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Physical Disability in Media - TV Tropes

  • ️Fri Oct 29 2021

Physical Disability in Media

This is an index for works that focus on disabilities. One-shots or disabled guest characters are too numerous, so this index is for works that have a substantive focus on physical disability. No examples that include Throwing Off the Disability please, as this is about the specific experience of being (and staying) disabled.

More specific indexes are Deafness in Media, Autism in Media, and Blindness in Media, so those examples go there, please.

This index is only for physically disabled characters; see The Mentally Disturbed for portrayals of mental illness in fiction.

Examples:

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Franchises & Derivative Works Pages 

Animation 

  • Mechamato: Mara is a major supporting character/main cast member and uses a wheelchair.
  • Nussa: The titular boy wears a prosthetic leg.

Anime & Manga 

  • Combattler V: Hyoma Aoi got his arms destroyed midway through the story. Him learning to use his Artificial Limbs even becomes his Story Arc.
  • Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks: Son Gohan loses his left arm in a battle against Androids 17 and 18. The following battle cost him his life.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist features Edward Elric, who has a prosthetic arm and leg thanks to horrific amputations at a young age. He even suffers from phantom pains.
  • Gundam:
    • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Andrew Waltfield loses his right eye and left arm after his battle against protagonist Kira Yamato.
    • Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Louise Halevy loses her left hand towards the end of the first season. Her not being able to regrow it (which is possible with the show's technology) becomes an integral plot point leading to Season 2. The original Lockon Stratos also loses his right eye towards the end of the first season, which leads to his death as he's the resident sniper. Another supporting character is revealed to be a Cyborg before he dies. Season 2 reveals that Lasse Aeon suffered from a respiratory illness after the Final Battle of Season 1.
  • Gunslinger Girl: The protagonists are cyborgs who were made as such due to either mutilations or birth defects.
  • Helen ESP: The titular Helen Takahara La Guido gained ESP powers after losing her sight, hearing, and ability to speak in a traffic accident.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Battle Tendency: Joseph Joestar lost his left hand during his fight with the Big Bad Pillar man Kars and wears a prosthetic hand afterwards throughout his life.
    • Steel Ball Run: Johnny Joestar was rendered paraplegic in an accident before the events of the story.
  • Josee, The Tiger, and The Fish: The titular Josee (real name Kumiko) has been wheelchair-bound since birth.
  • Naruto: Kakashi Hatake lost an eye in his backstory and got his new one (the one with the Sharingan) transplanted to him by a friend of his, but it wouldn't be revealed until much later in the story. Jiraya loses his left arm and got his throat pierced before dying. The titular protagonist and his rival Sasuke Uchiha respectively lose their right and left arms after their Final Battle. Both were grafted Artificial Limbs in the epilogue, though Sasuke opts not to have them.
  • Nobody's Boy: Remi (1977): Arthur Milligan (the titular Remi's long lost brother) was born with a disability and requires a wheelchair to move around.
  • Run on Your New Legs: The main character is a recent amputee who enters the world of para-athletics after getting a prosthetic leg.
  • Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Arc Big Bad Shishio Makoto is a burn survivor. One of his lieutenants, Fuuji, has Gigantism.
  • Tenjho Tenge: One of the protagonists loses his hands after the Final Battle which requires him to wear Artificial Limbs. The Decoy Protagonist's mother and the actual protagonist's Posthumous Character older brother are both wearing eye patches due to major eye injuries.
  • Texhnolyze: The main premise of the show is centered around creating artificial limbs, and the possibility of Cybernetics Eat Your Soul is teased a lot.
  • The Vision of Escaflowne: Recurring antagonist and later ally Folken lost his right arm in a coronation ritual gone wrong in the past and is presently donning an artificial arm.

