The Disability SuperPower Trope!

---------------------

My last 3 videos:

---------------------

EQUIPMENT:
These are Amazon affiliate links, they cost you nothing extra but they give me a little cash to feed my dogs!


FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

[SarahBent]

My favourite at the moment is Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She is blind, and has compensating plausibly with Earthbending. This isn't perfect however - the show often addresses the issues she faces. And my favourite part? They don't avoid blind jokes, but they are all about how the others in the group forget that she is blind. So they'll ask how they look she'll sat great and then the penny drops. It's awesome.

[bobbybobert]

I really like Klaus from umbrella academy because his power doesn’t magically fix his mental health but actually makes it worse at times

[rynbliss]

whenever i think about hawkeye i always remember the comics "hawkeye vs deadpool" wherein deadpool spends the majority of the time with his mask lifted up to reveal his mouth so that hawkeye can lipread and he also uses sign language at certain points. pretty cool imo

[jk-jllo]

i really wanna see a disabled superhero whose power has absolutely no connection to or impact on their disability. give me a deaf superhero who just happens to be pyrokinetic. they still can't hear but they can spice up their sign language with some flames.

[MiffoKarin]

My pet peeve in the disabled superpower trope is the ADHD character who can think of a way out of the situation in a few seconds because they THINK REALLY FAST and see details the neurotypical characters don't.
Sure my brain goes a mile a minute sometimes, but I have no control over where it goes and I don't choose what I hyperfocus on.

A random scene in a movie can make me ask myself "how deep IS the deepest part of the ocean anyway" and five minutes later I'll be stuck reading about the reproductive habits of anglerfish or looking at submarine schematics.

[littlecousin]

A movie i really love when it comes to disability representation is "how to train your dragon". I know, it isn't a superhero movie. But the disability is just Part of the life of many characters. Hiccup himself, is disabled. But a character i really love is Gothi, an elder woman who speaks by drawing signs in the ground. She has an important Position in the village due to her wisdom and healing Powers. Not because of her disability and Not dispite her disability.
I loved These movies and the Show when I was a kid. But since I am disabled the movie became more important to me, when it comes to disability representation.

[heroicfool]

I know a lotta people are gonna mention Toph (luv u gurl) but I gotta defend my boys Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist and Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon who both have prosthetic limbs. I appreciated the scenes that showed that their respective mobility aids were not automatic fixes for their problems. Edward feels phantom pains from his missing limbs, his prosthetics need to be upgraded to accommodate his physical growth, and their expensive. Hiccup stumbles when he first stands up on his peg leg. It takes time to get used to, like it took time for Toothless to get used to the prosthetic that lets him fly again.

[burrahobbit]

I lost a significant amount of my hearing in a car accident, and now my super power is ignoring people at work.

[Flareontoast]

I think a lot of people see Batman as a disabled hero. He's been canonically been diagnosed with depression, OCD, PTSD, and possible autism. He does need Alfred to take care of him - on many adaptations he relies on Alfred to make him food and remind him to sleep, far beyond him being his butler. Really, more as a general caretaker.

[vegetable_warmth]

Love that the X-Men mansion is one of the least accessible buildings I've ever seen. Way to make your own life much harder than it needs to be, Charlie

[lynn]

I think there’s also a stereotype of any obese disabled person, that they aren’t “actually” disabled as much as lazy. Because OBVIOUSLY they are disabled due to being fat, rather than struggling with weight gain due to mobility and/or dietary issues, medication side effects, depression, etc.

[apocalypse_frau]

I feel that “you’re too young to require so much assistance/medication” at a soul level. It’s especially maddening when strangers accost me after I lawfully park in a disabled parking space; they’re just so certain that I am gaming the system, stealing from taxpayers, and taking parking spots from those who “really need it!”

[klisterklister]

Classic iron man comics focused heavily or primarily on his disability. His iron man suit was basically his pacemaker and if he spent too long not wearing his suit he would fall ill. So doing the tony stark stuff was physically tasking for him, while doing iron man stuff was easier. Common plotlines would be stuff like he spent too long pretending to be able bodied walking around without his suit on. Or he gets kidnapped while not wearing the suit. Or the suit gets damaged in some way. I actually prefer these storylines over the modern iterations of him where the arc reactor is his pacemaker. Felt more in line with my own experiences of forgetting to wear sunglasses and earplugs ruining the rest of my day and possibly the days after

[rochellethundercloud]

being disabled can really suck.
especially if it's an invisible disability.
people often assume I'm rude for not answering them when they speak.
truth is I'm deaf

[nettie]

I like Dr. Strange, too. While not a neurosurgeon, I am a musician with severe arthritis. A few years ago, I had to choose between playing the guitar or the piano. I've had 7 surgeries on my hands in order to be able to type, and continue with the piano. I'll never play the guitar again. So, his struggle is also one that I can identify with.

[acelibrarian]

As a person with epilepsy, Vanillopie from Wreck It Ralph is one of my favorites because she has seizures ("glitches") that severely hinder her from accomplishing her goal, but she presses on. And it turns out the glitches are because another character is suppressing her true nature, and she is eventually "cured", but for me that just played into my ADHD and how I was constantly treated as being too much and told I needed to dial it back.

[stellaluna]

It seems like a lot of these boil down to "disability exists only to illustrate a theme, " so the underlying idea is that you can't just depict disability, but need some additional, significant reason to justify its inclusion (so the story is _about_ disability or disability is there to teach a lesson, etc.)

[Sophie_Cleverly]

As a dynamically disabled person, I always loved Daredevil on Netflix! I really liked that they showed how his disability affected him and the adaptations and help he needed, while also showing his strengths. I guess I just related it to myself as someone whose needs vary a lot and it felt cool to have a character who shares that.

[dewekiwi]

As someone who stutters, I appreciate the representation of Diego in Umbrella Academy. I like seeing the cool, tough guy with knives who also just happens to stutter. I like that his superpowers are completely unrelated to his stuttering and how even when it’s not completely obvious, you can tell from the way he talks that he’s always managing it

[saucyboi]

Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist! He is an amputee in his arm and leg who doesn't quite accept his disability, however it is realistically portrayed as something he has to deal with—getting improved automail, sensitivity to extreme cold or heat, stunted growth from the weight of the metal, etc. I just think he's a wonderful character and I think he is written with great depth and respect.