OP credits go to The Mayor Of Simpleton

Courtesy link to the oldest version of the page on the Internet Archive, prior to its first rename to Disabled Love Interest.

The problem: Disabled Love Interest is about a love interest who happens to be disabled. Different possible tropeworthy meanings are mentioned in the description, although none is emphasized, and the description flat out says right afterward that it can just be a normal love interest who is disabled:

A while back, mightymewtron mentioned wanting to do a wick check on this/bring this to TRS due to tropeworthiness concerns/being just "a love interest who is disabled". Unfortunately, she lost progress on an in-progress wick check after a mis-click. After a bit of time passed, I decided to do my own wick check due to my own concerns about the trope, of which Mew agreed I could do in the provided link. Selkies additionally suggested that a possible "Tragically Disabled Love Interest" would be a legitimate idea, and that that trope could be extracted from Disabled Love Interest provided enough examples existed for it (further details in the linked post).

Following all of this, I, War Jay 77, and Yindee did the check.

Wick check: Link here, but here's the quick results:

• 8/50 examples were of a love interest being made disabled for tragedy or drama, or 16%,
• 19/50 examples were just a love interest who happens to be disabled, or 38%,
• 4/50 examples were of other use, or 8%,
• 18/50 examples were zero-context or unclear, or 36%, and
• 1/50 examples were unclassifiable, or 2%

Totaling the Chairs and ZCE examples together (2 examples in the ZCE folder were "unclear", so those will be excluded), that's

• 35/50 examples that were Chairs or zero-context, or 70%, and
• 14/50 examples that had sufficient tropeworthy context, or 28%

Analysis: Alright, so 70% of the use being Chairs or zero-context isn't good. Just 16% or 8/50 of the wicks matching a "Tragically Disabled Love Interest" or used for dramatic use also indicates that such a trope may or may not need a TLP run or Yarding, if it were to be made. As expected, "a love interest who is disabled" or Zero-Context Examples made up most of the use.

Possible solutions: I propose either cutting or disambiguating this trope, due to the vast amount of Chairs or zero-context use. The "tragically disabled" idea could be Yarded or sent to the TLP separately—perhaps with whatever tragic or dramatic examples are salvaged from this trope.

What does everyone else think? Any other ideas or suggestions?

1. Literature.Pin: Ursula's boyfriend Stan has a wooden leg from his time in the war and issues around it. "Issues" implies tragedy.
2. UsedToBeASweetKid.Anime And Manga: Naoka Ueno is a particularly tragic example. As a young and genuinely sweet girl in elementary school she nursed an unrequited but innocent crush on the protagonist Shoya Ishida, and wanting to please him badly she started to model her behaviour on his own. Unfortunately Shoya was a bullying troublemaker so Ueno became a brat herself and joined in on Shoya’s torment of deaf girl Shouko Nishimiya. Worse still she soon discovered Shouko had a crush on Shoya as well and stricken with jealous hatred she upped her bullying of Shouko and blamed her when their class eventually used Shoya as a scapegoat when Shouko‘s mother complained. In the present Ueno is an obnoxious Alpha Bitch who still can’t stand Shouko and despairing at a reformed Shoya now reciprocating Shouko’s feelings, does her best to come between them acting like a Yandere in the process. Implied tragedy of disability surrounding pothole.
3. Series.California Dreams: One Girl of the Week. Very Special Episode topic was the focal character's discomfort with his date's disability, and getting over it. Saved by the Bell had a similar episode but with a different angle. Disability of love interest used for drama.
4. VideoGame.Septerra Core: Led has prosthetic legs, and first believes Grubb isn't attracted to her because of them, but eventually realizes he's just really shy.
   • Turns out Led is also really insecure; perfect strangers will often respond to her conversation option with gifts and requests for dates! Disability is used for drama.
5. Series.Nip Tuck: At one point Christian Troy dated a blind woman. He was initially intrigued by her because she couldn't simply judge him by his appearance, and was wondering at the time if women saw anything more in him than his looks and status. Close enough to drama—and the disability is being used as a trope.
6. Dogged Nice Guy: Shōko Nishimiya the main female protagonist of A Silent Voice has got this bad for the male protagonist Shoya Ishida having had a crush on him since elementary school (despite his bullying of her) and even more so after after he Took a Level in Kindness and becomes The Atoner. Tragically she is unable to properly reveal her feelings to him due to being deaf with her Speech Impediment leading to a particularly heartbreaking Anguished Declaration of Love that Shoya being Oblivious to Love mistakes for her saying “I love moon”. It’s worth noting Shoya does eventually develop feelings for Shōko in return, it’s just that his self-hatred is so severe that the idea that Shōko could love him in the first place after what he put her through simply doesn’t compute with him at all and initially treated her more like a close friend that he had to make up to. Making matters worse is that Shōko almost commits suicide at seeing the anguish and pain she’s inadvertently brought to the boy she adores and is only just saved in time by Ishida himself. Pothole is used to refer to a tragically disabled love interest.
7. ShrinkingViolet.Film: The female main character in In the Company of Men is handpicked by her Jerkass coworker exactly for this reason. His plan involves emotionally destroying a random woman in alleged revenge against the female gender. Thus, he chooses Christine, the most beautiful girl in the company but very self-conscious about her strong deaf accent and her hearing impairment to the point of willingly avoiding to interact with anyone. Justified: the very moment she gets out of her shell, she ends up viciously bullied and emotionally scarred for life. Disability of love interest played for drama.
8. Recap.Kids Incorporated: “The Boy Next Door“: Ana struggles to deal with the fact that a boy she likes is confined to a wheelchair. Welcome Episode for Charlie Brady and Anthony Harrell, as well as for Dena Burton, who plays Dena, the final soda jerk for the P*lace. Disability played for drama.

