History Main / DisabilitySuperPower

* * At the 2010 Super Bowl, Volkswagen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzMebRccJF8 ran an ad]] riffing on the long-standing "Punch Buggy" game (where you punch someone every time a VW Beetle goes by and shout out the color.) [[spoiler: The ad finishes with Music/StevieWonder [[BlindMusician of all fucking people]] pulling this on Tracey Morgan.]] However, they messed it up by having the people in the commercial do it for ''any'' Volkswagon, and not just the Beetle.

* In Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, the equip spell Flint is an annoying equip spell that weakens the host monster and prevents it from attacking. However, the monster Flint Lock is designed to be immune completely to the negative effects of Flint and even benefits from extra powers while equipped with Flint, such as being indestructible by battle. Cherry on top, it can even manipulate Flint to contaminate other monsters or relieve a monster from it to use its protection. This double counts as CripplingTheCompetition and DisabilityImmunity.
* ''In Dark Alleys'': One the PC options in this urban horror game are Cannibals. A Gnostic sect that rejects the illusion of the physical world and their own flesh, going so far as to remove their own body parts over time. But through meditation, they can force their souls to act as invisible replacements. These phantom limbs are more powerful than the original and grant supernatural abilities. Removing an eye allows them to see the invisible, etc.

* ''Series/{{UFO}}'' ("The Man Who Came Back"). A blind man senses that there's something wrong with a SHADO operative who's had his personality removed and is being [[PuppeteerParasite remote-operated by the aliens]].

* ''Film/ThePredator'', autism is treated as a miraculous condition that gives genius-level intellect. Olivia Munn's HotScientist character outright calls the condition [[ArtisticLicenseBiology the next step in human evolution.]] [[spoiler:Chiefly, autism gives an otherwise ordinary boy the ability to read the Predator language and understand their technology, and even the Predators themselves are fascinated by the potential.]]

** Hyouma and Koshirou are ''nothing'' compared to Jimushi Juubei. He has no arms and legs, but can slither on his belly as fast as any other ninja can run. He wields a dagger with his long tongue, and this attack is so fast and deadly that no opponent has ever lived to tell the tale when Juubei unleashed it.

** Taking the crown though is [[spoiler:[[AGodAmI Yhwach]], who was born blind, deaf, mute and paralyzed. However, he had the ability to impart pieces of his soul to those who touched him, healing them. When they died, these fragments would return to him, along with the sum of the soul healed by it, letting him grow and develop by [[TheAssimilator absorbing the souls of those who touch him]]. He later developed the ability to imprint particular abilities onto people's souls, setting them up to return to him even more powerful.]]

* ''Anime/CrossAnge'': It's no secret (except to those LockedOutOfTheLoop) that life sucks as a Norma: you can't use or interact with mana, a special kind of information/energy/etc. power, and to rub it in, you're forced into a PenalColony and used as CannonFodder against dragons from another dimension. Later on the inability to use mana out to be a blessing: Embryo, the BigBad and creator of the whole system in place, can remotely control any mana user anywhere like a puppet and communicate through them. While the Norma and dragon users have been able to break Embryo's control and rebel against Embryo and for their own destinies, the Mana users are largely unable to think for themselves as a result, and once [[TheMagicGoesAway the mana system is cut off by Embryo]], they begin flailing around in panic.

** Al. Being a giant, hollow suit of armor probably allowed him to survive some of the things he's been through, no matter how much he wants his body back. Losing their arm/leg/organs/entire body is the reason why Ed, Izumi and eventually Al are able to transmute without a circle.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': The assassin N'Doul is blind, but he has mastered his hearing ability and developed a stand that can accurately dispatch his target for a long range. He turns out to be a very effective magical sniper of sort.

** Denki Kaminari's Quirk "[[ShockAndAwe Electrification]]" allows him to generate and conduct electricity. Over exceeding his wattage limit, on the other hand short, circuits his brain, leaving him brainless for an hour.

*** Qualified by dint of several long and painful rehab sessions after injuries, but as a baseline he has all regular human capabilities, which in a 'verse where most have superpowers makes you a BadassNormal.

** Shishio was covered in oil and set on fire. He did not die, but the fire destroyed all the sweat glands in his skin, meaning his body heat is constantly above normal. This apparently acts as a fuel to give him more strength, but also leads to his own demise from SpontaneousHumanCombustion.

* ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'': A planet is encountered where the inhabitants use telepathy to exclusively communicate. This ability mysteriously developed after the villain faction of the series "harvested" the people's vocal cords. There is no explanation for why the muted folk didn't didn't develop something practical, like sign language. There is just the implication that it has to do with their strong spirituality that may have a connection to the other enigmas driving the story.

