then I can understand how two-armed, two-legged entities could be disadvantaged.
If more of humanity understood the malleability of the term disabled, would humans be more empathetic towards bodies that don’t fit the current social standards? Could we stop shaming bodies for not fitting specific requirements?
Disabled bodies are often devalued or left unrecognized or misunderstood. These bodies are often shamed and stigmatized for not being at a “normal” level of functionality. But their are plenty of disabled bodies who can and do contribute a lot to society.
Disability is not a black-white (able-disable) separation; there is lots of gray area. For example, there are levels of blindness, levels of deafness, levels of social inadequacy. Being gay was considered a mental illness, until fairly recently. I think Disability is a term that attempts to categorizing people who aren’t fitting in correctly with the society’s expectations. If all of society was blind, take moths for example, then blindness wouldn’t be a disability, it would just be how society experiences the world.
In conclusion, disabled bodies deserve respect and recognition.
Unruly Bodies 
I remember this episode! I never really put much thought into that scene because the show typically moves at a quick pace. Sometimes even intentionally not giving you time for reflection or to process your feelings. I’m really glad you were able to pick this snippet out. It really does make me wonder what the term “disabled” actually means.
I really agree with your post, I think that disability is a social construction. I remember learning in a past class a theory about how disability is the inability of a society to provide for members of its population, and that really stuck with me. I think if more people were aware of how broad a category disability is, and how fluid it is, maybe there would more productive and less stigmatized approaches to helping people who are placed in this category.
The legal definition of disabled is “an objective measurable condition of impairment causing the inability to perform some function”. On the transdimentional asteroid that the Jerry Daycare is on, there is some basic and expected functionality for which eight or more limbs is required. Whatever that function is was left to the imagination.