1. ComicStrip.Luann: Bernice's love interest Zane, paralyzed from the waist down, but still handsome.
2. Film.Lucky Star: They have a Meet Cute before the war, but the real romance doesn't start until Tim comes home from France, bound to a wheelchair. As written, just a love interest who is disabled.
3. Series.Son De Fierro: A male one, the blind Juan. More than that, even being blind he was the disputed part of a Love Triangle.
4. Webcomic.Forestdale: Susan Summers to Jordan Noel and vice versa, the lizard having a massive crush on the wheelchair bound rabbit.
5. WesternAnimation.Harley Quinn 2019: Vixen's girlfriend Elle walks with crutches and a lower-extremity prosthesis on her right leg.
6. Characters.The Hunger Games Literature Protagonists: Loses his left leg in the first book, and has a prosthetic for the rest of the series. As written, just a love interest who is disabled.
7. VisualNovel.Cartagra: Yura was this for Shugo before he left for the war. At least, that's what he and Kazuna were led to believe. Just a love interest who is disabled.
8. VideoGame.The Walking Dead Season Four: If you romance one but save the other in Episode 2, Clementine will be dating a mute Louis or blind Violet at the end, while she's missing a leg herself. Just love interests who are disabled.
9. Series.Cold Case: Wheelchair-bound paraplegic Vicki in "Bad Night", who has no less than three suitors throughout the episode, including the victim and the killer. Just a love interest who is disabled.
10. Recap.Kessler Maurer MMBC: Since all contestants are disabled, everyone initially had potential to fall under this. Just love interests who are disabled.
11. Characters.Helltaker: The epilogue reveals she's blind- hence her use of sunglasses. It does nothing to detract from her attractiveness. Just a love interest who is disabled—the entry even admits it.
12. ComicBook.Kick Ass: A downplayed example with Valerie, Dave's love interest in Volume 3. She wears a single hearing aid, but no attention is drawn to it. Just a love interest who is disabled—which the entry admits as such.
13. Film.The Invincible Fist: Tieh Wu-qing ends up falling for the nice, blind serving-girl in the tavern he stays in, where they quickly starts a relationship. Too bad that blind girl turns out to be the daughter of the Big Bad Ma Wai-jia. Just a love interest who is disabled.
14. Fanfic.The Gray Jedi Series: Zak and Myria are in a relationship, and she is technically blind. As written, just a love interest who is disabled.
15. Film.Head In The Clouds: Mia walks with a limp due to a leg injury during her youth. It turns out she'd been previously been Gilda's lover and has a mutual attraction with Guy. Just a love interest who is disabled.
16. Characters.The Last Of Us 2023: He becomes this to Bill after he gets sick with an unknown disease that makes him wheelchair-bound. Just a love interest who is disabled.
17. Characters.X Men Film Series Professor Charles Xavier: In X-Men: First Class, it's hinted that he briefly had a romance with Moira after his spinal cord injury, but he's forced to end their relationship to protect himself and his students from the CIA. As written, just a love interest who is disabled. The relationship ending is due to the CIA, not the disability.
18. GoodScarsEvilScars.Anime And Manga: A Case Closed case is named "The Scar that Evolves Into Love". It's about a pretty and blind rich woman named Kurumi Shoudou who hires Kogoro to find her first love, a man who is supposed to have a scar on his chest coming from the time he saved her life years ago: there are three men who hit this profile... but one of them may be a Serial Killer who's on the loose. It turns out that the Shoudou's butler Taisuke Houya was said man... and that Kurumi already knew it, but staged a Batman Gambit so he would stop putting her needs over his own and aknoeledge their mutual love. So of course, it's a Good Scar from his part. (The Serial Killer? Neither of the three guys was him. But don't worry, he's caught in the next case.) As written, just a love interest who is disabled.
19. Quotes.Katawa Shoujo:

So it's actually not about seducing and nailing disabled girls. The girls happen to have disabilities, but the more you get to know them, the more you come to realise that they are girls just like any other. They are humans with hopes and dreams, and messy, fucked up insecurities about being alive and happy. They are not strange people - they are regular ordinary human beings who feel the way they feel not because they are disabled, but because they are ordinary. They are the universal allegory for humanity; the archetypal human; the mess you become when you feel sad and alone and unworthy. They are the girl next door, the prom queen, the bookworm, the tomboy, and all the baggage that comes with that - nothing more or less.