** Cassandra Cain was raised in a modified language deprivation experiment, the intent being for her brain to orient itself to interpreting body movement as a first language. As a result she's functionally illiterate and barely able to communicate verbally. However, as a trade-off, she's able to accurately predict the thought process of an opponent based on subtle body language and predict their strategies and individual moves before they make them.

* ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}, from the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, was hit in the face by a [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers radioactive canister]] and went blind. His other senses [[SuperSenses became super-powerful]], and he acquired a "radar sense" that let him "see" objects, much like echolocation. (Creator/FrankMiller's influential run took him closer to this trope, partially explaining the radar sense as a CharlesAtlasSuperpower resulting from training with his enhanced senses.) He can also read normal books by feeling the ink, because his touch is so sensitive.

** Mark Waid's run on the character played around with the limitations of his "vision." While his sense can allow him to perceive shapes around him, it's still nearly impossible for him to perceive color or other visual details (for instance, someone holding up a tablet with the image of the Jester's public identity, he can make out the shape of the tablet, but can't see what's on the screen.) In another issue, while pursuing the Mole Man into Subterrania, he moves through what he perceives to be an empty tunnel. The first panel shows his surroundings through the eyes of his radar sense. The next panel shows what his surroundings as normal where the bumpy looking walls are actually hundreds of gigantic creatures remaining perfectly still, watching Matt pass.[[note]]This seems to ignore that Matt's previously been shown to have acute enough hearing that he can detect living beings just by their heartbeats.[[/note]] Thankfully none of them attacked him. He also has had trouble fighting undead opponents, as their body temperatures are typically low enough he can't sense their body heat and they lack a heartbeat for him to hear.

** [[Comicbook/FantasticFour The Mole Man's]] low light vision works the same way, after be was nearly blinded by a shining cavern of diamonds. He wears special dark glasses to get by in daylight.

** This was later explained as him being able to somehow channel the Anti-Life Equation thorough his pipe, but [[ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis given where this came from]] [[FanonDiscontinuity ...]]

** The reason it doesn't turn up any more is because his hearing was restored after ComicBook/HeroesReborn.

* In ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'', Garrett is blind, but is able to navigate the forest and fight in combat better than most of his seeing peers. This is partly due to training from Kayley's father, but it is also implied that his blindness enhanced his senses of hearing and touch, making him more attuned to his natural surroundings.

* Near the end of ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' [[spoiler: Neo is blinded by Bane, a human who has been taken over by Neo's rival Agent Smith. However he still manages to overpower and kill him due to his powers as [[TheChosenOne the One]]: he can see data and machinery as glowing yellow light. This appears to also include humans who have been possessed by programs. It also happens only in the real world; while in the Matrix, Neo's body still posses normal eyes and vision]].

* In ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico'' Agent Sands becomes a badass blind gunfighter after getting his eyes gouged out by the sick Dr. Guevara. He'd only been blinded for about half an hour, and had to have a kid assist him in taking on several of the cartel by telling him where to shoot. But his final shootout had him taking down two guys all by himself, using sound in order to pinpoint their location and kill them.

** Truth in television, for very rare cases. Mordecai Brown pretty much destroyed his hand through several accidents, and became a baseball pitcher afterwards. His new hand allowed him to throw a devastating curve ball.

* In ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'', the blind character Whistler overhears his own name spoken in conversational tones -- thirty feet away, on the other side of thick plate glass. Later he listens through a powerful microphone aimed at a distant building, and deduces what rooms are which behind sealed windows -- even identifying one as an emergency exit ("I can hear the emergency floodlight batteries recharging"). He also deduces what road Creator/RobertRedford's character was driven on, while tied up in the trunk, based solely on what he heard. The character is based on a RealLife hacker who could actually communicate with modems at low speeds ''sans device'' due to his ability to recognize and replicate the signals.

* In Jose Saramago's ''Literature/{{Blindness}}'', all of humanity becomes blind with the exception of one person. People who were previously blind are accustomed to their condition, and have enough of an advantage that at least one becomes a gang leader of sorts.

* Istvan in ''Literature/DeadSpaceCatalyst'' has heard voices all his life, sees patterns everywhere, can get violent if approached in the wrong way, and does not sync with reality very well. While this normally causes problems for him, when he comes in contact with the [[ArtifactOfDoom Red Marker]] (which causes people to hear voices, draw patterns on everything, get violence, and go crazy), he is able to communicate it with it to some degree.

* In ''Dr. Bloodmoney'' by Creator/PhilipKDick, Hoppy Harrington was born without limbs, but has powerful telekinetic abilities.

