History Main / InspirationallyDisadvantaged

!!Patronizing:

!!Superpowered:

!!Magical:

* ''Film/Music2021'': The film uses this trope with Music (a non verbal autistic teenage girl) so blatantly that it’s a shock that it isn’t a parody. Several of the ''many'' critical thrashings noted it was so over-the-top, it unironically reminded them of ''Simple Jack'' from ''Film/TropicThunder''.

* ''Film/TropicThunder'': The OscarBait FilmWithinAFilm ''Simple Jack'' mocks this trope. It wound up backfiring on its star, Tugg Speedman, and it came to be viewed as one of the worst films of all time (though it's [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff inexplicably popular among Golden Triangle drug lords]]). Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that Tugg "went full retard" and played the title character as ''too'' mentally disabled (rather than having an AmbiguousDisorder) and lacking the "inspirational" part of this trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

** Deconstructed with Abed himself. Though he is referred to as "a magical, elf-like man that makes us all more magical by being near him", his AmbiguousDisorder tends to cause just as many problems as solutions.

* ''Film/MargaritaWithAStraw'': Averted; Laila's struggles are much the same as any foreign college student away from home, just with cerebral palsy added to complicate things. When at a music competition her band is given the top prize over Leila being disabled and the judge tries to hold her up this way, she's disgusted, flipping the woman off afterward.

* Avoided with Garrett of ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'', who is paralyzed from birth, but is the jock of the group. Not only does he enjoy sports (character profiles stated he is one of the best wheelchair basketball players in the Boroughs), but he often does things like getting across the city by holding on to the bumper of a bus, and ''jumping off a building with a parachute''. Given these activities, the writers could be accused of trying just a bit too hard to show that his disability didn't limit him, but he was still praised for his portrayal. He's also willing to [[ICantFeelMyLegs crack jokes about his condition]], and the one time he shows any offense is when he thinks Egon is patronizing him by telling him to stay back (he wasn't, Egon was just having a mid-life crisis and trying to take a more active role in the group). Heck, in the first episode, his reaction to Eduardo blatantly mocking his handicap is a "NeverHeardThatOneBefore" eye roll and nothing else.

* Tiny Tim from ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is the TropeCodifier, if not the UrExample, for being unusually hopeful and big-hearted despite his difficult circumstances.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' does a pretty good job of averting this. It has featured at least two characters with disabilities; Marina Datillo is blind and Lydia Fox uses a wheelchair. Both girls are given talents and hobbies outside disability, but none of these are treated like a DisabilitySuperpower. The characters make jokes about their disabilities (ex.: Marina says she can't read super-fast because "[she'd] get blisters.") In general, they are portrayed as normal kids with both good traits and flaws.
** Recent seasons have given us Carl Gould, a boy with Asperger's Syndrome who's a good friend of George Lundgren. Although George sometimes has to act as Carl's "interpreter", explaining what he needs and why, Carl is a three-dimensional character.
** Another good aversion shows up in "Little Miss Meanie." Muffy and Lydia enter the Little Miss Crocus pageant, and Muffy assumes the judges will let Lydia win because she’s paraplegic. She even considers asking Lydia to drop out because she can't "win" on her own merits — but then hears another girl tell Lydia the same thing, and [[JerkassRealization realizes how mean the assumption is]]. When Lydia finds out about it from Francine, she’s initially angry, but [[NotSoDifferentRemark then admits that she’s not really one to talk]]. Lydia initially assumed that Muffy, being from an extremely rich family, was going to [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney bribe the judges so she could get the grand prize]], so Lydia was thinking about asking ''her'' to drop out of the pageant. She had a similar JerkassRealization when she saw the same snob who told her to drop out accusing Muffy of using her affluence as an unfair advantage. This shows a character with a disability having to deal with, and overcoming, her own prejudices, which is rare especially in children's programming. Afterwards, Muffy and Lydia decide to team up and help improve each other’s acts. They end up tying for first runner-up, while the snobby girl receives no honors.

