I always find these are issues of awareness more than actual writing. Take for example the token black guy. Unaware it's the token black guy:
black people just kind of blend in.
Race isn't an issue.
See the character as a person, not a color palette.
People, presumably, soften racial prejudices and attitudes.
Aware of token black guy:
black stands out.
Once you see race, all you see is race. The actual character disappears behind the symbolism.
either the character becomes stereotypically exceptional (pedestal token black guy) or stereotypically secondary (hood stereotypes, comic relief).
people either react very positively (uncommon) or very negatively (much more common). E.g. People loved the Chapelle show, Chapelle ended it because of the latter. Chapelle wanted to act out ridiculous tropes so that we could laugh and say "that's ridiculous." Instead people laughed and said "that's ridiculous but a little true."
Felicity is a perfect example of this. They made her into the counter-stereotype stereotype. See other examples of female hackers in Criminals Minds and NCIS. Then both the writers and the audience became aware of this trope at the same time. As I said, once you are aware of it, it's all you are aware of. In trying to not objectify and stereotype women, you more deeply do both. Quirky, cute, Renaissance women, the conscience. Felicity isn't an ordinary woman, she is an exceptional woman. Exception being the operative word.
So they try to move away from this... Now she is in the role of fem power fantasy. Now she is that smart, sexy, woman struggling with responsibility but still getting shit done. It just shifts the trope from the counter stereotype to another. Her exceptionality is only heightened. So they put her in a wheel chair to make her seem less powerful and like she doesn't have the best super powers in the show. Which heightens it even further. What does it say about women? That unless you are like Felicity, you can't get the man of your dreams unless you are exceptional. You can't deal with responsibility and power unless you are exceptional. That you can't be in STEM unless your skills are super powers, which would mean you are exceptional.
The problem is that once you get into this trope trap, you cannot escape. It's especially toxic when mixed with social issues because television as a format does not lend itself well to this. One of the shows most successful in tackling this is The Wire. It did so in a way where race was both incidental and omnipresent. It's why they switched to the Stevedores in one season. It's why they brought up both white politicians and cops as well as black ones. The characters and setting then were given several seasons to brew and develop. A character like Bubbles didn't change that much. You could have checked off quite a few stereotypes from the moment he was introduced. You could have checked off quite a few by the end too. As you spent more time with him though, that familiarity led to seeing him as a person. He was a character dealing with race related issues, not race related issues hoping to attach to a character. Most shows do not have the capability for slow development of characters or the setting to properly and effectively explore these issues.
So instead they just accept a "so brave" for the attempt and use sexism as the scapegoat. You want to cancel my show because I butchered it? Well we will see what the media says about you giving in to sexists!