* In ''Literature/GenerationDead'', arguably every single zombie in the entire book falls under this trope, since they're not only [[OnlyMostlyDead legally dead]], but get seemingly superhuman strength, endurance, speed and toughness; all while not needing to eat, sleep or drink and being practically unkillable without being either set on fire or bashed in the head... but on the other hand? ''Most of their organs no longer function''; they can't heal themselves if injured; and their brain is generally much slower-functioning, to the point where they're almost all slow-moving klutzes even if they were dancers or athletes before they died, and a previously brilliant teen gets stuffed into remedial classes. Then there's also the thing where they tend to have all or most senses (taste, touch, you name it) dulled, assuming they work at all. NotQuiteDead? You betcha! Better off? Er... good question.

* Jack [=McClure=] from the [[Literature/JackMcClureAlliCarson series of the same name]] by Eric Van Lustbader is severely dyslexic, but has an excellent sense of space and a photographic memory, not to mention the ability to learn foreign languages extremely quickly. He uses these abilities to become a top agent in the ATF before eventually becoming a trusted adviser to the President. Despite this he still has all the difficulty reading associated with dyslexia and needs help deciphering a map.
* Rehhaile from ''Literature/KaneSeries'' was ripped out of her dying mother's womb when ThePlague struck her homeland Demornte. As a result she is blind but she can get into other peoples' minds to see through her eyes. In addition, she can see their feelings and emotions and sometimes she can even influence them. The problem is, very few people survived the plague and they are all depressed and despondent, so there's nothing interesting in their minds.

* Zephyr the oracle from ''Literature/{{Silverwing}}'' is albino and, due to his old age, also blind, and so has developed a sense of hearing so acute he can hear the echos of anything, anywhere. He can also see into the future and past using his ears (or something).

** Lord Militant Commander Drang has a replacement bionic eye which lets him spot an enemy warship up to half a light-year away.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "Blind Date", Angel comes up against one of the most skilled human assassins he has encountered, and she happens to be blind. She blinded herself, then learned to see outside the spectrum of normal human sight -- effectively seeing the move you make before you make it. However, he can actually move faster than her, and ultimately overcomes her by moving in lightning-fast-spurts; if he doesn't move, she can't see him, because vampires don't breathe or have a heartbeat.

-->'''Ted''': (''extremely embarrassed'') Right, well, I suppose your other senses make up for it. I hear that with blind people there other senses become more alert, heh heh, so to speak, I suppose you can smell things from ten miles away and hear things before they happen, heh heheh.

* River Tam from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' (and its follow-up movie, ''Serenity'') winds up with eerie PsychicPowers -- mind-reading abilities that apparently extend from emotions to actual thoughts (both of which were shown surprisingly clearly in the episode "Objects in Space") -- and some surprising WaifFu abilities, which combined with her "extraordinary grace" (ostensibly from [[DanceBattler years of studying dance]]), essentially turn her into a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot psychic ninja ballerina]]. At one point she picks up a gun as if it's a toy, closes her eyes, fires three shots, and kills three bad guys. All of which would be awful nice, if they didn't almost all seem to result from brutal experiments that ''cut out a chunk of her brain'' (leaving her unable to filter her own emotions), and left her [[AxCrazy psychotic]].

** There's also Niki Sanders, whose power appears to be "being insane". Oh, and superstrong. Technically, yes, but in nicer terms she would be a dissociative identity disorder sufferer with a superhuman alter-ego, not unlike The Hulk, Thorn or Typhoid Mary. She is, however, able to use the super-strength on the "Niki" side now that she's learning to control "Jessica". [[spoiler: Unfortunately, there's more than just Niki and Jessica in there.]]

* Hawkeye in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' temporarily received a boost to his other senses -- including hearing that rivalled Radar's ability to detect incoming helicopters -- when he was blinded by an exploding heater. It has been suggested that Radar's super-hearing is a compensation for his incredibly poor eyesight but it's a weak precognitive ability. He's also been known to comply with requests before they're made and answer questions before they're asked. (Some of which could be guessed by experience, some not). Hence his [[MeaningfulName nickname]].

** In an episode when he was blinded, he also realized that it solved a lot of his OCD related phobias, since he couldn't see the chaos around himself, plus his tendency to put everything back at the same place and count his steps, gave him a great head start compared to other blind people.

* In an episode of ''Series/PainkillerJane'', one of the team member's former partner was paralyzed from neck down after an accident. He then becomes a "neuro" with telekinesis. He then goes on a rampage, killing all his former team members who he blames for his condition. He is killed at the end of the episode, which is probably more merciful than "chipping" him and turning him back into a helpless quadriplegic.

** Lex Luthor was left permently bald at nine, but gained an enhanced immune system, that saves him from death more than once.