* Averted with Jake on ''Series/{{Becker}}'', who happens to be [[TwoferTokenMinority a blind black man]]. He's not treated as 'inspirationally disabled' by the show, and his blindness is often used for jokes, as well as being shown to be just as flawed and human as the others.

* Averted in ''Series/SevenDays''. The fact that resident genius Dr. Ballard uses a wheelchair is almost never mentioned in the series. There was one episode that focused on it, and every now and then he'd make a [[SelfDeprecation joke regarding it]], as real people might, but that's it.

* Averted in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' with Tyrion Lannister (Creator/PeterDinklage). He has been born with a hereditary bone condition leading to dwarfism. Despite his family's high status and immense wealth he is often mocked as "half-man" and "imp". He himself is very aware of this: "All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes." (Tyrion has a following in the fandom, because he is one of the funniest, most interesting, and probably most moral characters on the show, and because Peter Dinklage's performance is fantastic, but his being a dwarf has little to do with any of this except to the extent that the discrimination informs the character's worldview and interactions with other characters.) Nonetheless, the trope is played straight to some extent, since it's implied that Tyrion developed his sharp wit and brilliant mind partly as a way to compensate for his disability and discrimination.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Teo averts this trope. Teo might be an excellent pilot, but this is never suggested to be because he is paraplegic, nor do any of the other characters seem to consider him unusual in any way. The only notice anyone takes of Teo's handicap is when Sokka is impressed by his "glider chair". Also, in spite of only being in two scenes in "The Day of Black Sun", and not doing much in either, he was on the front lines in the end so we can [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome assume]] that he was fighting the whole time.
** Then there's Toph, though she's more along the lines of DisabilitySuperpower. Also averted, as she's happy to make blind jokes about herself as well as jokes at other people's expense about her blindness, and her genuine setbacks (being functionally illiterate in a world without Braille) are merely acknowledged.

* ''Film/TheIdiots'': The film takes a somewhat {{postmodern|ism}} approach to this trope -- the title characters are a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob and his peers who invoke it InUniverse, both to [[ItAmusedMe amuse themselves]] and to [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery take advantage of strangers' hospitality]], not to challenge anyone's perception of developmental disability so much as play some [[DeliberateValuesDissonance juvenile game]]. The movie clearly depicts them as {{jerkass}}es, best shown when ''actual'' developmentally disabled people (played ''by'' actually developmentally disabled people) are invited to the group's compound, angering their leader.

* ''Film/TropicThunder'': The OscarBait FilmWithinAFilm ''Simple Jack'' mocks this trope. It wound up backfiring on its star, Tugg Speedman, and it came to be viewed as one of the worst films of all time (though it's [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff inexplicably popular among Golden Triangle drug lords]]). Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that Tugg "went full retard" as the title character, playing him as ''too'' mentally disabled (rather than having an AmbiguousDisorder) and lacking the "inspirational" part of this trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

[[caption-width-right:320:''"Mental illness. It's the thing actors pretend to have in order to win Oscars."'' -- '''Creator/JohnOliver''', ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'']]

* ''WebVideo/FriendshipIsWitchcraft'': The ninth episode, "Seed No Evil", features a ShowWithinAShow named ''Snowblind'' that parodies the ''WebAnimation/Snowdrop2013'' animation. Snowdrop is not only ''not'' content with her lot in life as a blind filly constantly bullied by her classmates, but she also calls everyone out for seeing her as a "Christmas-special martyr" whose only purpose is to make them feel better about themselves just because she's blind. In other words, TheAesop presented here that even special treatment (which Snowdrop received in the original source) can be as disrespectful to the disabled as treating them cruelly.

