History Main / DisabilityImmunity

* This is the main premise of ''Out of a Violent Planet'' by Greg Stolze of ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'' fame. Fauna from Earth are the only known sentient species without PsychicPowers, whereas anything more complex than a housecat on any other planet has at least some psychic capability. This means that, without having evolved MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily or psychic powers, humanity is the only species that ever developed [[CoolGuns weapons technology]] and [[AliensNeverInventedTheWheel non-psychic technology]]. It also means that humans are immune to the psychic powers of other species - The intro blurb describes Earth being bombarded with enough [[PsiBlast psychic power to leave the sentients of any other planet drooling husks or straight-up dead]], and only those with even the slightest psychic potential ''[[NoSell felt anything more than a passing breeze.]]'' This also gives humanity the unique niche as the [[CadreOfForeignBodyguards ultimate mercenaries]], referred to as "souls" (short for soldier), since human military units armed with modern firearms can go toe-to-toe with nasty psychic alien monsters and come out on top.

** In this universe, the Tau (named for their position on the settings Greek psychic scale, about two steps down from "psychically inert") are about the only race that have no powers of mind — at all. Now, it sucks because you need powers of mind to feel the Warp, and without the Warp, you're not going to be going through the galaxy all that quickly. BUT, given that the Warp is also the home of the forces of Chaos, not having to worry about Chaos being drawn to them through nonexistent Psykers is seen by the Tau as a Good Thing.

* In ''Theatre/PokemonLive'', Ash Ketchum is all set to battle a deaf trainer, and Ash sends out his Pikachu, while his opponent sends out his Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff wins the battle by singing Pikachu, Ash, Misty, and Brock to sleep... which being deaf, the other trainer can't hear, so the Jigglypuff's trainer is perfectly matched as one of the few people who can't be put to sleep by his own Pokémon's attack.

* In ''VideoGame/BugFablesTheEverlastingSapling'', MindControl magic gets into bugs' heads through their antennae. If one or both of their antennae are damaged, such as the case with [[spoiler:any non-hostile Wasps that were neither protected by other means nor out of range of the spell -- Zasp (bent crooked), the imprisoned scout (broken off), and Voi (crumpled flat) --]] then it doesn't work.
* The player character in ''VideoGame/{{Bugsnax}}'' has allergies that prevent them from eating the titular {{Phonymon}} [[spoiler: which comes in handy when it's revealed that eating them eventually transforms the would-be predator into more Bugsnax]].

* Bianca Steeplechase, the [[GenderFlip female]] version of [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] in the ''Creator/Elseworlds'' comic ''ComicBook/BatmanThrillkiller'' is hard of hearing, which leaves her unaffected by Batgirl’s sonic weapons.

* Bianca Steeplechase, the [[GenderFlip female]] version of Characters/BatmanTheJoker in the ''Creator/Elseworlds'' comic ''ComicBook/BatmanThrillkiller'' is hard of hearing, which leaves her unaffected by Batgirl’s sonic weapons.

** An early ''Amazing Spider-Man'' issue featured a guest appearance from Daredevil, who attended a circus where the ringmaster hypnotizes everyone in the audience except Matt. Unfortunately, Spider-Man gets hypnotized too and [[LetsYouAndHimFight ends up fighting Daredevil.]]

* In a [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] issue of his first miniseries, ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} invoked this, using one of his sonic arrows to fry his own eardrums, rendering him immune to a bad guy's sonic mind control. Since then, Hawkeye has used hearing aids.

* It is occasionally noted that the ''ComicBook/InvisibleWoman'''s powers, at least those not related to the application of main force, are trivially countered by those who could not see her or anything she does in the first place.
** She first met Alicia Masters when the Pupper Master's [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter stepdaughter]] alerted the man who had seized control of ComicBook/TheThing to the the fact that ''two'' strangers just came in their home.
** When ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} came across the [[DressedLikeADominatrix gimp-mask-&-fetish-gear-wearing]] woman who was mopping the floor with [=3/4=] of the FF he asked what the amorphous blob the heroes were fighting was, a critical clue that they were dealing with a BrainwashedAndCrazy Invisible Girl.
* In ''ComicBook/LockeAndKey'', Rufus Whedon's unspecified mental disability makes him immune to the mind-tampering effects of the Head Key.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', Starr sends a number of operatives who don't understand English to capture Jesse, as they're unable to understand his CompellingVoice and thus are immune to it.

