Why is Artie from glee in a wheelchair?

The Artie character was introduced in the first episode of Glee as a guitar playing member at the glee club of William McKinley high school. As he makes use of a wheel chair, most of the school football team members make fun of him and bully him a lot. In the first episode it was shown in Glee that Artie goes out on dating with Tina Cohen-Chang, who is a club member. During that time he describes her that he faced paralysis after a car crash at the age of eight. It is said in one of the commentaries given by the readers that Artie is in the wheel chair as he had a spinal cord injury. The character of Artie, being featured prominently in the show encouraged all the disabled who are watching the show. His character filled confidence and courage in the disabled who think that they are undermined in the society.

Artie got familiarized to use the wheel chair and he was giving Live dance performances. He was invited as a part of the Glee family to Obama’s house in April 2010 for performing there. When the episode Wheels was telecast, there was much controversy regarding Artie’s wheel chair casting. The disabled could not bear the able bodied man to be used for the cast which needs a wheel chair and making him sit in that. There is a common feeling that any person with disabilities will not be accepted by the viewers so easily and this can make the production slow. Anyway, Mc Hale was happy to play that role and everyone were appreciating the character very much.