History Main / DisabledMeansHelpless

* The stereotype of developmental, intellectual, and learning disabilities all gets piled into assuming ''anyone'' with those disabilities is incapable of independent adult functioning and must be treated as a small child or someone at the severest extreme of those disabilities. Almost all ''learning disabled'' people (note: in the United Kingdom, intellectual disabilities are referred to as "learning disabilities") are perfectly capable of independent living as adults, though they may need assistive devices or help with, say, reading or mathematics - dyslexia and dyscalculia, for example, have no impact on intelligence itself, especially if recognised and properly compensated for. Even direct intellectual disability itself doesn't ''necessarily'' mean that someone is "stupid" or legally incompetent - it is quite possible for someone with borderline intellectual disability to be "slow but normal," in that there's really not that much difference from an IQ of 75 (that would be at the low end of "normal" but people with this IQ have gotten high school educations, have, in the absence of other disabilities been employable, etc) and one of 70 (which is considered the starting point for intellectual disability)

* The stereotype of developmental, intellectual, and learning disabilities all gets piled into assuming ''anyone'' with those disabilities is incapable of independent adult functioning and must be treated as a small child or someone at the severest extreme of those disabilities. Almost all ''learning disabled'' people are perfectly capable of independent living as adults, though they may need assistive devices or help with, say, reading or mathematics - dyslexia and dyscalculia, for example, have no impact on intelligence itself, especially if recognised and properly compensated for. Even direct intellectual disability itself doesn't ''necessarily'' mean that someone is "stupid" or legally incompetent - it is quite possible for someone with borderline intellectual disability to be "slow but normal," in that there's really not that much difference from an IQ of 75 (that would be at the low end of "normal" but people with this IQ have gotten high school educations, have, in the absence of other disabilities been employable, etc) and one of 70 (which is considered the starting point for intellectual disability)

** The crowning example from that family of sites may be [[https://notalwaysright.com/crippling-her-chances-of-getting-the-job/191189/ this story]] from ''Website/NotAlwaysWorking''. A woman arrives for an interview, sees a man in a wheelchair, and tries to push him out of the building on the basis that cripples can't work so he can't be working there. When he calls for his coworker brother to get her off him, she screams sexism and assault, justifying her treatment of the wheelchair-bound man by calling him "depraved". Finally, someone asks her about her interview appointment, and she says it was for an IT job. [[MuggingTheMonster Guess who's the head of the IT department, would have been conducting her interview, and would have been her boss had she passed?]]

** The crowning example from that family of sites may be [[https://notalwaysright.com/crippling-her-chances-of-getting-the-job/191189/ this story]] from ''Website/NotAlwaysWorking''. A woman arrives for an interview, sees a man in a wheelchair, and tries to push him out of the building on the basis that cripples can't work so he can't be working there. When he calls for his coworker brother to get her off him, she screams sexism and assault, never mind that her behavior toward the wheelchair-bound man is assault, then insists that he is "special needs" and "depraved". Finally, someone asks her about her interview appointment, and she says it was for an IT job. [[MuggingTheMonster Guess who's the head of the IT department, would have been conducting her interview, and would have been her boss had she passed?]]

* [[https://notalwaysright.com/needs-to-be-brailled-out-of-that-class/ This]] story from ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' has a teacher ask a blind kid to say something in sign language (which he doesn't know) on the first day of school and proclaim him too immature to attend school when he refuses.
** In another story, [[https://notalwaysright.com/disabling-the-able-disabled/ This]] woman thinks that people in wheelchairs are totally incapable of doing anything on their own.

* [[http://notalwayslearning.com/needs-to-be-brailled-out-of-that-class/32116 This]] story from ''[[Website/NotAlwaysRight Not Always Learning]]'' has a teacher ask a blind kid to say something in sign language (which he doesn't know) on the first day of school and proclaim him too immature to attend school when he refuses.
** Also, from the main Not Always Right site: [[http://notalwaysright.com/disabling-the-able-disabled/28389 This]] woman thinks that people in wheelchairs are totally incapable of doing anything on their own.