* Issue #81 of the Italian comic ''ComicBook/DylanDog'', "Johnny Freak", checks many tropes of the "Magical" type of inspirationally disadvantaged, with Johnny being a TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth victim of human trafficking, Dylan himself filling the role of the white male lead that 'learns' things while taking care of Johnny as a surrogate son, everyone getting {{Glurge}}-y whenever Johnny displays his talents such as playing Dylan's clarinet or making stunning Surreal Fantasy paintings on walls, [[spoiler:and in the end he proves to be so pure and incorruptible to the point of asking to donate his heart to save his abusive brother, despite being shot to death by him]]. "Johnny Freak" is considered by fans to be one of the greatest ''Dylan Dog'' stories [[TropesAreTools despite it all]].

* The titular character of the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Friendship Is Magic]]'' fan animation, ''WebAnimation/Snowdrop2013'', is an innocent, downtrodden, blind pegasus filly who sculpts snowflakes while trying to imagine what stars look like. On top of that, her conversation with her mother all but explicitly sends the message that being Inspirationally Disadvantaged is ''better'' than not having the disability in question.
** Parodied in Episode 9 of ''WebVideo/FriendshipIsWitchcraft'', with a GagDub called ''[[ShowWithinAShow Snowblind]]''.
* ''Fanfic/RoarOfTheLION'': Leon's younger sister, Terra. When they were children, they were attacked by a Grimm, and she suffered horrific injuries to her legs. While they were rescued by a Huntress, Terra's leg injuries were so serious that she may never walk again, and she currently lives at the physically disabled ward at Vale General Hospital, undergoing weekly check-ups and taking constant painkillers to soothe the chronic pain. Despite this, Terra remains chipper and optimistic for the future. When he sees her, [[spoiler:[[TheSociopath Mercury]] actually feels sorry for her enough that he [[PetTheDog makes powered leg braces for her and gives them to her in secret]].]]

* Jane Wyman's deaf-mute Belinda in ''Film/JohnnyBelinda''. She's deaf and mute! She's learning to read and raising a child! Isn't that inspiring?
* The title character from ''Film/ForrestGump'' is a mentally "slow" man who wins everybody's approval by unintentionally becoming a star athlete, a war hero, a millionaire, and giving simple but inspiring advice to everybody around him, [[BeenThereShapedHistory including famous celebrities and politicians]]. Later, Lt. Dan becomes physically disabled by losing his legs in the war, but Forrest inspires him to keep living and they go into a million dollar shrimp business.
* Creator/DustinHoffman's autistic savant character Raymond in ''Film/RainMan'' is a quintessential example. The film's use of this trope as {{Oscar Bait}} -- combined with its pop culture infiltration, which has spread the stereotype that all autistic people are genius savants -- makes its legacy controversial.
* ''Film/TheOtherSister'' attempts to avoid this trope, but much like ''Film/ShallowHal'''s utter failure at being "fat positive", the movie falls short of showing a developmentally disabled girl's moving out of her parents house and falling in love as anything other than a {{Narm}}y "triumph of the human spirit."
* ''Film/{{Mask|1985}}'' avoids most of the pitfalls associated with this trope, given that Rocky doesn't suffer from his condition even though it is killing him. In fact, it is rather spectacularly lampshaded in an early scene, when an idiot schoolmaster doesn't exactly realise that Rocky is ''not'' "special needs".

* ''Film/IAmSam'' is about a single dad with an intellectual disability fighting the state for custody of his daughter. Unfortunately, Creator/RogerEbert [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020125/REVIEWS/201250303/1023 was just one of the critics who thought]] the movie represented a bad case of StrawmanHasAPoint when it came to portraying Sam as in the right.
* ''Film/TropicThunder'' mocks this trope with the OscarBait FilmWithinAFilm ''Simple Jack''. It wound up backfiring on its star, Tugg Speedman, and it came to be viewed as one of the worst films of all time (though it's [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff inexplicably popular among Golden Triangle drug lords]]). Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that Tugg "went full retard" as the title character, playing him as ''too'' mentally disabled (rather than having an AmbiguousDisorder) and lacking the "inspirational" part of this trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].
* The OscarBait angle also gets a brief mention in ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'':

* ''Film/TheWizard'' concerns a young, implicitly autistic boy who turns out to have a talent for beating arcade games. His older brother decides to use this skill to gain money -- and everyone he meets encourages him to do so.

