In response to Jacqui Speel and Jackie Taylor's comments about Travis' "disability":
if the Federation law resembled the United States Americans with Disabilities Act (yeah, ok, some chance, but stay with me on this), then Travis would be disabled if his physical condition interfered with "major life activities."
He seems to be OK with activities such as mobility and working. The ADA would apply to a "qualified person with a disability"--"qualified" meaning "able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation."
And Travis does seem able to, e.g., shoot at rebels (albeit not hitting any very often--but this probably has more to do with the notoriously poor marksmanship of Bad Guys than his disability), command a pursuit ship, boss around mutoids, and in general do whatever he did before getting shot. I think his inability to finally get Blake is more plot-related than disability-related.
-(Y)