** Geordi la Forge was born blind, but given synaptic implants that allow a device he wears to translate large portions of the EM spectrum into visual impressions, allowing him at various points to detect by sight things which normally require scanners or tricorders to detect. These impressions are often cited as not being sufficiently "real" when the writers want to play up the disability aspect, though they certainly don't seem to be lacking in detail. In one episode the audience and his crewmates even get to see a visual-frequency representation of what he sees, and it's a psychedelic jumble of colors and lights. No wonder he gets a headache. Geordi's vision has also been subject to the occasional PhlebotinumBreakdown or DroppedGlasses moment. The later movies acknowledged that ScienceMarchesOn by giving him bionic eyes.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E5LoudAsAWhisper Loud As A Whisper]]", Riva, who's deaf, is also telepathic. This is apparently a trait of his family, and possibly linked to their deafness (both are hereditary among them).

* Ricky from ''Series/TrailerParkBoys'' has rotted so many brain cells from years of weed consumption and drinking that his brain actually requires less oxygen than a regular person. This saves his life when he dies from a heart attack, and is able to be resuscitated after being dead for a length of time that would leave a normal person braindead.

* ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds2019'': Emily's able to see again at times and hear things no one else can as a result of the alien signal affecting her brain somehow. This appears to be a result of her blindness (or the condition behind it), since no one else can do these things.

* Music/TheWho's Pinball Wizard, Music/{{Tommy}}, is a "deaf, dumb and blind kid...(who) sure plays a mean pinball." He can feel the table's features, and plays by sense of smell.

* Andrea Bocelli. Despite losing his sight in a soccer accident as a young boy, he went on to become one of the greatest tenors of his time. He also has a law degree, and regularly engages in such pursuits as horseback-riding and sky-diving. Now ''that's'' impressive.

* Indonesian virtuoso guitarist, Yana Mulyana, is born with imperfect hands. This does not, in any way, impede with his amazing ability to play guitar. See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm7O86mGyFU for]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lqbr4xN6To yourself]].

* [[Music/{{Megadeth}} Chris Poland]] severed a tendon in the index finger of his fretting hand when he accidentally put his hand through a plate glass window in his teen years. When it healed, Poland found himself unable to play certain chords, but also found himself able to extend it unnaturally far, which helped him create his SignatureStyle of lengthy legato runs and extremely wide bends that are notoriously difficult for most players to replicate.

* The Oracle class in ''Tabletopgame/{{Pathfinder}}'' includes this in its game mechanics. All oracles are cursed in some mildly disabling way, but gain extra abilities related to the area of their curse - for instance, oracles with clouded vision lose the ability to see more than sixty feet away, but gain the ability to see in the dark and sense invisible creatures.

** The tau also have similar if less extreme characteristics. Which has lead to some interesting EpilepticTrees.

* In Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, the equip spell Flint is an annoying equip spell that weakens the host monster and prevents it from attacking. However, the monster Flint Lock is designed to be immune completely to the negative effects of Flint, and even benefits from extra powers while equipped with Flint, such as being indestructible by battle. Cherry on top, it can even manipulate Flint to contaminate other monsters, or relieve a monster from it to use its protection. This double counts as CripplingTheCompetition and DisabilityImmunity.
* ''In Dark Alleys'': One the PC options in this urban horror game are Cannibals. A Gnostic sect that rejects the illusion of the physical world and their own flesh, going so far as to remove their own body parts over time. But through meditation they can force their souls to act as invisible replacements. These phantom limbs are more powerful than the original and grant supernatural abilities. Removing an eye allows them to see the invisble, etc.

* The One-Armed Judo Competitor, a motivational story commonly told in martial arts schools, tells of a one-armed boy learning from an old master who only ever teaches him one move. He does very well at his first tournament, breezing through his first few matches, struggles in his next few, but ultimately managing to win and become champion even when apparently outmatched. When he asks how he managed to win with only one move, the master knowingly tells him that the move he mastered, which happens to be one of the most difficult throws in Judo, has only one known defense against it: grab your opponent by the left arm.

* While Kit loses her vision at the start of ''VideoGame/AnotherSight'', she finds herself able to see colored outlines based off sound [[spoiler:and can also detect the presence of the Node and some of the things it creates.]] She also develops an unexplained connection to Hodge, who can provide more detail by running around and meowing.
* Hayden Tenno of ''VideoGame/DarkSector'' is a sufferer of congenital analgesia (it's not clear whether he's fully insensitive to pain or simply indifferent, especially since sloppy story editing means [[AllThereInTheManual it's only mentioned in previews]]). He's a fairly unrealistic depiction even when ignoring the inconsistency, since he's managed to get up to adult age and become a black operative for the Not-CIA without having hideously damaged himself (e.g. breaking a bone in a way that obviously doesn't look right once it's healed), though regardless his condition turns out to be exactly what allows him to be infected by TheVirus and only gain the cool superpowers ''without'' the debilitating madness all other infectees suffer from, since they all go insane from extreme pain brought about by the infection (probably what you'd expect when a virus turns your skin into metal) that Hayden can't feel.

