By Jessica Roy

In the days since Stephen Hawking's death, obituaries have described him as being "confined" or "chained" to a wheelchair, as someone who "overcame" his disability and succeeded in spite of it.

None of those things are true. Stephen Hawking had a disability, and Stephen Hawking used a wheelchair. His work was possible because of those things, not in spite of them.

In fact, Hawking — a tireless advocate for disability rights when he wasn't busy unlocking the secrets of the universe — viewed those things as a positive...