Comic Books 

  • Aquaman: Arthur Curry (Aquaman II) had the skin and muscle of his left hand devoured in a sea of piranhas by Charybdis, resulting in him getting a hook and later a crystal transparent hand to replace it.
  • Batgirl: Barbara Gordon dropped her Batgirl identity and took the "Oracle" moniker after becoming paraplegic. She uses a wheelchair.
    • Birds of Prey: The most tenured story of Barbara as Oracle, co-leading the titular team with Black Canary.
    • The Killing Joke: The story where the Joker paralyzed Barbara Gordon after shooting her.
    • The Oracle Code: An alternate universe where Barbara gets shot and becomes Oracle before ever donning the Batgirl costume or graduating in high-school.
  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Green Arrow lost his left arm in a past battle against Superman.
  • Cyborg: Car crash survivor whose destroyed boy parts are replaced with mechanical ones (Depending on the Writer, it's an Organic Technology from a thing called Motherbox).
  • Doom Patrol: Founder Niles Caulder is paraplegic. Larry Trainor is a burn survivor with a living energy now inhabiting him due to the accident. Cliff Steele's entire body is destroyed and his brain is placed in a robotic body.
  • Emilka Sza: The character of Natalia is blind, while Emily can't talk (she however can hear).
  • Kingdom Come: Batman is now required to wear an exoskeleton due to past injuries.
  • Morbius: The title character is suffering from a blood disease.
  • New Mutants: One of the original members, Karma, lost her left leg after it was impaled by Cameron Hodge with his metal pincer blades, resulting in her getting a new prosthetic leg.
  • Nnewts: The protagonist, Herk, was born with a leg impairment. His legs are unusually small and non-functional.
  • Venom (Remender & Bunn): Flash Thompson loses both his legs after serving in the military and becoming the host of the Venom symbiote gives him legs as long as he's bonded with it.
  • The Walking Dead: Protagonist Rick Grimes loses his right hand during the Prison Arc, and would later suffer a leg injury that permanently hinders his walking. Dale gets his left foot severed due to a Life-or-Limb Decision, and his remaining leg would later be eaten by cannibals. Rick's mutilator, The Governor, gets Laser-Guided Karma when he loses his right arm, dick, and left eye.
  • X-Men: Founder Charles Xavier is paraplegic.

Eastern Animation 

  • For a fairly bizarre example Marinica's Screw stars a sentient screw with a manufacturing defect that makes it so his anthropomorphic form is missing one leg; he compensates with a crutch summoned from Hammerspace.

Fan Works 

  • A Thing of Vikings takes place after the first How to Train Your Dragon film, so Hiccup already has a prosthetic for one of his legs, Toothless has one on his tail, and Gobber has a prosthetic arm and leg. Drago is missing an arm, like in the films. Gothi is mute. Original character Kurya falls from his dragon and is crippled, using a wheelchair afterwards. After being shot off his dragon, Stoick loses an eye and his right hand.