They resonate with you because you recognise your flaws and needs and desires and triumphs and victories, and those of the loved ones you know and care about. You want to make them happy, because you want them to be happy, because you know them and are them, and in some way you believe everyone you love deserves to be happy.

You are not alone, and you are not strange. You are you, and everyone has damage. Be the better person.

— A message from The Anonymous of 4chan◊ Just love interests who happen to be disabled.

1. Literature.Malevil: Miette is mute due to what is implied to be brain damage caused by a premature birth (presumably a kind of aphasia, although this theory falls in front of the fact that she's perfectly capable of reading and communicating via sign language). Meanwhile, Evelyn, probably the closest thing Emmanuel ever gets to a real "love interest", is asthmatic. The trope is painfully deconstructed as it is realized that, cute as she might be, Evelyn stands no real chance of surviving the post-apocalyptic world where her asthma medicines no longer exist. Everyone admits that she's living on borrowed time, waiting the attack that would inevitably finishes her, and when Emmanuel dies she decides to be done with it herself. Barely even mentions the "love interest" part and is more just about deconstructing the disability aspect.
2. Characters.Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric: Inverted. He is The Protagonist and has an automail leg and arm (by the finale, just the leg automail) and is this for Winry, who, interestingly, is the one who maintains his prosthetic limbs. This led to an amusing incident where Hughes says "I hear your brought a pretty blond girl into your room to service you" when she was fixing his automail. They eventually marry. Love interest who is disabled, but it does affect the plot. Putting it in Other.
3. Characters.The Giver Quartet (2): To Claire. Despite his needing a pair of makeshift crutches to walk they easily bond, and Einar teaches her how to climb. They do not, however, end up together, as Claire eventually moves on to Village, in order to find Gabe. Disability relevant to plot, although as written the drama or tragedy isn't emphasized.
4. Webcomic.Unintentionally Pretentious: Mia is this for Luthor, and it is implied that she was for quite a few people before him. In fact, between her and Sydney, Mia is not only widely considered to be the most beautiful (and isn't afraid to take advantage of her status as a disabled person to win sympathy points from men she finds attractive), but is also the one vastly more interested in sex and romance. At times, she can act downright slutty, which can be a shock to people expecting a blind girl to be saintly and timid by default. Disability exploited by character to make them seem more attractive.

1. Characters.Honoo No Alpen Rose: Subverted, Marie likes [[spoiler: Lundi]] but she clearly ''never'' stood a chance against [[spoiler: Jeudi]]. doesn't explain what her disability is
2. ComicBook.Creature Tech: Katie. ZCE
3. Literature.Crash: Gabrielle ZCE commented out
4. Literature.Sick Kids In Love: Two of 'em.
5. Recap.The A Team S 3 E 21 Waste Em: Face starts putting the moves on Lisa, only to realize that she's blind. This makes him a little hesitant to kiss her, but once she points out that blind people kiss too, it doesn't stop him. I wouldn't really say "tragedy" here, but not just a love interest who is disabled either. Unclear.
6. WesternAnimation.Cricket On The Hearth: Bertha becomes inflicted by "hysterical blindness" due to grief over the news of Edward's death. Bertha is a love interest to both Edward and Tackleton, but this example doesn't clarify that
7. Fanfic.Enslaved: It's Yue. No context.
8. VisualNovel.Adastra 2018: Cassius is this to Alexios. No context.
9. YMMV.Port Charles: Cliché Storm: Ellen and Matt's relationship, which managed to display no less than five tropes—Black Gal on White Guy Drama, Disabled Love Interest (he's paralyzed), Likes Older Women (she's at least 10 years his senior), Teacher/Student Romance (he's an intern while she's an attending), and Defrosting Ice Queen. Low context pothole.
10. Characters.Andi Mack: To Jonah. ZCE.
11. Characters.Kill La Kill AU: To Soichiro, currently ZCE.
12. Characters.The Giver Quartet (1): To Jonas. Unlike most examples, it's pretty permanent. Little context.
13. DarthWiki.Special Intelligence: Again, Sharon Carter. No context.
14. JustForFun.How To Become A Love Interest: Get a not-too-crippling disability. If you don't like the idea of permanently hurting yourself, try getting a not-too-disfiguring and non-contagious disease. Nothing invokes those chivalrous instincts like a cough in the right moment. Watch out, though: if you're too good at, you may end up dying in the end. Joke page—as written it's a bit unclear. Maybe drama? Certainly not Chairs though.
15. Literature.The Fault In Our Stars: Augustus, in Hazel's view. See Artificial Limbs. Commented-out ZCE.
16. Characters.The Heroic Legend Of Arslan: She is this for Hilmes. ZCE.
17. Series.Maria La Del Barrio: Alicia, for Nandito. ZCE.
18. Seinfeld.Tropes A To H: Lola, who was denied "The Handicap Spot". Not enough context.

1. FanficRecs.Downton Abbey Tag on a Fanfic Rec.