* In ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'', Alma's incredible mental powers came at a rather nasty cost: extreme sensitivity to negative emotions, particularly those relating to her father, which often resulted her being rendered catatonic with empathic terror when he was angry. On top of that, she suffered hallucinations, debilitating nightmares, and the occasional bout of pyrokinesis, as well as inadvertently [[MindRape mindraping]] anyone who spent too much time around her.

*** One of the early missions you have with him involves helping him wipe out a rival gang in an alley, which starts off with him feeling around for a loose cobble as a landmark to get to the right alley, and then he runs face first into a wall. [[BewareTheNiceOnes And then he whips out a machine gun, loudly declaring that their blood will flow like wine.]] Depending [[AIIsACrapshoot on how the AI is doing that day]], there's a more than decent chance he's not going to need CJ's help for that section.
* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', the members of the ritualist profession blind themselves to better sense spirits. (Hence their hats) One character (Aeson) even was born blind, and became a ritualist for partially this reason. This is either making themselves blind, or wearing a hat that covers their eyes so they can be deprived of senses. Two ritualist [=NPCs=] (Togo and Yijo Tahn) actually don't wear hats covering their eyes.

** [[SnakePeople Cassiopeia]] is a rather deliberate [[InvokedTrope invoking]] of this on a mechanical sense: being half-snake below the waist, she has a passive condition where she gains movement speed per level, but she cannot buy boots (an otherwise ''mandatory'' series of items for other champions as their source of movespeed). This means she's strictly reliant on her level curve for speed and cannot gain any second benefits of upgraded boots, but [[MagikarpPower by the late game]], she gets to move as fast as other champions ''with'' upgraded boots, ''and'' not having to reserve an item slot for boots allows her to build ''six'' full items instead of the five (plus boots) of everyone else in the game, making her terrifyingly powerful. This dynamic is especially noticeable since the game is overwise [[GameplayAndStorySegregation fairly lax with disabilities and their relation to mechanics]] (Lee Sin can still be "blinded", legless characters like [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Nami]] and [[TentacledTerror Vel'Koz]] can still buy boots, etc.).

** Rajang is a [[KillerGorilla Primate Fanged Beast]] who can enter a GoldenSuperMode via its tail when enraged (which is why it becomes much weaker once you break it.) However, the Furious variant (which debuted in ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunterFreedom2 Monster Hunter Freedom Unite]]'') had its tail cut off as a juvenile. The result? It's now ''permanently'' in that powered up state, and now gets a ''second'' and then '''''third''''' enraged state on top of that.

* In ''[[VideoGame/PsiOpsTheMindgateConspiracy Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy]]'' Jov Leonov was blinded during childhood by an accident. However, in exchange for his sight he ended up with formidable MindControl powers that he used in a successful career as a KGB agent, and then as the Movement's Master of MindControl and the man behind the Meat Puppet project.
* The {{MMORPG}} ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' plays rather brutally with this trope, by means of the Star Knight/Taekwon Master class. Their skill, 'Demon of the Sun, Moon, and Stars' (or 'Solar, Lunar, and Stellar Shadow'), grants its owner a + 30% bonus to Attack Speed - this bonus is insanely large. In exchange? ''The character's sight''. This isn't like the 'Blind' status effect, where a character takes a hit to their accuracy - accuracy is just fine. However the player's screen becomes black the moment this skill is learned, with a lighted area surrounding their character. As the skill is levelled up, and the attack speed bonus moves closer to + 30%, the lighted area shrinks, until at level 10 and + 30% ASPD, the tiles immediately surrounding a character can ''just be made out''. These effects are permanent and utterly irrevocable.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'', it is entirely possible to create something with no eyes. Funnily enough, this only barely effects your ability to actually see (the top third of the screen is blacked out and the rest is monochrome) and gives you a few extra evolution points to boot.

* In ''Videogame/{{Warcraft}} 3'', Demon Hunters blind themselves to better see demons. They have their eyes burnt out, then the eye sockets are used to contain the essence of a demon, which gives them more power and abilities, such as the ability to better see magic in their surroundings, which includes demons. The demon's essence they seal in their eye sockets look like color tinted flames, so they often wear blindfolds over their eyes to keep from creeping out those around them.

* Emi in ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' runs track and hardly appears to miss her feet - in fact, her synthetic legs actually give her an advantage due to their shape and composition. Meanwhile, it is repeatedly stated and shown that the blind Lilly has an insanely good sense of hearing (she mentions listening on people whispering in the next room over, although the walls are thin) and the deaf Shizune is a master strategist since she doesn't let outside influences distract her.

