History Main / DisabilityImmunity

%%%

* In the Creator/{{Troma}}-distributed horror anthology ''Macabre Pair of Shorts'', two vampires find themselves unable to feed on their prospective victim due to his blood disease. One vampire subsequently insists that the man be KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade, but the other decides against it in favor of making him a vampire too (with the added benefit that the disease can't kill him now).

* Due to his inability to form new memories, the hero of ''Film/{{Memento}}'' is the perfect assassin: he acts like a normal guy, doesn't feel guilt over the people he's killed, and can never confess any of his crimes ''because he genuinely doesn't remember committing them''.

* In the horror anthology ''Macabre Pair of Shorts'', two vampires find themselves unable to feed on their prospective victim due to his blood disease. One vampire subsequently insists that the man be KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade, but the other decides against it in favor of making him a vampire too (with the added benefit that the disease can't kill him now).

* This is the primary story premise of ''Howl''. The werewolf curse transmits via the howl of other werewolves, and the main character is immune due to her deafness.

** His 2014 series features a [[http://hawkuye.tumblr.com/post/116243621212/marvel-i-need-this-to-happen-in-the-mcu-at-some flashback]] to a fight with Hawkeye, back before the hero community knew about his blindness. Hawkeye held a phosphorous arrow in front of him, and it took him a few seconds to recognize his "cue".

* According to ''Literature/TheTalmud'', [[Literature/BookOfDaniel Daniel and his companions]] got cleared of sexual immorality charges by virtue of being eunuchs.

** One of his recurring enemies in UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks was the Masked Marauder, who used "opti-blasts" that blinded people.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'': In a [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] issue of his first miniseries, Hawkeye invoked this, using one of his sonic arrows to fry his own eardrums, rendering him immune to a bad guy's sonic mind control. Since then, Hawkeye has used hearing aids.

* This is the primary story premise of "VideoGame/Howl". The werewolf curse transmits via the howl of other werewolves, and the main character is immune due to her deafness.

* This is the main premise of 'VideoGame/Howl'. The werewolf curse transmits via the howl of other werewolves, and the main character is immune due to her deafness.

* [[https://www.timesnownews.com/the-buzz/article/turkish-man-with-dwarfism-is-using-his-small-size-to-rescue-earthquake-victims-trapped-beneath-rubble/677843 Ridvan Celik]] has been rescuing survivors trapped in the rubble after the Izmir earthquake, since his dwarfism lets him reach places that other rescue workers can't access.

This is a subtrope of DisabilitySuperpower where, rather than a character's disability giving them an actual power, it instead renders them immune to some sort of attack, trap, or ploy that would otherwise be effective against them.

* A lack of senses protecting someone from the effects of a BrownNote, HypnoticEyes, hallucinogenic illusion, etc. because they aren't capable of sensing it in the first place.
* Already being harmed in such a way, so it makes no difference. ([[TheLastDance You're already dying]], perhaps of a ConvenientTerminalIllness, resulting in SuicidalOverconfidence. The ultimate example is being DeadToBeginWith: since YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead, you're {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le until someone figures out how to kill you DeaderThanDead.)
* Not having the frame of mind to be affected, which would otherwise be a disadvantage (for example being TooDumbToFool, [[{{Jerkass}} too nasty]] to be emotionally blackmailed, TooKinkyToTorture, [[TooBrokenToBreak too depressed]] to EmotionBomb with sadness, etc.).

See also: DisabilitySuperpower (for when this grants other abilities to compensate), YourBrainWontBeMuchOfAMeal, TooKinkyToTorture, TooDumbToFool, TooBrokenToBreak, InsanityImmunity (which fall under the "frame of mind" variation), OrganDodge (which can overlap with "already harmed in such a way"), KryptoniteFactor (for the opposite; someone being ''more'' vulnerable to something to balance out their power), and FictionalDisability.

Similar to NoSell, except that this trope justifies the immunity. See also OneCurseLimit, when being affected by one thing grants immunity to being affected by ''anything'' else. Compare CurseThatCures, when a sick or injured character is cured as a side effect of being {{Curse}}d. If the disability is being infected with a disease, it's a BeneficialDisease. HandyShortcoming is for those whose disability doesn't necessarily give them an immunity, but does become useful in situations.

Contrast ImmunityDisability, the inverse of this trope, where being immune to something gives you a drawback.

* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' has the "bracelets" integral to the [[DeadlyGame Nonary Game the players are trapped in]], which trigger [[ExplosiveLeash the bombs placed in their systems]] in most circumstances like breaking the rules and can only be removed if their assigned player escapes the Gigantic used in the game or if their heartbeat reaches zero. [[spoiler:This was actually the trump card of "Snake" since his bracelet was unknowingly placed on his artificial left arm which has no pulse to speak of and thus disconnected his bracelet, meaning that he wasn't under threat of his bomb exploding but decided to play along the rules until the time was right. In the GoldenEnding, he uses this loophole to freely follow his teammates through doors without needing to register his bracelet. Subverted when it turns out that Zero never put a bomb into him in the first place since Snake wasn't one of Zero's targets.]]

** [[IdiotHero Philip J. Fry]] lacks the Delta Brain Wave that all other sapient beings have, due to an incident involving TimeTravel and doing "[[SurpriseIncest certain actions]]" that make him [[MyOwnGrandpa his own grandfather]]; his own sapience is only possible due to the rest of his brain waves cobbling themselves together like "a prom dress made of carpet fragments". The end result is that Fry is [[TheDitz significantly dumber]] than most other creatures, but also [[ImmuneToMindControl completely immune to all types of]] [[PsychicPowers psychic attacks]]; such as the [[BrainMonster Brain Spawn]]'s ability to [[StupidityInducingAttack rob people of their intelligence]], or the evil influence of the [[PuppeteerParasite Brain Slugs]]' and [[HypnoticCreature Hypnotoad]]'s MindControl powers.

* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'': Jericho can possess a person after making eye contact with them; his body turns insubstantial and enters the subject. Cyborg, whose body is half-cybernetic, was able to prevent this by closing his human eye and looking at Jericho through his cybernetic eye.

* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' has the "bracelets" integral to the [[DeadlyGame Nonary Game the players are trapped in]], which trigger [[ExplosiveLeash the bombs placed in their systems]] in most circumstances like breaking the rules and can only be removed if their assigned player escapes the Gigantic used in the game or if their heartbeat reaches zero. [[spoiler:This was actually the trump card of "Snake" since his bracelet was unknowingly placed on his artificial left arm which has no pulse to speak of and thus disconnected his bracelet, meaning that he wasn't under threat of his bomb exploding but decided to play along the rules until the time was right. In the GoldenEnding, he uses this loophole to freely follow his teammates through doors without needing to register his bracelet. Subverted when it turns out that Zero never put a bomb into him in the first place]]

* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' has the "bracelets" integral to the [[DeadlyGame Nonary Game the players are trapped in]], which trigger [[ExplosiveLeash the bombs placed in their systems]] in most circumstances like breaking the rules and can only be removed if their assigned player escapes the Gigantic used in the game or if their heartbeat reaches zero. [[spoiler:This was actually the trump card of "Snake" since his bracelet was unknowingly placed on his artificial left arm which has no pulse to speak of and thus disconnected his bracelet, meaning that he wasn't under threat of his bomb exploding but decided to play along the rules until the time was right. In the GoldenEnding, he uses this loophole to freely follow his teammates through doors without needing to register his bracelet.]]

* In one ''VideoGame/XComUFODefense'' novelization, one soldier is described as having the psychic potential of a brick, which makes him the only one ''completely unable'' to use PsychicPowers in any way, shape or form in the entire organization. Which becomes extremely useful when it turns out that the Etherals, who rely on their psychic powers to replace most of their bodily functions, are absolutely unable to detect him, since he emits the same psychic aura as any furniture.

* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': Mal is immune to [[spoiler:The Operative's PressurePoint FinishingMove because his back was injured in TheWarOfEarthlyAggression, and the nerve cluster The Operative meant to hit is gone]].

* In ''Film/{{Faster}}'', [[spoiler:Driver survives being shot in the head by Cop beacuse he has a metal plate in his skull: a metal plate that is there beacuse of the injuries he sustained the the first time Cop shot him in the head 10 years ago.]]

* In one ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel, a Morlock Terminator is rendered totally deaf during a defensive action on the ''Sisypheum''... which proves extremely convenient for him when they come up against [[MakeMeWannaShout the Kakophoni]] of the Emperor's Children. The resultant clash ends very badly for [[spoiler:Marius Vairosean]].