In some situations, spacefarers with visual or other impairments could actually make a mission safer. Sheri Wells-Jensen reports that most every six-year-old wants to be an astronaut. This career goal is right up there with firefighter, detective, cowboy and ballerina. Before long, though, most recognize that they do not meet, and will in fact never meet, the non-negotiable physical requirements for the job. They are too tall, or they have a weak knee, flat feet or some other slight but uncorrectable, physiological irregularity that means they do not have what Tom Wolfe called "The Right Stuff.”
Because there are thousands of applicants for each spot, space agencies can afford to be picky. The classic science fiction author Robert Heinlein once noted, "We can turn down a ship's captain just for low blood sugar before breakfast and a latent tendency to be short-tempered therefrom until he's had his morning porridge.” But this unapologetic demand for physiological near-perfection is not only unnecessary; it will actually become a serious liability as mission durations increase. Survival chances for any long-term mission will be dramatically improved by loosening these restrictions until all people, regardless of disability, are eligible to be astronauts.
[Read on ... it is an interesting article].
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