Wheelchair as a prop

     I read in an article for class that after the show in Sydney, Australia that Lady Gaga came rolling out on in a wheelchair, some hostility had been triggered and offense was made to the disabled, so a group of disability activists chucked eggs at her for pretending to use a wheelchair. Jesse Billauer, founder of "Life Rolls On", said in a scolding manor — “I invite [Gaga] to learn more about the 5.6 million Americans who live with paralysis; they, like me, unfortunately, don’t use a wheelchair for shock value”. While I do agree in general that it would be nice for more disabled people to be casted in television and entertainment, I don't think we can blame the all-famous Lady Gaga, someone who is not disabled, for using a wheelchair as a prop in one of her shows. The main reason I believe this is because she was also dressed as a mermaid...
      I feel as if the people offended by this did not take into consideration much that she was "a mermaid", and she physically couldn't walk. I actually felt pretty crummy about her being attacked by eggs, because she certainly was not trying to disrespect anyone, if anything she's just being alternative as usual. Lady Gaga is an entertainer, and a pretty liberal one too if that means anything, and she even does that song,  ‘Born This Way’ ”, a song about all the ways in which it's fine to be different (including being disabled). She has all these crazy, over the top costumes and sets for her shows and I don't see why this got any criticism by anybody. Anyway, I feel like the shock value wasn't intended for the wheelchair that she was sitting in, but the fact she was a mermaid. The mermaid could be a metaphor for feeling different, and we know how Lady Gaga feels about being different... You can't assume though that because she's in a wheelchair that she's making negative connotations about wheelchairs,  or trying to "compare" mermaids to the disabled.
     When I saw the group of Montreal play at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, front man Kevin Barnes came out on stage on a majestic white horse and pet the horse while he belted out a tune. They announced right after that they booked a horse for this show in particular and no future shows, just because they loved New York so much.  I thought it was a cool sight to see a horse on stage. I figured if they did that every show that touring with a horse would be a very unpleasant to the creature, and some wildlife activist you find at the circus would come throw tomatoes at the band. But you couldn't reasonably say, "Kevin Barnes favors animal cruelty because he was on top a horse on stage".  So I understand that a wheelchair is more of a subtle prop ( or message) than a white horse, but when it comes down to it, it's just entertainment, and maybe Lady Gaga actually preferred to make her entrance as a mermaid on a unicycle...