%% The examples have been alphabetized. Please put any new example in its proper place in the folder rather than at the end.

%%

-->-- '''Music/TheWho''', "Pinball Wizard"

** The SGC's stargate dialing system in ''Series/StargateSG1''. They did not find the original Egypt Stargate's Dial Home Device,[[note]]"[=DHD=]" for short; a more streamlined usable operating interface than the integrated manual dial in the Gate itself, as well as a power source for the gate[[/note]] so the US Air Force kludged together their own system that works on the gate's integrated manual dial. The SGC's gate-dialing system has a very incomplete set of error code report interpretations, and is far slower to dial out than the "touch-tone" dialing that [=DHD=]s provide, and requires a rigged-up system to power the gate from the local electrical grid. However, this kludged system made the SGC's gate the only operable gate left in the galaxy after the Goa'uld System Lord Ba'al infected a vast number of [=DHD=]s in the galaxy with a virus that corrupted their dial-out protocols and made them gate to random incorrect addresses. It spread through a "correlative update protocol" that helps the Stargate network compensate for stellar drift, and since the SGC's gate ''has'' no such DHD...
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?", there is a race of aliens said to be so ugly that anyone who sees them goes insane. The GirlOfTheWeek is able to look at them through special glasses, but it's later revealed that the glasses are to hide what she's really doing and she's actually blind and pretending to be able to see (with the aid of a sophisticated sensor mesh draped over her clothes).

* ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'': During ''Last Laugh'', Copperhead and Hellgrammite were shown to be immune to ComicBook/BlackCanary's '[[MakeMeWannaShout canary cry]]' because they doesn't have ears.

** In the episode "[[Recap/FarscapeS02E04CrackersDontMatter Crackers Don't Matter]]", John Crichton is resistant to something that is affecting the crew because humans have eyesight which is far too poor to see whatever it is that caused it.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, there's an aversion: Abra can still be afflicted with sleep despite being said to spend most of its day sleeping and its psychic powers allowing it to function while asleep. In fact, it's one of the best ways to catch one so it doesn't teleport away.
** The ability Insomnia, on the other hand, ''does'' protect against sleep in accordance with this trope.
** In a straighter example, Pokémon that are afflicted by [[StatusEffects Poison, Burns, Sleep, Paralysis, or Freezing]] become immune to all of the others for as long as they're affected. Some players use the Toxic Orb or Flame Orb item to invoke this by poisoning or burning their own Pokémon intentionally (statuses that don't hinder the afflict's attempts to attack, unlike the other three), though there typically has to be some other benefit (usually from Abilities like Quick Feet or Guts) for them to resort to it.

* Subverted in ''Deathbell'' by Guy N. Smith, which is about a cursed Tibetan bell whose ringing drives people insane and eventually kills them. "Deaf Donald" is introduced and set up to be potentially immune to the bell's effects, but when he hears, he goes insane and dies like the others, as a way of showing the evil bell's noise can even affect the deaf.

* In the ''Felix Gomez'' series of novels by Mario Acevedo, two people have been immune to vampiric hypnotism, most likely because it needs total eye contact, and these people both had a lazy eye.

* In ''The Salvagers'' series, Boots has arcana dystocia, making her a rare UnSorcerer. While this inconvenienced her for most of her life, Mother's otherwise unbeatable time manipulation magic breaks down whenever it tries to ensnare her.
* In the ''Shadowlands'' books by Andy Cooke, the character David proves to be immune to a villain's mind control due to being autistic.

* In the ''Waterfire Saga'' by Jennifer Donnelly, one of the six talismans needed to seal away Abaddon is guarded by Okwa Naholo, monsters so terrifying that merely seeing one [[DeadlyGaze will kill you]]. Ava, the BlindSeer of the group, has no problems. Invoked, as the talisman's original owner (and Ava's distant ancestor) was a BlindSeer who knew his descendant would also be blind, and thus chose monsters that would deter others but let her through.