* This gets deconstructed in ''Webcomic/DrFrost''. While Frost's LackOfEmpathy makes him more objective, able to solve cases with more accuracy, and arguably a better psychologist, the downsides of his condition are shown far more than the positives. His [[NoSocialSkills lack of social skills]] alienate him from people, and it causes a lot of miscommunication that complicate cases or make people less willing to open up to him. Even people who genuinely care about him get discouraged.

* Parodied in one ''Webcomic/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' strip, in which the Knights are playing a superhero game, and Brian and Sara both take minor disabilities in order to enhance their powers. Dave and Bob (who had missed that part of the rules) then ask for a moment to redesign their characters, and dramatically jack up their powers at the cost of being severely incapacitated in other respects.
* ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'' codifies this in canon with the [[OurSoulsAreDifferent Light Children]], who are born with just a little more or less soul than normal, but weren't born to Celeste parents. Since they often go undetected and lack the training that Celeste children receive for their extrasensory powers, this usually leads to them being diagnosed with various mental illnesses instead as these same extrasensory powers are often mistaken for hallucinations and other bad behavior. The most common power is resistance to the Celeste's CompellingVoice but they can develop other abilities. For instance Daisy is autistic and can teleport short distances. While White Noise is schizophrenic (supposedly) but shows no special traits other than seemingly complete immunity to Tone, possibly because he joined that universe's ChurchOfHappyology seeking a cure [[spoiler: but he did father said Church's so-called messiah, who now wants to destroy that scam of a religion.]]

** Jericho, another deviser, went blind but developed 360-degree psychic vision instead. But since he doesn't actually perceive light he can only distinguish the shapes of objects, has no color vision and can't read print or video displays. It also doesn't penetrate solid objects so he can't see through windows.

---> '''Actor portraying Toph''': HOAAAAAAAARGH!!!! ({{beat}}) There. I just got a pretty good look at you.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', Daolong Wong rendered Jackie mute, Jade deaf and Tohru blind. Uncle suggested improving the other senses to make up for the lost ones and mentioned, as an example, that he started improving his hearing when his sight became less than perfect, only to be told his hearing wasn't all that either.

* In episode "Reksio terapeuta" ("Reksio the Therapist") of Polish animated series ''Animation/{{Reksio}}'', a cockerel using a toy car as a wheelchair develops strong wings (from pushing it) and learns to fly. He saves his brother from a hawk.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'', OneSceneWonder the blind {{Catfolk}} soldier Lynx-O displays these, when he [[TheNoseKnows detects the scent]] of an invading {{Lizard|folk}} army that's out of sight of his fellow sentries.

* There are three general categories of real-life disability "superpowers". The first category consists of people who lack some ability, and as a result, hone some other ability either to make up for it, or simply because they have nothing better to do. These sorts of abilities are [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower accessible to everyone who spends enough time working at it]]. The second category is a physical defect which in some ways can be an advantage, such as gigantism giving the advantage of extreme height in some sports (despite the health problems it causes), or not "wasting" blood on things you don't need (like legs in pilots; without legs, blood has less space to rush into during high-g maneuvers; a similar principle is used in flight suit design to prevent blood from rushing out of the head). The third category is when something artificial actually provides some advantages over the natural version (for example, some runners get a small advantage from artificial legs that can be modified specifically for running, some wheelchair users can go further distances given navigable territory than pedestrians on foot before tiring, and men without natural external sex organs who find that prostheses and toys actually provide ''more'' pleasure for lovers/flexibility and variation.)

* Animator Creator/RobertMcKimson was in a near-fatal car accident in 1931. Afterward, he found he could visualize things far better, and was able to animate over 100,000 frames of animation each day. He would produce for everyone at Termite Terrace, but eventually was overwhelmed, and would later become the head animator for Creator/BobClampett's unit.

** In the more recent Beat Takeshi version, Zatoichi defeats a sword-bearing {{mook}} by slicing between his hands. The mook is left standing with two portions of a useless (and worthless) sword. His rival in plans to strike him down by exploiting the usual way Zatoichi draws his sword, but Zatoichi hears him change his stance and adjusts his grip accordingly.

* In ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'', after Chikuma Koshirou ([[TheDragon Dragon]] to Yakushiji Tenzen) becomes blinded to protect [[BodyguardCrush his lady of liege Oboro]], he soon learns to compensate his lack of sight by using his senses of hearing and touch as replacement. Too bad [[spoiler: he gets killed when FemmeFatale Kagerou and MasterOfDisguise Saemon use that to their advantage and fool him, with Saemon imitating Akeginu's voice to distract him and Kagerou using that to kill Koushirou with her KissOfDeath.]]