Film — Animated 

Film — Live-Action 

Literature 

  • Alien: The Cold Forge splits its time between the villain and Dr. Blue Marsalis, a woman who (as well as being black and gay) has a degenerative condition progressively destroying her muscles. At this stage she can still walk somewhat but it's difficult and she prefers a chair. She also needs a colostomy bag and a urinary catheter. A synthetic, Marcus, acts as her nurse and also her People Puppet, remotely controlled using a Brain/Computer Interface.
  • All the Rage: Romy never explicitly says what happened, but her beloved stepfather Todd suffers from constant back and leg problems after getting in a car accident as a teenager.
  • Are You Alone on Purpose?: The Love Interest is paraplegic because of a diving accident.
  • Born on the Fourth of July (and the film based on the book): Ron Kovic comes back from Vietnam paralyzed from the waist down.
  • Cormoran Strike Novels: Cormoran lost a leg in Afghanistan and wears a prosthesis.
  • Chance to Fly is about Nat, a 13-year-old in a wheelchair who auditions for a middle school production the play Wicked. Along with Stacy Davidowitz, it is written by Ali Stroker, the first actress in a wheelchair to be cast as the lead in Oklahoma! and the first performer in a wheelchair to be cast as the lead in any Broadway production in history.
  • Cycle of the Werewolf: One of the main characters is Marty Coslaw, a 10 year old paraplegic boy, who is the closest thing to a main protagonist that the novella has.
  • Dawnshard: One of the main characters is Rysn, who is paralyzed from the waist down. And a large part of the novella is devoted to her dealing with her disability, trying to improve her life, being in touch with other, similarly disabled people in other places.
  • Defying Doomsday and its followup Rebuilding Tomorrow are anthologies about disabled and chronically ill protagonists in post-apocalyptic scenarios.
  • Some of the Earth's Children books have significant characters who are disabled, and explore how this affects them and those close to them in the prehistoric setting.
    • In The Clan of the Cave Bear, a major character is Creb, who was born physically frail, then lost an eye and arm and has a limp due a cave bear attack. Because he couldn't hunt, he became the clan's shaman. He is also Ayla's surrogate father, who empathizes with her feelings of being an outsider. Although Creb dies in the first book, he continues to appear to Ayla in dreams and visions in the sequels, looking as he did in life.
    • In The Valley of Horses, a major character is Jetamio, Thonolan's love interest who had seizures that resulted in partial paralysis; although she recovered much of her mobility she still has a limp. Her condition is implied to play a role in her miscarriages and eventual death in childbirth, which has long-lasting effects on the characters.
    • In The Mammoth Hunters, a major character is a young boy named Rydag, who struggles with a congenital heart defect that prevents him from being as physically active. He also can't talk verbally, though this is technically because he's half-Neanderthal (who in this series cannot vocalize as well as modern humans). Ayla treats his heart with medicine, and teaches him and the rest of the camp the Clan's sign language so Rydag can communicate.
  • The main protagonist of The Empyrean is Violet, who was born with a medical condition that makes her physically frail; her joints are overly-flexible, she's at greater risk of breaking or fracturing bones than the average person and had to deal with chronic pain. She has to deal with her condition while trying to survive a brutal dragon riding academy, with many people underestimating her or assuming she won't survive. Her condition isn't named in the story proper because of the low-tech setting, but the author has stated Violet is supposed to have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, like the author and her children.
  • The Final Girl Support Group: One of the other final girls is Julia, who is quadriplegic since she pushed her would-be killer out of a window.
  • The First Law: Out of six (or more) main characters, three are disabled in some way. Logen's middle finger was cut off, Sand dan Glokta was tortured so horribly that he lacks most of his teeth, has to use a cane to walk and was castrated, while Ferro Maljinn is completely color blind. A supporting character named Frost is also an albino and has speech impairement.
  • Freak the Mighty: Freak, one of the main characters, wears braces on his legs and uses crutches to walk.
  • Handle with Care is about a young girl with dehabilitating osteogenesis imperfecta.
  • The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: One of its main characters had polio as a child and was left with a lame leg; another is deaf.
  • Heidi: Major supporting character Klara Sesemann is wheelchair-bound.
