History Main / IronicallyDisabledArtist

* Christy Brown became a best selling author with [[Film/MyLeftFoot]], which discussed how he was unable to use his hands, and he had to learn to draw and write using his left foot.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': "In the Dark" has a blind photographer unknowingly capturing evidence of a murder while on a shoot. He walks through cities unassisted taking photographs, guided solely by sound and smell.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', while searching for Puss in Boots, King Harold visits a BadGuyBar where Captain Hook is playing the piano and serenading the patrons in a ShoutOut to the ''Peter Pan'' example above. He has a very gravelly voice, and his hook hand remains.

* German pianist and composer Music/LudwigVanBeethoven suffered from constant intrusive tinnitus and also became completely deaf at the age of 44. Despite that he continued to compose for a full decade after losing his hearing. During this time, he produced several significant works, including StandardSnippet/OdeToJoy and his 9th and final symphony.

* After German pianist and composer Music/LudwigVanBeethoven became completely deaf at the age of 44, he continued to compose for a full decade after losing his hearing. During this time, he produced several significant works, including his 9th and final symphony.

* Creator/FritzLang, legendary film director with a propensity for daring visuals, had a rapidly-deteriorating eyesight. By his [[Film/Die1000AugenDesDrMabuse final film]] he was functionally blind. Not coincidentally his films often had a eye motif and themes of seeing or being seen.

* Modern analysis of Creator/VincentVanGogh's paintings suggest that he may have been colorblind; digitally altering images of his paintings to simulate how they would look to someone with red-green colorblindness results in startlingly realistic images. The reason for the unique and striking way he used color in his paintings may be that he ''literally'' saw the world differently than most people.

* Joe Biden started his career in politics in 1971, culminating in his election as 46th President of the United States of America in 2020. Despite a long and successful career in a field that requires quite a bit of public speaking, Biden has a stutter that he's had to actively mitigate since the 1960s.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' rogue Rainbow Raider was born with total colorblindness, which meant that he couldn't succeed in the art world despite his technical skill. He resorted to art theft instead.

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wittgenstein Paul Wittgenstein]] [[note]]Older brother of the philosopher Creator/LudwigWittgenstein[[/note]], who had his right arm amputated after a gunshot wound in UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne. Undaunted, he commissioned several prominent composers to write pieces for one hand; the most famous was Music/MauriceRavel's "Piano Concerto for the Left Hand."

* Andre de Toth was a film director who worked from the 1940s to the late '70s and is probably best remembered for making ''Film/HouseOfWax1953'', one of the biggest and best of the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D movies]] of the '50s. De Toth only had one eye, and therefore was incapable of seeing or appreciating the [=3D=] effect.

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': "[[Recap/TangledTheSeriesS2E15TheBrothersHook The Brothers Hook]]" reveals that Hook Hand (who wants to be a concert pianist) has a one-legged brother who aspires to become a dancer, and takes steps to do so over the course of the episode.

* ''Animation/FlowerFairy'': The boy in Season 1 episodes 33 and 34 has an ear disease that impedes his hearing, yet he's very talented at playing the piano.

'''Helmut Spargle:''' Yes! Just as Beethoven was a great composer because he was deaf!\\

-->-- ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'', "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E22The30PercentIronChef The 30% Iron Chef]]"

Supertrope to BlindMusician (a musician who cannot see) and DeafComposer (when an artist doesn't have one of the senses seemingly necessary to create or enjoy their art, such as a {{painter|s}}/{{sculptor|s}} who cannot see or a chef with no sense of taste). Compare GeniusCripple, DisabilitySuperpower. See also TheSingingMute, which is for when a speechless character can vocalize nonverbally.

* ''Franchise/TheFlash'' rogue Rainbow Raider was born with total colorblindness, which meant that he couldn't succeed in the art world despite his technical skill. He resorted to art theft instead.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', one of the [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood Pub Thugs]] has a large hook hand. His dream is to become a concert pianist and demonstrates his talent despite the hook in the musical number "I've Got A Dream." In the epilogue, he is shown to have gotten his dream.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek 2}}'', while searching for Puss in Boots, King Harold visits a BadGuyBar where Captain Hook is playing the piano and serenading the patrons in a ShoutOut to the ''Peter Pan'' example above. He has a very gravelly voice, and his hook hand remains.

* ''Film/GetOut'': The protagonist, Chris, meets Jim Hudson, a ''blind art dealer'' attending the family get-together of his girlfriend's parents. Hudson takes interest in Chris's photography skills and at first seems like one of the few amicable people Chris has encountered during his stay with his girlfriend's family. [[spoiler:Cut forward to the climax and it's revealed that [[BitchInSheepsClothing Hudson]] wants to transfer his brain into Chris's body to regain his sight.]]
* The 1977 MadeForTV movie ''Film/ScottJoplin'' has several notable jazz pianists assemble for an audition using dueling pianos: two upright pianos placed back-to-back, with a candidate at each keyboard playing their best. The lesser player must cede his place to another candidate. One candidate is named Left Hand of God, named for his lack of a right arm. Nonetheless, one of his peers remarks, "He plays better with one hand than most guys do with two."

* The 1996 film ''Vibrations'' is about a would-be rock star whose hands are severed in a car accident. He then falls in with some ravers who make him a Daft Punk-esque cyborg suit with metal prosthetic hands and uses them to become a live techno star.

* The Netflix ''Series/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' series gives [[BigBad Count Olaf]] a comedic VillainSong. One of Olaf's usual minions, the Hook-Handed Man (whose ''two'' hands have been replaced by hooks[[note]]They were the typical pirate hooks in the book, but not in the series, where they are more realistic prosthetics, making this scene marginally less absurd[[/note]]), plays the piano. Badly.

* Meathook in ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland''. It started as a dark joke about his DreamCrushingHandicap: In [[VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland the first game]], he tells the tragic story of how in youth he was a virtuoso painter until he lost both hands in an accident. In this game, he has rediscovered his art through the method of impaling colored candles on his hooks and dripping wax onto a canvas.

* Shine from ''Webcomic/NextSoundOfTheFuture'' is an aspiring IdolSinger with a disability that makes her unable to sing. Her disability made her give up on her dream in the past, but after [[spoiler: she meets a doctor who can give her a device that will allow her to sing]], she decides to try and become an idol again.

[[folder:Web Original]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Jacob Andrews of WebVideo/{{Drawfee}} is colorblind, and has stated in one of the extra videos that due to this he has to remember color positions in the art applications he uses because he tends to unwittingly go towards green when coloring yellow.

* Joe Biden started his career in politics in 1971, culminating in his election as 46th President of the United States of America in 2020. Despite a long and successful career in a field that requires quite a bit of public speaking, Biden has stutter that he's had to actively mitigate since the 1960s.

Fiction loves juxtaposition, and so in fiction, you're likely to come across a character with a disability at odds with their art, like a one-handed pianist, a colorblind painter, or a one-legged dancer.

Supertrope to BlindMusician (a musician who cannot see) and DeafComposer (when an artist doesn't have one of the senses seemingly necessary to create or enjoy their art, such as a painter/sculptor who cannot see or a chef with no sense of taste). Compare GeniusCripple, DisabilitySuperpower. See also TheSingingMute, which is for when a speechless character can vocalize nonverbally.

->'''Helmut Spargle:''' You don't understand. Without the distraction of taste, your mind is free to touch the zen of pure flavor. You could become the greatest chef ever!\\