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'''s main character Guts loses an arm in the Eclipse, but it is replaced by a metal hand with a cannon in it.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':

* Yin from ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' is blind, but through her observer apparitions she's able to see, as long as both she and what she's observing is close to water. There appears to be little, if any, limit to the range of these apparitions.
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'': Nana's new prosthetic limbs turn out to be even more useful than her original natural ones. After all, a diclonius becomes that much more dangerous when she can [[RocketPunch throw her own arms at you.]]
** She also becomes mostly immune to Lucy's most devastating attacks. You can't rip off a detachable limb.
* Mr. Fujisawa in ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'' has Superman levels of overall physical capability but his powers only work only when he's sober. Considering the character is a raging drunk, he considers this a grave disability, but he's willing to endure being sober as the situation demands.
** It is eventually revealed in the 2nd OVA of the 1st/OG continuity/universe, that he becomes even much more powerful when he doesn't smoke as well. His full power level is reached in a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome when, finally fully free of the effects of either liquor and/or cigarettes for the first time ever since arriving in Rostaria, he singlehandedly defeats the entire Bugrom army with simple attacks executed at god-tier levels of sheer physical power, even after they have already all literally physically combined into a Godzilla-size superbugrom kaiju.
* Erza from ''Manga/FairyTail'' loses an eye to torture as a child. We never get to see the damage, thankfully, since it scares her closest friend who just proved that, in spite of this flashback being ''before'' he [[BrainwashedAndCrazy lost it]], he was perfectly capable of murder. She gets a fake eye in its place which makes her completely immune to illusion magic and lessens the effects of another [[TakenForGranite spell that requires eye contact]].
* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', [[spoiler:Souther]] has a birth defect that causes his heart to be on the opposite side of his body (which is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrocardia a real condition]]). As a result, his {{Pressure Point}}s are the inverse of where they would be on anyone else, making him immune to Hokuto Shinken's attacks that target them.

* Helen of ''Manga/HelenESP'' is blind, deaf, and mute, but possesses some amount of PsychicPowers, such as communicating telepathically with dogs, most notably her CanineCompanion and best friend, Victor.
* There is a trio of these in ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': One in a SuperWheelchair, one missing an arm but can create invisible limbs made of energy, and one who lost his legs but carries kinetically-charged tops and can [[SpectacularSpinning spin like one too]]. The three of them are friends and bully fighters without superpowers.

* The assassin N'Doul from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'' is blind, but he has mastered his hearing ability and developed a stand that can accurately dispatch his target for a long range. He turns out to be a very effective magical sniper of sort.


* In ''Manga/TheLastSaiyuki'', Koharu uses her psychic abilities to move her prosthetic limbs to move around.
* In ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamThunderbolt'', Daryl Lorenz of Zeon's "Living Dead Division" starts out as just a double amputee, having lost his legs. However, a combination of an encounter with Io Fleming's Full Armor Gundam and the need for a pilot for the powerful High Mobility Zaku II (Reuse "P" Device) leads him to become a quadruple amputee. However, the way the Reuse "P" Device works requires the pilot to be this way. That "P"? Stands for "Psyco", or "Psycommu", meaning that by being said quadruple amputee, the pilot can plug into the mobile suit and control it with his mind.
* A recurring trait among Quirk users in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia.''

* Possibly Akira in ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'', who deliberately destroyed his sight in order to match up with "born fighters".

* The character Sasaki Kojiro in Takehiko Inoue's ''Manga/{{Vagabond}}'' is born deaf. A character muses on the possibility that only being able to listen his "interior voice" is what gives Kojiro his remarkable ability in swordsmanship. Kojiro also develops a preternatural ability to sense people sneaking up behind him, much to the surprise of many a would-be attacker.
** ''Manga/{{Vagabond}}'''s Sasaki Kojirou is ''very'' different from the basis for the manga (Eiji Yoshikawa's ''Musashi'') in that he's deaf, with multiple character interactions and fights riding on this. Two separate characters even theorize that his swordsmanship has improved ''because'' of his deafness: one hypothesizing that his eyesight improved to compensate, while another thought that without sound to distract him he could better listen to his own body which already knew the techniques. Subverted by Kanemaki Jisai, who tried to dissuade him from a life of swordsmanship by repeatedly taking advantage of Kojirou's deafness to defeat him multiple times over the years.

--->'''Toph (on being shown a wanted poster with her face on it):''' It ''sounds'' like a sheet of paper but I guess you're referring to what's ''on'' the sheet of paper.\\

* Toph from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. She's a great Earthbender, both because of natural talent and because she's blind: She learned how to use earthbending to sense her surroundings by registering vibrations in earth from the giant badgermoles she played with when she was young. She's so skilled with it that she can even act as a LivingLieDetector by monitoring their pulse like a polygraph. It does have some obvious limations, however: she can't see if she's not on solid ground (like sand or in the water) and can't see anything in the air. Plus she can't see certain details, like being unable to read or see pictures. Her power is so effective it [[RunningGag frequently]] [[ForgotTheDisability makes her friends forget she's blind]].