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Quasimodo, the title character, is a hunchback, in addition to being one eyed and deaf.
  • I Funny: The main character is a middle schooler aspiring to become a standup comedian. He also uses a wheelchair.
  • Iron Widow: Main protagonist Wu Zetian has mobility issues and chronic pain due to foot-binding, often using a cane or wheelchair to get around when she's not in a qi-powered mech-suit.
  • Katy is about a girl who becomes paralysed from the waist down after falling from a swing. It's an updated version of What Katy Did, whose protagonist suffers more or less the same accident. However, while 19th Century Katy eventually learns to walk again, 21st Century Katy is still confined to a wheelchair at the end of the novel and it's stated that she'll almost certainly remain like that for the rest of her life.
  • Let Me Call You Sweetheart: Grace Hoover is a major character, she being a close friend and mother figure to central protagonist Kerry McGrath, and wife of Kerry's father figure Jonathan Hoover. Grace often uses a wheelchair and needs physical assistance due to arthritis. She ends up being integral to the story's resolution, with her disability also playing a part in this.
  • Lincoln Rhyme: The titular protagonist was paralyzed from the neck down following a freak accident and solves crimes with the help of his able-bodied partner Amelia Sachs (she does the leg work and gathers evidence while he pieces things together from home).
  • The Lord of the Rings: Main protagonist Frodo Baggins loses his ring finger near the end of the story.
  • Misery: Paul spends most of the book and film in a terrible state because of his smashed-up legs. Annie then cuts off one of his feet (or, in the book, she smashes it so badly that it needs to be amputated).
  • Moby-Dick: Captain Ahab lost his leg to the titular whale.
  • Out of My Mind: The main character has cerebral palsy.
  • The Pinballs: Harvey is disabled after his drunk driver father ran over both his legs.
  • The Return of the Condor Heroes: Protagonist Yang Guo loses his right arm (though few adaptations switches to the left due to casting right-handed actors) third quarter into the story.
  • The Ship Who... books prominently feature "shellpeople" installed in life-support "shells" that are then hooked up to space stations or spaceships, which the shellpeople regard as their bodies. Shellpeople have to be disabled at a very young age to become shellpeople - at one extreme, Nancia wouldn't have survived after birth, while at the other Tia became paralyzed from the chin down at the age of seven - and those who could have survived without life support need it by the time conversion is complete.
  • Small Steps: Ginny, a major supporting character and the protagonist's neighbor, is a girl with cerebral palsy.
  • Something Promised: A police constable and crime analyst is attacked in a hit-and-run and ends up with an amputated leg, in a wheelchair. She begins considering murder to get revenge on the people who caused her disability.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire: Bran Stark becomes paraplegic after being pushed out of a tower. Both Varys and Grey Worm are eunuchs, meaning they have no penis. Sandor Clegane has half of his face burned. Davos Seaworth is missing all fingers from his left hand. Qhorin Halfhand is dubbed as such due to missing half his fingers. Jaime Lannister loses his right hand. Theon Greyjoy loses his penis and some of his fingers and toes. Jon Connington has Greyscale. Euron Greyjoy is missing an eye.
  • Thérèse Raquin: Major supporting character Mrs. Raquin is progressively afflicted by a sort of locked-in syndrome.
  • Treasure Island: Long John Silver, the main antagonist, is missing a leg.
  • Vigilauntie Justice: Baz and Peggy have chronic pain and use canes and mobility scooters to move around town.
  • Warrior Cats: There are several sub-plots in which major supporting characters are gravely injured and must learn how to deal with their new disability, such as Cinderpelt whose leg is crippled badly enough that she can't become a warrior, Brightheart who loses an eye and an ear, and Briarlight whose hindlegs are permanently paralyzed.
  • Welcome Home, Jellybean: Neil's sister, Geraldine, is profoundly mentally disabled, has a speech impediment and has physical trouble with cognition and mobility. The book explores how she is integrated into the family home after years of living her childhood out in an isolated institution for the mentally retarded, where she was abused and had her personal belongings stolen from her by orderlies and other patients.
  • When My Heart Joins the Thousand: Deuteragonist Stanley has osteogenesis imperfecta.
  • Young Jedi Knights (Star Wars Legends): One of the eponymous young Jedi knights, Tenel Ka Djo, loses an arm in the explosion of her lightsaber the making of which she botched, and she decides not to replace it with a robotic arm.

