History Main / KeepingTheHandicap

* In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' franchise, wizards have a spell that allows them to be largely capable of healing any and all injuries not inflicted by an irrevocable magic with great ease. This makes it all the more noticeably that [[Characters/HarryPotterAlbusDumbledore Albus Dumbledore]] still keeps the injury he got on his face when his brother Aberforth punched him over the accidental killing of their sister Ariana, with the implication being that Albus willingly chose to keep the signs of the old injury as a deliberate reminder to himself of his great mistake that led to Ariana's death.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/TheSandman https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rco024_24.jpg]]]]

->''"Before I went into that... interrogation center... I asked the Prophets to give me the strength to get the rest of you out of there. And... that in exchange, I...I said I'd give up my life. Well, as it turned out, I was able to rescue you, Shakaar and Lupaza. It's only cost me an arm. I felt the...the Prophets were generous. Somehow, replacing the arm seems... ungrateful."''

* Chané Laforet from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', who basically ''asked for a handicap''. Namely, she asked her father to make her mute, so that she would never betray his secrets.
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In "Black Dog Serenade", Faye questions why Jet doesn't get an organic arm replacement since, in the future of the series, organs can be cultivated and easily replace missing limbs. However Jet opts for the artificial one, largely as a reminder of the day he lost his real arm via a trap the mob [[spoiler: and his partner, Fad, [[DirtyCop who was on their dime]],]] lured him into and not to get too careless as he did in the past.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', the Kindly Ones randsack the Dreaming to torment Dream, having been given free reign to do so when he [[{{Geas}} took his own son's life as a mercy kill]]. When Dream objects to their threats, they respond by whipping him with their whip of scorpions, leaving a scar on his cheeck. When asked why he keeps the scar by Lucien -- Dream being a polymorphic AnthropomorphicPersonification -- he remarks that it was foretold that he would recieve a scar on his cheek as ironic karma.

They may also be unwilling to correct the handicap if it [[CharmPoint makes them more appealing]] ''in the eyes of others'': for example, for an attractive LoveInterest, small imperfections like [[GlassesAreSexy glasses]], [[SpeechImpededLoveInterest speech impediments]], or a slight limp would often serve as an additional "turn-on".

* In the finale of the first ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime, [[spoiler: Ed regains his lost arm and leg, only to give them up again to pull Al out of the Gate. This is in contrast with the manga and ''Brotherhood'', in which he gets his right arm back, but his left leg is still metal and he gives up his ability to perform alchemy in exchange for restoring Al's body.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'': per WordOfGod, this is the reason why [[https://screenrant.com/encanto-movie-mirabel-glasses-eyesight-julieta-fix-why/ Mirabel's mother doesn't just fix her daughter's eye sight with her healing food]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Encanto'': per WordOfGod, this is the reason why [[https://screenrant.com/encanto-movie-mirabel-glasses-eyesight-julieta-fix-why/ Mirabel's mother doesn't just fix her daughter's eye sight with her healing food]]

* ''ComicBook/XMen2019'' introduces the Resurrection Protocols, which grant mutants ResurrectiveImmortality by creating new bodies for them. Mutants can even go through the [[DuelToTheDeath Crucible]] to die and get ressurected whenever they please. We've seen various disabled mutants react to this; [[ComicBook/NewMutants2019 Karma]] is resurrected but apparently not to restore her missing leg. (No canon reason is provided, but it's most likely due to avoid real-life accusations of ableism.) [[{{ComicBook/Sword}} Wiz Kid]] has elected to stay wheelchair-bound, but provides an explanation: he'll shed his disability when he's being revived from death, but he's not willing to actively seek out his death to achieve the results. So he'll wait for an accidental or natural death, rather than trying to force it.

* In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' franchise, wizards have a spell that allows them to be largely capable of healing any and all injuries not inflicted by an irrevocable magic with great ease. This makes it all the more noticeably that [[Characters/HarryPotterAlbusDumbledore Albus Dumbledore]] still keeps the injury he got on his face when his brother Aberforth punched him over the accidental killing of their sister Auriana, with the implication being that Albus willingly chose to keep the signs of the old injury as a deliberate reminder to himself of his great mistake that led to Auriana's death.

There's a number of possible reasons why. The disabled person might just be accustomed to living with the disability. They might feel that their disability is simply part of who they are or be proud of being disabled. Someone blind or deaf since birth would have a tough time adjusting to the addition of a fifth sense, and one [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a werebeast]] many years prior would have long ago become accustomed to a bestial lifestyle. A neurodivergent person might feel that being neurotypical would fundamentally alter who they are. Ultimately, the disabled character believes that it would be more of a hassle to be abled than to be disabled.

* ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'': [[VillainProtagonist Kenai]], who was [[BalefulPolymorph magically turned into a bear]], ultimately opts to remain that way in order to stay with Koda, out of affection and also out of guilt, since [[spoiler:he caused the death of Koda's mother]].

** During the assault on Chancellor Gorkon's ship, one of his bodyguards gets his arm shot off by the assassins. Later, during the trial of Kirk and McCoy on Kronos, that guard has still only the one arm, possibly as a propaganda move to show the ruthlessness of the Federation.

