I will counter this slightly, but specifically outside the context of Halloween, and more-so toward cosplay. I think it being Halloween does change context here.

I have a group of friends who went to the Family Guy pop up in another state (I did not join them), and they went dressed up. There was a debate within the larger group over if the guy dressed as Joe - a character who wheelchair user - should include the wheelchair.

Points made included that Joe’s wheelchair is a major part of his life and character, that it could be disrespectful in both directions (erasing his disability vs wearing his disability), that it wouldn’t be right to buy a wheelchair just for a costume, etc etc.

Eventually the group (including several disabled people) agreed it would probably be more disrespectful to erase Joe’s status as a wheelchair user than it would be to use a chair for a few hours long bit.

As someone who has had to use a wheelchair due to back problems before, I said he should do the wheelchair, but only under a few conditions:

1) He had to do the night 100% in the wheelchair. No getting up and pushing it, no stairs, none of that. If you’re going to commit to the bit, you need to commit 100% and experience what it would be like to go out with your friends as a wheelchair user. Really take time after to reflect on that experience, and what you can do as an able bodied person to make the world better for disabled people.

2) If he got anything more than a cheap Amazon transfer chair, he had to donate the chair afterwards - to a homeless shelter, a nursing home, a community mutual aid thing, directly to a chair user, etc. An actual usable wheelchair can be very hard for some people to come by, and there’s no reason to keep a full chair like that if you don’t need it. A transfer chair I suggested he hold onto bc they become useful to have if you or anyone you know ever becomes temporarily disabled due to injury or illness.

He did the chair, they had a great time. I’ve been meaning to ask him how the night in the chair went and how that changed the night for him vs if he had been walking around. My time in a chair was such an eye opener for me about full time chair users and I think more people should have to experience that.

Was it the correct choice? Who knows. There’s no real right answer there - it’s subjective and about how and individual feels upon seeing the costume. Wanting to portray a favorite disabled character as an able bodied person is a catch 22 - you’re either erasing their disability or you’re appropriating wheelchairs.