Live-Action TV 

  • One Liter Of Tears: The story is about Aya Kitou suffering ALS.
  • 4400: The character of Mildred has a limb difference, as does her actor Autumn Best.
  • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Protagonist Phil Coulson loses his left arm midway through Season 2.
  • All About Me: One of the main characters, Raj, has severe cerebral palsy and is both unable to walk or talk as a consequence.
  • American Horror Story: Asylum: One of the main characters, Pepper, is microcephalic. Another character, Shelly, got her legs amputated.
  • American Horror Story: Freak Show: Most of the cast, as the title suggests.
  • Best Foot Forward: Based on the memoirs of Josh Sundquist, a formerly-homeschooled amputee enters a public Middle School.
  • Birds of Prey: Live-Action Adaptation of Birds of Prey above. Instead of Black Canary, Huntress became Oracle's co-founder in this iteration, who's been paralyzed from the waist down by a spinal injury and uses a wheelchair.
  • Bones: The last two seasons, 11 and 12, have regular character Jack Hodgins deal with being left paralyzed and struggling to accept the changes to his life.
  • Breaking Bad: Walt Jr./Flynn has cerebral palsy; Hector has locked-in syndrome; Hank is disabled in an explosion. Although he recovers to an extent, he's never back to "normal" before his death.
  • Caïn: Protagonist Frédéric Caïn is a paraplegic police officer.
  • CSI has Doc Robbins, a double amputee regular character who's a medical examiner. He uses a lofstrand crutch. One A Day in the Limelight episode actually touches on his daily life a bit.
  • Dark Angel: Paraplegic Logan Cale is the Deuteragonist and the titular protagonist's love interest.
  • Degrassi: The Next Generation: Jimmy is paralyzed in a school shooting in Season 4, and is shown using a wheelchair until Drake left the show. His girlfriend, Trina, is also paralyzed after a fall. Margaret Matlin has multiple sclerosis, and was portrayed by Spirit Synott, an actor with multiple sclerosis in season 11.
  • Desperate Housewives: Orson was paralyzed in the plane crash, which led to him becoming an Evil Cripple.
  • Doctor Who: Recurring villain Davros lost the lower half of his body in the Kaled-Thal war and consequently uses a motorized wheelchair to move about.
  • Doom Patrol: Live-Action Adaptation of Doom Patrol above, with Cyborg being a Team Member in the Adaptation.
  • Echo: Protagonist Maya has a prosthetic due to losing her leg in the car accident which killed her mother as a child. It doesn't stop her from being skilled in unarmed combat (including kicking her opponents frequently) so her prosthetic may be special. This was added to the character (who's originally just deaf in the comics) since actress Alaqua Cox really has a prosthetic leg. It got less focus in Hawkeye, where Maya is introduced.
  • ER: Kerry Weaver uses a cane and drags her foot. Ray has both his legs amputated. Paul Nathan has Parkinson's.
  • Friday Night Lights: In the pilot, Jason is paralyzed in a football game. He leaves in Season 3 to work in New York.
  • Game of Thrones: Live-Action Adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire. It mostly remained faithful to the disabilities seen in the books except the following examples for Pragmatic Adaptation; Davos Seaworth is instead missing all fingers from his right hand due to his actor being left-handed, Theon Greyjoy still loses his penis but retains his fingers and toes, Jorah Mormont is the one who contacted Greyscale instead of the Adapted Out Jon Connington, and Theon's Evil Uncle Euron has both eyes intact.
  • Glee: New Directions student Artie Abrams uses a wheelchair.
  • Highlander Joe Dawson is a double amputee since The Vietnam War. He uses a cane to walk, and one prominent plot where characters are tempted by a demon has Joe tempted with restoring his legs. Another has his fear over revealing his issues to a high school friend.
  • House: Dr. Gregory House walks with a severe limp and a cane after being seriously injured in an accident.
  • If You See God, Tell Him: Godfrey Spry uses an electric wheelchair following an accident where he took a car out for a test drive alongside the top of a cliff.
  • Ironside (1967): The title character's lower body was paralyzed after he was shot by a sniper. He moves around using a wheelchair.
  • Ironside (2013): The title character's lower body was paralyzed. He moves around using a wheelchair.
  • Jerk: Starring a protagonist who has cerebral palsy.
  • María la del barrio: The titular protagonist's son has a Tragically Disabled Love Interest whose Wicked Stepmother is the Big Bad. Unsurprisingly, her Story Arc in centered around Domestic Abuse and Bullying the Disabled.
  • NCIS: New Orleans: Main character Patton Plame is wheelchair bound.
  • Port Charles' Dr. Matt Harmon was a paraplegic, as was his actor Mitch Longley. Most of his storylines were typical soap stories, plus a few clearly centered around his disability.
  • Power Rangers Cosmic Fury: The Black Ranger loses his right arm and is grafted an artificial arm by the original Blue Ranger.
  • The Red Line: Features a character who was paralyzed in a shooting.
  • RoboCop: The Series: TV series adaptation of the film series.
  • Special: Starring a protagonist who has mild cerebral palsy.
  • Speechless: A protagonist with cerebral palsy.
  • Strike: As an adaptation of the novels, Strike is still missing a leg.
  • Titans: The show changes Barbara Gordon's disability from being paraplegic to being a right leg amputee, though she still uses a wheelchair.
  • The Walking Dead: Live-Action Adaptation of The Walking Dead. It shuffled many character disabilities in canon (which will be too long to put here). Notably, Protagonist Rick Grimes was initially spared from his canonical handicaps.
  • Toy Boy: one of the strippers, Jairo, is mute.
  • Years and Years: Rosie has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair.