** Soulseer Mizutsune, the Deviant version of Mizutsune, is a very old Mizutsune who's gone blind either from a battle or from old age. However, it can "see" prey through its bubbles...and when it does, boy does it get ''[[BerserkButton pissed.]]'' It can also fire ''[[StuffBlowingUp explosive]]'' bubbles due to its diet of a combustible species of fish called a Bomb Arowana.
** Rajang is a [[KillerGorilla Primate Fanged Beast]] who can enter a GoldenSuperMode via its tail when enraged (which is why it becomes much weaker once you break it.) However, the Furious variant had its tail cut off as a juvenile. The result? It's now ''permanently'' in that powered up state, and now gets a ''second'' and then '''''third''''' enraged state on top of that.

* ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}, from the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, was hit in the face by a [[ILoveNuclearPower radioactive canister]] and went blind. His other senses [[SuperSenses became super-powerful]], and he acquired a "radar sense" that let him "see" objects, much like echolocation. (Creator/FrankMiller's influential run took him closer to this trope, partially explaining the radar sense as a CharlesAtlasSuperpower resulting from training with his enhanced senses.) He can also read normal books by feeling the ink, because his touch is so sensitive.

* Rehhaile from ''Literature/{{Kane}}'' was ripped out of her dying mother's womb when ThePlague struck her homeland Demornte. As a result she is blind but she can get into other peoples' minds to see through her eyes. In addition, she can see their feelings and emotions and sometimes she can even influence them. The problem is, very few people survived the plague and they are all depressed and despondent, so there's nothing interesting in their minds.

--> -- '''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''', [[http://mightygodking.com/index.php/i-dont-need-your-civil-war/ I Don't Need Your Civil War]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

--> '''Vitruvius:''' Master Builders spend years training themselves to clear their minds enough to have even a fleeting glimpse of The Man Upstairs, and yet your mind is already so prodigiously empty that there is nothing in it to clear away in the first place. You could be a ''great'' Master Builder.

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* High G turns are dangerous because the centrifugal force acting on the blood pulls it out of the head, starving the brain of oxygen and can cause pilots to temporarily lose their vision or even black out. The blood that is centrifuged away from the brain instead tends to pool in the legs. A WWII pilot named Doug Bader, who had lost his legs in a previous accident, found that he could withstand much tighter turns than his wingmates, likely due to the fact that he had no legs to act as reservoirs for his blood to pool in. This may have contributed to his success as a pilot in the RAF, where he made ace against the Luftwaffe

* There is a trio of these in ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': One in a SuperWheelchair, one missing an arm but can create invisible limbs made of energy, and one who lost his legs but carries kinetically-charged tops and can [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spin like one too]]. The three of them are friends and bully fighters without superpowers.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' has Nick blinded by a fly-like Wesen. He suddenly realizes that his hearing has been turned UpToEleven. Not only can he hear the MonsterOfTheWeek's buzzing (which no one else can), but he can also clearly hear whispered conversations in another room and both sides of a phone call. After stumbling a bit, he confronts the Wesen and ends up handily beating him, despite still being blind. After his eyesight is restored, he resolves to practice fighting blindfolded with [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Monroe]] throwing various fruits and vegetables in the air, and Nick attempting to hit them with a stick. Nick doesn't miss once. Later, Nick is temporarily zombified by the puffer fish-like Baron Samedi. After coming to his senses, he finds out that his metabolism control is much greater than before (e.g. he can go for a vigorous jog and not even break a sweat).

** Rajang is a [[KillerGorilla Primate Fanged Beast]] who can enter a GoldenSuperMode via its tail when enraged (which is why it becomes much weaker once you break it.) However, the Furious variant had its tail cut off as a juvenile. The result? It's now ''permanently'' in that powered up state, and now gets a ''[[UpToEleven second]]'' and then '''''third''''' enraged state on top of that.

* ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfGenji'': Songtai is an airbender who was born hard of hearing, but was taught by his mother how to amplify his hearing through [[MakeSomeNoise soundbending]]. Despite this, he still prefers communicating with sign language in his everyday interactions.

* ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfGenji'': Songtai is an airbender who was born hard of hearing, but was taught by his mother how to amplify his hearing using [[MakeSomeNoise soundbending]]. Despite this, he still prefers communicating with sign language in his everyday interactions.

* ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfGenji'': Songtai is an airbender who was born hard of hearing, but was taught by his mother how to use [[MakeSomeNoise soundbending]] to amplify his hearing. Despite this, he still prefers communicating with sign language in his everyday interactions.

* ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfGenji'': Songtai is an airbender who was born hard of hearing, but compensates for it by using [[MakeSomeNoise soundbending]] taught to him by his mother to artificially amplify his hearing. Despite this, he still prefers communicating with sign language in his everyday interactions.