This is a good 101-level refresher on the coded disability in so many monsters (and really, in villains). Monsters are usually built out of things the target audience dislikes and will be scared of, and this frequently means falling back on disease and disability.

Readers notice that monsters are usually my protagonists rather than my antagonists. Whether a dragon running for mayor, a lonely haunted house, or the literal shapeshifting lump that is Shesheshen, I deliberately play with dehumanization--and what that does to them (and to us).