* A very significant proportion of real people with disabilities prefer having their disability to a hypothetical life without said disability, largely because it's the only life they know, and have stated that even if a cure was available, they wouldn't take it. It's not uncommon for people who are deaf, people who are blind, or those who are autistic to feel this way.
* There have been cases where such reversals were performed, and were not considered useful. One man who lost his vision as a child and was able to get it partially restored as an adult claimed that it made getting around more difficult, as he found himself relying on his (very poor) vision to navigate the world, instead of other methods that he'd learned to use very effectively. He said that, until he got used to it, he'd often have to close his eyes in order to find his way around. People who have been deaf from birth and then get cochlear implants have also said it's often very difficult to adjust with sound, as it's completely alien (this aside from upholding a cultural identity and having a community that's based on their deafness, which are common reasons for not getting them also).

* In the epilogue of “WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}”, [[TheAtoner Andrias]] is seen without his life-extending cybernetics, using Barrel’s hammer as a walking stick. Creator Matt Braly confirmed that this was by choice, as even though he will eventually die without them, he refused Olivia & Yunan’s offer to have them replaced or repaired, wanting to use the time he had left to repair the land he had damaged before reuniting with his friends in death.

** Played with when [[DragonWithAnAgenda Redcloak]] has [[EyeScream one of his eyes gouged out]] by O-Chul. As a high-level cleric, he could easily cast a Regenerate spell to restore it, but his boss [[BigBad Xykon]] (who's mid-VillainousBreakdown at the time) decides he's sick of Redcloak wasting time instead of actively pursuing their EvilPlan and forbids him from getting his eye back as a form of punishment.

** Among the priests seen at the Godsmoot, the high priestess of Hoder is blind and the high priest of Tyr has a HookHand. Again, it would be trivial for high-level clerics to heal those disabilities, but in both cases they mimic those of their respective gods, and in fact it is very likely they were ritually self-inflicted.

* Taken UpToEleven with Chané Laforet from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', who basically ''asked for a handicap''. Namely, she asked her father to make her mute, so that she would never betray his secrets.

* In ''No One To Hear You'' by Samantha Hayes, the protagonist's deaf daughter Flora has broken several hearing aids when she was still an infant. The protagonist eventually realized that she doesn't want to hear, and decided to let her remain deaf.

Many cases of ReedRichardsIsUseless imply this trope, even if it's not stated outright. When a character lives with a disability in an extremely (technically or magically) advanced world, it's quite difficult to believe that no cure was available for them, so it may be inferred that they decided against taking the cure. Though that's usually the result of creators introducing a disabled character for whatever reason (say, to deliver a disability-related plot or [[Main/AnAesop Aesop]], or for representation) and hoping the audience [[Main/WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief doesn't think too hard]] about [[Main/FridgeLogic what ought to be possible]] with all the [[Main/AppliedPhlebotinum phlebotinum]] lying around.

* ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'' introduces the Resurrection Protocols, which grant mutants ResurrectiveImmortality by creating new bodies for them. Mutants can even go through the [[DuelToTheDeath Crucible]] to die and get ressurected whenever they please. We've seen various disabled mutants react to this; [[ComicBook/NewMutants2019 Karma]] is resurrected but apparently not to restore her missing leg. (No canon reason is provided, but it's most likely due to avoid real-life accusations of ableism.) [[{{ComicBook/Sword}} Wiz Kid]] has elected to stay wheelchair-bound, but provides an explanation: he'll shed his disability when he's being revived from death, but he's not willing to actively seek out his death to achieve the results. So he'll wait for an accidental or natural death, rather than trying to force it.

* Sometime before the beginning of ''ComicBook/RainbowRowellsRunaways'', Victor Mancha's head was separated from the rest of his body in the hopes of salvaging him after his evil sister-in-law ripped out a chunk of his chest. After being revived, he refuses offers to have a new body built for him because he feels he deserved being beheaded for accidentally killing his nephew. He eventually changes his mind after getting tired of the increasingly-embarrassing ways that his friends devise for getting him around (at one point, they tape his head to Chase's shirt.)

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* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'': The Flaws system in Edition 3.5. Some of these flaws can be physical handicaps that could be readily healed with magic (for a price if you're not the right class or level), but the character is gaining a free feat in exchange for said flaw. Thus, if it was ever healed the GM will surely rule the feat is lost too, hence why a player would want to keep a handicapped character, for whatever roleplaying reason they can come up with.

* In ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry,'' during the assault on Chancellor Gorkon's ship, one of his bodyguards gets his arm shot off by the assassins. Later, during the trial of Kirk and McCoy on Kronos, that guard has still only the one arm, possibly as a propaganda move to show the ruthlessness of the Federation.

*** We've seen multiple Klingons in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' with eye patches, even though cloned implants are generally available. Martok in particular refuses Bashir's offer to replace his missing eye. This probably plays into their honor system, i.e. their "victory" would mean less if they could get back what it cost so easily.