When is it appropriate to use disabled inputs?

It seems best to avoid disabled controls entirely, though I realize there are sometimes technical reasons where people are forced to style some disabled controls instead of removing the fields or displaying read-only information instead. Besides these less-than-ideal situations, is it ever preferable to use a disabled input?

Also, are there documented industry standards for visual treatments of disabled controls? Accessibility should be considered by any attempt at "authoritative" work. I'm having trouble finding thorough design rationale for disabled states. Interactions are pretty well discussed (because that's mostly what disabled states are about), but visuals not as much.