Since we’ve had characters of nearly every race and have long since stopped with the “girls are there to be rescued” stuff, so why haven’t there been any disabled characters?
The only character with a disability of sorts is Vanellope von Schweetzfrom Wreck it Ralph whose “glitching” has been thought to be an ADHD/ADD type of thing.
Because it’s Disney! The expression ‘Disney-like’ means everyone and everything is happy, attractive, satisfied, perfect, the good-guys always win etc. IOW saccharine-sweet, unrealistic, fairy tale-like utopia where everything always works out for everybody. I don’t have an example but I wouldn’t be surprised if some old Disney live-action show portrayed a disabled kid who somehow learned to walk in the end…
I would argue that MOST Disney characters are disabled/mutant FREAKS! Talking mice/dogs/ducks? Where they once human and mutated into animals? Or animals mutating into people? which is worse? Beast was certainly disabledly FUGLY. That was his whole story, dealing witrh his disability. Pinnochio? Freakshly huge nose when he lies. I’d call that a MAJOR disability. And again, his whole story is about overcoming it…I’d go on and on but I’m too lazy.
Nemo is disabled for a fish, having one of his front fins smaller than the other. Dory has Short Term Memory Loss.
Of course the Seven Dwarfs were, well, dwarfs. Dopey was unable to speak as well as being intellectually challenged. Today he’d be considered developmentally delayed or perhaps even to have Down Syndrome. This site contends he has Angelman Syndrome. Besides that Sleepy had narcolepsy, Sneezy had incapacitating allergies, and Bashful had Avoidant Personality Disorder.
Then there’s Quasimodo and the maimed Captain Hook, although they were not original to Disney.
I don’t want to speak for the OP but I assumed that what they’re thinking of is an animated feature film with the lead character in a wheelchair, or blind or deaf etc. It’s taken a long time but I can still see it happening at some point. It just complicates things, and Disney does not like to invite controversy.