Theatre 

Toys 

  • Monster High: As of G3, protagonist Frankie Stein is depicted with a prosthetic leg.

Video Games 

Visual Novels 

  • Arcade Spirits: In The New Challengers, Jynx has syringomyelianote  and uses a cane. The story discusses accessibility in arcade games and in everyday life for disabled people.
  • C14 Dating: Hendrik has a prothestic arm after having lost a hand in an accident. It's the kind that has a mostly cosmetic removable hand with a more functional Hook Hand underneath.
  • Katawa Shoujo is about a physically disabled young man finding a Tragically Disabled Love Interest after transferring to a Boarding School specializing in taking care of disabled students.
  • I Wani Hug that Gator!: Olivia Halford, the eponymous deuteragonist and love interest, uses a wheelchair. The story tackles ableism as a key theme, exploring how Olivia's experiences with both overt prejudice and discrimination (Mia and her Girl Posse) and more subtle Condescending Compassion have shaped the way she views herself and others.

Web Animation 

  • Helluva Boss: Recurring character Fizzarolli has prosthetic limbs.
  • RWBY: Yang Xiao Long spends Volume 4 coming to terms with losing an arm before receiving a prosthetic, and continues to live with PTSD for several volumes afterwards.

Webcomics 

Web Video 

Western Animation 

  • 101 Dalmatian Street: One of the puppies uses a wheelchair.
  • Alma's Way: One of the show's recurring characters, Alma's cousin Eddie, has cerebral palsy and walks with crutches.
  • Amphibia: In the penultimate episode, Grime's arm gets cut off while saving Sasha from Darcy.
  • Biker Mice from Mars: All three protagonists. Throttle is visually impaired, the right side of Vinnie's face has a metal plate suggesting an injury, and Modo has both a robotic right arm and a missing left eye.
  • DuckTales (2017): Della Duck has a prosthetic leg in place of one she had to amputate.
  • Extreme Ghostbusters: One of the protagonists, Garrett Miller, is paraplegic.
  • Family Guy: Quahog police officer Joe Swanson uses a wheelchair.
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Wilt is missing his left arm and has a broken left eye.
    • Good Wilt Hunting: A flashback in this movie reveals that he obtained his injuries while saving his creator from a grievous injury during a basketball game.
  • Hazbin Hotel: Vaggie is missing an eye, and wears an eyepatch over it.
  • John Callahan's Quads!: The protagonist is quadriplegic and the main cast includes other physically disabled characters; the show's creator was himself rendered quadriplegic in an accident and used the show as a way of expressing his own thoughts on being physically disabled.
  • The Legend of Korra: One of the main antagonists in Season 3 in an armless waterbender. She uses said skill to create makeshift octopus-like Artificial Limbs.
  • The Owl House: In the final episode of Season 2, Eda's arm is permanently lost when Raine removes it to save her from the draining spell.
  • Pelswick: Starring a protagonist who uses a wheelchair; created by the same guy as John Callahan's Quads! for much the same reason.
  • Princess Power: Bea Blueberry, who's one of the show's main characters, wears a leg brace.
  • In RoboGobo, Dax (who's the leader of the titular team) and Wingo (one of the members of the team) are both disabled. Dax is missing a limb on his left arm while Wingo's right wing is smaller than his left wing.
  • The Rubbish World of Dave Spud: The main character's sister uses a wheelchair.
  • Skillsville : Rae, one of the main characters, has spina bifida, and uses a wheelchair.
  • South Park: Timmy uses a motorized wheelchair, while Jimmy walks with crutches.
  • Strange Hill High: Samia uses an electric wheelchair and an AAC device.
  • In Team Zenko Go, one of the main characters, Ari, uses a wheelchair.
  • Total Drama: Zee had a congenital amputation and uses a prosthetic leg.
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender: Shiro has a prosthetic right arm in place of one that was amputated when he was a prisoner of war in the Galra Empire. Unsurprisingly, he was battling a muscle illness prior to said events.
  • Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?: Shannon has a prosthetic leg.