%%* ''Film/{{Ray}}'': The blind pianist Ray Charles. That film can be seen as somewhat of a subversion, as Charles' flaws are not glossed over or sugarcoated (most notably, his womanizing). %% Zero Context
%%* Blind Michelle [=McNally=] (played by Rani Mukherjee) in 2005's ''Film/{{Black}}'' %% Zero Context
%%* Mentally-disabled Rohit (played by Hrithik Roshan) in 2003's ''Film/KoiMilGaya'' %% Zero Context
%%* ''Film/MyNameIsKhan'' would like to have a word with you. %% Zero Context
* Averted in ''Film/SlingBlade''. Karl has an intellectual disability and the film focuses predominantly on how difficult everyday life is for him, displaying no ''Film/RainMan''-esque abilities save for a knack for mechanics. He has just been released from an institution after murdering his mother and her lover when he was twelve and finds it almost impossible to adjust to life outside. Karl's early hardships are also deeply horrific (his younger brother was stillborn and his father forced him to bury the body), but never played for inspiration or a source of glurge.
%%* The title character of ''Film/{{Pumpkin}}''.
* Deconstructed in the Joseph Merrick biopic ''Film/TheElephantMan''. The deformed title character, a former circus freak, is indeed an intelligent, sensitive, and very kind man, but the film takes a very dim view of any attempts at making him into a symbol.

* ''Film/TheRinger'' is a film about a guy who fakes being intellectually disabled in order to join and rig the Special Olympics. Surprisingly, it manages to avoid being as disparaging to disabled people as one would expect from the premise (the Farrellys actively work with intellectually disabled people when they're not filmmaking), but it's also been praised for not going in the other direction, either. The Olympians are treated more like actual people ([[EnforcedMethodActing it helps that people with actual mental disabilities were hired to play them]]) crowd-favorite Jimmy Washington [[SmallNameBigEgo has a massive ego]] and is hated by the other Olympians, and uses their disabilities for one or two jokes (like when main character Steve has to break out a whiteboard and provide visual aids to explain his plan once he's caught) while the Olympians also get to crack a few jokes of their own.
%%* Taylor Lautner's ill-advised role as Lil' Pete in ''Film/TheRidiculousSix.''