* This was a key piece of the highly-publicized Jenny Hatch trial. Hatch (who has Down’s Syndrome) had been working a job and living semi-independently with friends, but her mother and stepfather filed a petition for an extremely restrictive guardianship because they felt she would be safer living in a group home and wanted to be able to make that choice for her against her objections (they also asked for additional power of decision-making, up to and including deciding who Jenny would be allowed to see or spend time with). Subverted as a judge ultimately ruled that while Jenny would need a temporary guardian to help her make the transition to independent decision-making, she was competent to make her own decisions with some support, and therefore there was no need for anything near as restrictive as what her mother was seeking. In keeping with this, he also passed over the mother as her guardian, instead granting the guardianship to a pair of Jenny's friends who supported her independence.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Kim is initially uncomfortable around Ron's friend Felix, a wheelchair user, and keeps trying to be over-helpful. Fortunately, he finds it amusing rather than annoying:

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' sees a child with a prosthetic arm approaching Cyborg and telling him that he's his favorite hero, because "they're the same." At the end of the episode (which centers on Cyborg overcoming his doubts about his robotic components), the same kid appears. This time, though, Cyborg tells him that what ''really'' makes them special isn't their prosthetics--rather, it's their ability to overcome the challenges they present and still enjoy life that makes them both heroes.

* Subverted and somewhat [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] in ''Anime/GuiltyCrown''. [[{{Tsundere}} Ayase]] is wheelchair-bound, but she is still the most skilled Endlave pilot in the show. Getting helped because of her disability is her biggest BerserkButton, even if it would be far more convenient for the situation. Defrosting at the hands of [[ChickMagnet Shu]] eventually gets her over this.

* Averted in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs''. Hayate is paraplegic and wheelchair bound, but it's never really treated as being important outside of [[spoiler:being a sign that the [[ArtifactOfDeath Book of Darkness]] is slowly killing her]]. In fact, no one outside of her doctors or family even mentions it. It helps that she's depicted as an incredibly competent homemaker [[WiseBeyondTheirYears despite being nine years old]].
* Subverted in ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero''. Togo worries that she can't be a good [[MagicalGirl Hero]] because she's wheelchair-bound, but her fears are proven wrong once she finally transforms. She's a great sniper and she has no problem moving around as a Hero either. It helps that [[spoiler:she was a Hero prior to her paralysis, though she doesn't consciously remember this]].

* Nunnally uses this belief for her advantage in ''Fanfic/OfSiblingsAndMasks''. Being wheelchair bound, people think of her as frail. This accentuates her image as [[TheIngenue kind]] and [[AllLovingHero loving]], but it's really all [[BeneathTheMask a mask she puts on]]. Nunnally is spiteful, intelligent, and anything but helpless.
* ''Fanfic/MySisterLeni'': Leni has this viewpoint of herself in the latter half of the fic. Leni is on the autism spectrum and, as a teenager, she becomes depressed because she has difficulty doing things compared to her family. She begins worrying that she's a [[TheLoad deadweight]] who can't do anything right. Eventually, Leni gets through this InternalizedCategorism.

* An urban legend tells a tale of a guy who has one of his car's tires deflated while in front of a lunatic asylum. While he changes the tire he puts the bolts on the rim, just as a car goes through, scattering them. The man is unable to find the bolts he needs, so one of the lunatic patients tells him to use one bolt from each other wheel. He does and is surprised that the lunatic had that good idea. The lunatic's response? "I'm crazy, not stupid."

* Averted in ''Literature/DragonBones'': Ward is grabbed by a man who thinks that because Ward [[ObfuscatingStupidity seems to be mentally retarded]], he can't defend himself. GentleGiant Ward throws him to the other side of the room, exclaiming that he loves wrestling. Later on, he decides to take his younger sister [[CuteMute Ciarra]] with him when he leaves the castle, as he suspects some men may feel tempted to molest a girl who can't cry for help. (When the heroes later witness an attempted rape, it becomes clear that Ciarra isn't all that helpless ... she wounds one of the rapists so badly that Ward has to finish him off in a MercyKill)

* Elizabeth Bathory's feelings of self-loathing in ''Literature/CountAndCountess'' are a result of this mindset. (She suffers from severe epilepsy throughout the novel.) She later subverts it however, making her more of a HandicappedBadass.

* Brightheart from ''Literature/WarriorCats'' was mauled by a dog before she could become a warrior. This left her with a scarred face, one missing eye, and heavy emotional trauma. Despite the others suggesting she retire early, Brightheart refuses to [[CareerEndingInjury abandon her desire]] to be a warrior and learns how to fight despite her partial blindness.

* On ''Series/OneLifeToLive'', upon meeting his ex-wife's ALS-stricken father, Andrew proceeds to talk to him very loudly. After a while, the man tells him (his throat muscles are paralyzed, but he communicates with a computer) that he can hear him just fine.

** Another episode plays with the trope by having Blanche make a date with a handsome man in a library...but it's only after she leaves that the audience learns that he's in a wheelchair. When he comes to pick her up, there's quite a bit of [[IgnoreTheDisability awkward conversation]] about it, and Blanche is initially reluctant to pursue the relationship because of his handicap. She eventually comes around and they have a great time...until she discovers that he's married and cheating. The man then invokes the trope, claiming that he needs sympathy as his wife "doesn't understand him" after his accident. Blanche [[ShutUpHannibal shuts him down]] by pointing out that ''she'' does--he's a cheater, plain and simple. It's almost as if the writers were deliberately using this trope on the audience, as we're led to believe that a person with any sort of handicap must be a pure, good person, given how they're usually portrayed in fiction.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Kim is initially uncomfortable around Ron's wheelchair-bound friend Felix, and keeps trying to be over-helpful. Fortunately, he finds it amusing rather than annoying:

* In the ''Anime/KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'' anime, this is why [[spoiler:Shuuko Suzuhara]] left her child [[spoiler:Misaki]] under the care of others, since she didn't want people to look down on Misaki for having "a useless mother", which is unfortunately TruthInTelevision as far as attitudes towards the disabled go in Japan. Elsewhere too of course; it's far from being an exclusively "Japanese" attitude, as discussed in the RealLife section of this page.

[[caption-width-right:350:Poor Foggy, [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} he does not suspect anything...]]]]

* This was a key piece of the highly-publicized Jenny Hatch trial. Hatch had been working a job and living semi-independently with friends, but her mother and stepfather filed a petition for an extremely restrictive guardianship because they felt she would be safer living in a group home and wanted to be able to make that choice for her against her objections (they also asked for additional power of decision-making, up to and including deciding who Jenny would be allowed to see or spend time with). Subverted as a judge ultimately ruled that while Jenny would need a temporary guardian to help her make the transition to independent decision-making, she was competent to make her own decisions with some support, and therefore there was no need for anything near as restrictive as what her mother was seeking. In keeping with this, he also passed over the mother as her guardian, instead granting the guardianship to a pair of Jenny's friends who supported her independence.

* In one ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' [[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/3faces/bbhr.htm postscript strip]] in ''Webcomic/TheHeroOfThreeFaces'', someone suggests to Fasha (who is in a wheelchair due to her version of the IncurableCoughOfDeath in the baseline arc) that she try yoga. Fasha replies that, as the person in the wheelchair, she understands her own situation better than a random person encountering her for the first time, and that anything they think of, she's probably already thought of herself.

* This is also why Toph Beifong's parents in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' kept her so sheltered that even her ''existence'' was a secret. Why, their helpless little blind girl would obviously perish if allowed to leave the house for even a moment! When she proved to them that she is ''more'' than capable of handling herself, their reaction was to declare that she had been given ''too much'' freedom and will now be monitored 24/7. This kind of upbringing presented a whole new set of problems for Toph later on in her life in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' in terms of relationships.

** Aside from this, there have been a number of court cases over the years involving the sexual activity of a handicapped person with a healthy one, with the healthy being accused of, essentially, statutory rape. Suffice to say, [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil this]] is a ''very'' hotly debated topic.

** Aside from this, there have been a number of court cases over the years involving the sexual activity of a handicapped person with a healthy one, with the healthy being accused of, essentially, statutory rape. Suffice to say, [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil this]] is a ''very'' [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment hotly-debated topic]].

* Robert "Arrowstar" Schelley, a supehero from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', was paralyzed from mid-chest down in a car accident. He can breathe on his own, and has some rough control over his arms, but otherwise he's non-mobile. That is, until he's strapped into his PoweredArmor, which is effectively just a human-shaped, exo-skeletal, heavily armed and indestructible wheelchair. When he's out of his wheelchair, unfortunately, several of his teammates treat him like his injuries were to his brain and not to his spine.

* ''Film/AQuietPlace'' plays with this in Regan's case. While she'd deaf, she's no more helpless than the other characters when it comes to dealing with the monsters besides that she won't hear them coming (as demonstrated in one scene). However, her deafness can be inferred to be the reason as to why Lee doesn't take her on errands, even when she volunteers to, as he's probably acting out of concern of her accidentally making a noise or being near a noisy animal (or person) because she won't be able to hear it but she interprets it as him blaming her for [[spoiler: Beau's death]].

* When Clark gpes blind in one episode of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', his parents think that stepping out of his normal line of sight would be far enough away for him not to hear them talking about him.

* Clark went blind in one episode of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', his parents thought that stepping out of his eyeline would be far enough away for him not to hear them talking about him.

* In ''Fanfic/LostFound'', Ryuuko touches upon this with a one-eyed Nui. According to her, the other kids at the "orphanage" liked to pick on Nui because, being blind in one eye, she wouldn't see them coming.