* Mark O'Brien in ''Film/TheSessions'' has to deal with this within the film. One of our first introductions to him is a news program making a big deal of the fact that he graduated despite his polio.
* Elijah Price in ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' has brittle bones, which confines him to a wheelchair for a good deal of the movie, but is a successful comic book museum owner who encourages the protagonist David Dunn to find the hero within himself. [[spoiler:However, this trope is ultimately subverted, with the ending coming off as a grotesque mockery of the trope. He declares that he's finally found the meaning in his life...becoming a supervillain responsible for the deaths of hundreds]].
* Played unerringly straight in ''Film/TheKidAndI,'' where Aaron Roman's cerebral palsy does not stop him from demonstrating tenacity, optimism, and friendship to washed-up actor Bill Williams.
* In ''Film/MasterAndCommander'', there's this moment where this gets invoked. Poor little [[PluckyMiddie Midshipman Blakeney]] has to have his arm amputated after it gets riddled with shot. [[TheCaptain Captain Aubrey]] visits Blakeney resting in his hammock after his surgery. The two share some very typically British StiffUpperLip dialogue and Aubrey recommends a book to the boy; an account of the Battle of the Nile, with several fine illustrations. Aubrey departs and leaves Blakeney to skim through the book, which opens with an illustration of the famous [[MemeticBadass Lord Nelson]], also missing an arm. It's quite obvious that Aubrey offered the book to the young lad intentionally to inspire him, and true enough, [[BadassAdorable little Blakeney rises up to the challenge]].
* Surprisingly averted in ''Film/FourWeddingsAndAFuneral''. Charles' brother David is deaf but also happens to be a quite normal person with a fondness for sexual humor. The only things he does which can be described as being "inspirational" is giving his brother an occasional TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* ''Film/TheImitationGame'' applies this heavily to real-life wartime code-breaker Alan Turing - who was reportedly ''not'' like this in real life (a notable scene is where he's shown to be SarcasmBlind; the real Turing was described as quite witty and charming by people who knew him). One of the film's main criticisms came from focusing on this and [[ButNotTooGay downplaying his homosexuality]] to the point that it was almost an InformedAttribute.
* ''Film/TheTheoryOfEverything'' naturally has Creator/StephenHawking shown this way, as he overcomes his body getting weaker and weaker from ALS. But it also deconstructs this trope. While Stephen's mind remains brilliant, he is shown as a flawed human being while his body deteriorates. He makes references to sex like a normal man would, sneaks beer into church to drink it with Jonathan, gets frustrated as he loses motor control, and [[spoiler:eventually leaves his wife Jane despite her years of faithfulness and being TheCaretaker.]]
* Mostly averted in ''Film/MargaritaWithAStraw'', where Laila's struggles are much the same as any foreign college student away from home, just with cerebral palsy added to complicate things. When at a music competition her band is given the top prize over Leila being disabled and the judge tries to hold her up this way, she's disgusted, flipping the woman off afterward.
* Completely avoided with Arnie in ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape'', who's been described as an "uncomfortably accurate" depiction of a developmentally disabled person. His brother Gilbert and the rest of his family are extremely protective of him and nobody in the town is shown to treat him poorly, but his complete lack of self-preservation skills and tendency for meltdowns tend to get him in trouble.
* ''Film/TheIdiots'' takes a somewhat {{postmodern|ism}} approach to this trope. Its title characters are a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob and his peers who invoke it InUniverse both to [[ItAmusedMe amuse themselves]] and [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery take advantage of strangers' hospitality]], not to challenge anyone's perception of developmental disability so much as play some [[DeliberateValuesDissonance juvenile game]]. The movie clearly depicts them as {{jerkass}}es, best shown when ''actual'' developmentally disabled people (played ''by'' actually developmentally disabled people) are invited to the group's compound, angering their leader.
* Parodied in ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' with [[AntagonistTitle the titular character]], an [[SmallNameBigEgo insanely arrogant]] rich guy who milks the fact that he's in a wheelchair for all it's worth, ranting about how inspiring it is that [[SelfMadeMan he got where he is despite his disability]]. It's later revealed that his success is a complete lie (his wife was the rich one; he just inherited her wealth after she died), and Walter suspects that [[ObfuscatingDisability Lebowski isn't even really crippled]]. [[spoiler:He's wrong; turns out, being crippled was the one thing Lebowski ''didn't'' lie about, and [[BlackComedy Dude and Walter end up traumatizing him by knocking him out of his wheelchair]].]]
* ''Film/Music2021'' uses this trope with Music (a non verbal autistic teenage girl) so blatantly that it’s a shock that it isn’t a parody. Several of the ''many'' critical thrashings noted it was so over-the-top, it unironically reminded them of ''Simple Jack'' from ''Film/TropicThunder''.

* Parodied on ''Franchise/HomestarRunner'' with Li'l Brudder, a drawing of a one-legged dog that Strong Bad uses to reduce Homestar Runner to tears. Li'l Brudder, however, is not based on Strong Sad. Strong Bad thinks of Strong Sad as a two-legged elephant named Tendafoot, who can power a small city with his whining.

* The PBS series ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' does a pretty good job of averting this. It has featured at least two characters with disabilities; Marina Datillo is blind and Lydia Fox uses a wheelchair. Both girls are given talents and hobbies outside disability, but none of these are treated like a DisabilitySuperpower. The characters make jokes about their disabilities (ex.: Marina says she can't read super-fast because "[she'd] get blisters.") In general, they are portrayed as normal kids with both good traits and flaws.

* Parodied in WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons episode "Stealing First Base", when Nelson Muntz befriends Kevin, a blind boy. Upon noticing Kevin's disability, Nelson becomes extremely protective of him and threatens to "destroy" anyone trying to mess with him, to which Kevin answers that no one messes with him. Then Nelson tells Kevin that he's not a freak, and when Kevin answers that he doesn't think of himself as a freak, a very touched Nelson exclaims, "So BRAVE!".

* Both lampshaded and averted in WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons episode "Stealing First Base", when Nelson Muntz befriends Kevin, a blind boy. Upon noticing Kevin's disability, Nelson becomes extremely protective of him and threatens to "destroy" anyone trying to mess with him, to which Kevin answers that no one messes with him. Then Nelson tells Kevin that he's not a freak, and when Kevin answers that he doesn't think of himself as a freak, a very touched Nelson exclaims, "So BRAVE!".

A.k.a. the Magical Disabled Person (to go with MagicalNegro, MagicalQueer, MagicalNativeAmerican, and all their outdated magical friends).

** The end of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E20TheWashouts The Washouts]]" bears a very close resemblance to the "Patronizing" flavor of Inspirationally Disadvantaged described up top. First, Scootaloo reveals her motivation for joining the titular stunt team -- she had accepted her limitations, and found the Washouts to be a satisfying second choice to following Rainbow Dash into the Wonderbolts, something that would make good use of her scooter skills and appeal to her adrenaline-junkie nature, but not require flight. Soon after that, when Lightning Dust nearly gets her killed, we've given the message that this was a '''BAD''' thing. The episode ends with Scootaloo getting her own fan club, despite not really having done anything particularly fan-club-worthy (in this episode or any other). This seems to imply that she shouldn't need the Wonderbolts ''or'' the Washouts to be happy - that she shouldn't bother trying to do anything noteworthy with her life, instead she should just be [[Main/{{Glurge}} praised for whatever mundane things she's capable of]] and be satisfied with that.

* ''Film/TropicThunder'' mocks this trope with the OscarBait FilmWithinAFilm ''Simple Jack''. It wound up backfiring on its star, Tugg Speedman, and it came to be viewed as one of the worst films of all time (though it's [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff inexplicably popular among Golden Triangle drug lords]]). Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that Tugg "went full retard" as the title character, playing him as ''too'' mentally disabled and lacking the "inspirational" part of this trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

A.k.a. the Magical Disabled Person (to go with MagicalNegro, MagicalQueer, MagicalNativeAmerican, and all their magical friends).

The late Australian disability activist Stella Young referred to this as "inspiration porn," as it can be seen as a way of objectifying people with disabilities to make non-disabled individuals feel good. Her TED talk on the subject can be found [[https://www.ted.com/talks/stella_young_i_m_not_your_inspiration_thank_you_very_much here.]]

* Issue #81 of the Italian comic ''ComicBook/DylanDog'', "Johnny Freak", checks many tropes of the "Magical" type of inspirationally disadvantaged, with Johnny being a TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth victim of human trafficking, Dylan himself filling the role of the white male lead that 'learns' things while taking care of Johnny as a surrogate son, everyone getting {{Glurge}}-y whenever Johnny displays his talents such as playing Dylan's clarinet or making stunning Surreal Fantasy paintings on walls, [[spoiler: and in the end he proves to be so pure and incorruptible to the point of asking to donate his heart to save his abusive brother, despite being shot to death by him]]. "Johnny Freak" is considered by fans to be one of the greatest ''Dylan Dog'' stories [[TropesAreTools despite it all]].

* In ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'', Isaac [[LampshadedTrope lampshades]] this after he becomes blind by jokingly saying, "come over here so I can examine your face with my hands and see deeper into your soul than a sighted person ever could." Even though all three of the teenage leads are disadvantaged – Isaac with his blindness, Hazel and Augustus [[spoiler: with their terminal cancer]] – they're all pointedly portrayed as fully human, flawed, normal, and not "inspirational."

* Kevin, a.k.a. "Freak" in ''Literature/FreakTheMighty'', a preteen {{Genius Cripple}} and witty {{Disabled Snarker}} who [[spoiler: eventually suffers {{Death By Newbery Medal}}.]]. Averted with Max, the mentally disabled protagonist whom he inspires.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', your pilot, Joker, has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteogenesis_imperfecta Osteogenesis Imperfecta]] a.k.a. brittle bone disease, but is a very good pilot. It's also subverted on two accounts: piloting a ship is something that doesn't require strong bones, and Joker is still the best pilot in the Alliance, and if you ask him about his background, he says, "If you're looking for an inspirational story about the crippled kid who overcame impossible odds, you're gonna be disappointed." Turns out that since his parents were spacers, he was going to join the Academy regardless of whether he had his disability. In ''Mass Effect 2'', [[spoiler: you even play as Joker for a brief period near the end and he manages to get around the ship just fine with a slight hunch and a limp.]] He does break bones semi-frequently, though. In the third game, however, his [[spoiler: love for EDI]] convinces him to get off the ship more and overcome his disease, something that nothing else was able to do.

** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E6Petarded Petarded]]", Peter finds out he's functionally intellectually disabled. He even gets a social worker who makes a big deal over ''everything'' he does, saying "Good job, Peter! High-five! Alright!" Eventually, he uses his diagnosis [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery to get away with all kinds]] of {{Jerkass}} behavior, and when that puts Lois in the hospital, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the state takes custody of his kids from him]].

* ''Film/TropicThunder'' mocks this trope with the OscarBait FilmWithinAFilm ''Simple Jack''. It wound up backfiring on its star, Tugg Speedman, and it came to be viewed as one of the worst films of all time (though it's [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff inexplicably popular among Golden Triangle drug lords]]). Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that Tugg portrayed the title character as ''too'' mentally disabled (as Lazarus puts it, Tugg "went full retard") and lacking the "inspirational" part of this trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E6Petarded Petarded]]", Peter finds out he's functionally intellectually disabled. He even gets a social worker who makes a big deal over ''everything'' he does, saying "Good job, Peter! High-five! Alright!" Eventually, he uses his diagnosis [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery to get away with all kinds]] of {{Jerkass}} behavior, and when that puts Lois in the hospital, [[[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the state takes custody of his kids from him]].

A.k.a. the Magical Disabled Person (to go with MagicalNegro, MagicalQueer, MagicalNativeAmerican and all their magical friends).

While it's certainly an improvement on [[DontYouDarePityMe pity]], it can get irritating since most disabled people really just want to get on with relatively normal lives, with maybe a few accommodations like ramps, appropriate medication and as little patronising as possible.

* Parodied on ''Franchise/HomestarRunner'' with Li'l Brudder, a drawing of a one-legged dog that Strong Bad uses to reduce Homestar Runner to tears. Li'l Brudder however, is not based on Strong Sad. Strong Bad thinks of Strong Sad as a two-legged elephant named Tendafoot, who can power a small city with his whining.

** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E6Petarded Petarded]]", Peter finds out he's functionally intellectually disabled. He even gets a social worker who makes a big deal over ''everything'' he does, saying "Good job, Peter! High-five! Alright!" Eventually, he uses his diagnosis [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery to get away with all kinds]] of {{Jerkass}} behavior, and when that puts Lois in the hospital the state takes custody of his kids from him...

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has Bender during the episode [[Recap/FuturamaS3E13BendinInTheWind Bendin' In The Wind]]. After getting paralyzed from the neck down in a can opener accident, Bender joins Music/{{Beck}}'s band as a washboard and becomes a voice for broken and malfunctioning robots. His malfunction heals the night before a big charity concert, and he accidentally reveals this in front of the entire crowd, causing his fanbase and Beck to turn against him.

** Regardless of what remedies may or may not exist for someone's disability, calling them "inspiring" for leading a perfectly ordinary life is often regarded as patronizing. (see above) Especially considering that Scootaloo's disability has relatively little impact on her day-to-day life -- most of the other ponies in her home town can't fly either.