* In ''Fanfic/ViridianTheGreenGuide'', [[TheDragon Queen Bee]]'s poison works by attacking a person's [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Quirk factor]], which allows them to use their Quirk. When her bees attack Izuku Midoriya, who is [[UnSorcerer Quirkless]], he doesn't even notice it.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' it is eventually revealed that this is the case for [[spoiler:Izuku and Toshinori]]. [[spoiler:One For All puts strain on the body of a Quirk user who inherits it, and this eventually leads to them dying of RapidAging. However, since Toshinori and Izuku are both Quirkless, neither of them have this issue.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': Po is TheChosenOne not just because [[TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential he has a LOT of potential]], but because he is [[{{Kevlard}} just too fat]] to be affected by Tai Lung's PressurePoint attacks.

* ''WebOriginal/LoomingGaia'':

** The fishman Sebastian from the [[Recap/OnePiece3D2Y 3D2Y special]] is immune to [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Hancock]]'s charm due to being blind. Unfortunately for him, that just means that Hancock is forced to ''actually'' attack.

** Aizen's shikai only affects those who see it. Being blind, Tosen is immune to it. Aizen recruited him specifically because of this; having somebody around with considerable natural talent who's immune to his illusions wasn't something he was willing to risk.
** Kenpachi was immune to Berenice Gabrielli's ability to fill people with self-doubt and make them question themselves because he was temporarily deaf from enduring a sonic attack.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'': Pucci has the power to [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext remove abilities and turn them into CD-like discs. He temporarily removes his eyesight so that a rainbow won't turn him into a snail with subliminal messages.]]

* A psychological variant of this featured in the ''[[Film/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Chronicles of Narnia]]'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4353281/1/Across-the-Worlds Across the Worlds]]"; when the dimension-spanning villain known as the Darkness captured the Pevensies and Caspian to stop them interfering in his plans, the Darkness left Susan alone because he assumed her current lack of belief in Narnia would prevent her being a threat. As a result, Aslan had time to recruit Susan and three new allies, and instruct them that they would need to travel across the worlds and oppose the Darkness, before his strength failed and he was captured too.

* In ''[[http://das-mervin.livejournal.com/tag/revamp%3A%20the%20blue%20hour The Blue Hour]]'', a ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'' SpiteFic, Bella is noted to have a metal plate in her head from a car accident. Presumably this would have explained why Edward cannot hear her thoughts.
* {{Implied|Trope}} in "Policy of Truth" (a SpinOff of ''Fanfic/BothSyllables''), where Irkens' ability to pass in {{Paper Thin Disguise}}s is explained by a mild kind of CompellingVoice. At one point [[HeroAntagonist Dib]], who's immune, mentions that he's tone-deaf; [[MadScientist Jumba]] wonders if this might be related, but we never get an answer.
* In ''Fanfic/CivilizationVPeaceWalker'', UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat has HypnoticEyes, which combined with his natural charisma allows him to try to hypnotize Snake's men into believing that Snake is the true enemy. Snake {{No Sell}}s the effect because a) [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps he's seen it before]], and b) [[EyepatchOfPower he only has one eye.]]
* In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/44950582/ Disrespecting Authority]]", it's suggested that Sirius's years in Azkaban have left Sirius essentially immune to legilimency as his mind has been left an addled mess that makes it hard for others to see his memories properly.
* In ''Fanfic/LeftBeyond'', Aki Lattinen is coded as neurodivergent and actually turns out to have an unusual cerebral anatomy. While this does not make her immune to the Antichrist's mind-compulsion powers, she remembers that he has them, and helps build a partial countermeasure.

* In ''Fanfic/DailyEquestriaLifeWithMonsterGirl,'' Cerea is the only sapient being on the planet with no magic whatsoever. This means that she can handle platinum with relative safety (it still might explode in her hands, but it won't drain her if improperly prepped), and makes her the only being on the planet who can safely handle her AntiMagic sword. It also means she's the only person in the world [[spoiler: who can enter Tartarus in an attempt to evaluate Tirek without having her magic drained. There's nothing for him to steal]].

* ''Fanfic/CheatingDeathThoseThatLived:'' [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13173434/29/Cheating-Death-Those-That-Lived Teff Withers]] has been deaf since birth. This renders her immune to the [[OurSirensAreDifferent siren mutts]] and their hypnotic song, which killed the Career pack, letting her win the Hunger Games.

* In ''Fanfic/ViridianTheGreenGuide'', [[TheDragon Queen Bee]]'s poison works by attacking a person's [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Quirk factor]], which allows them to use their Quirk. When her bees attack Izuku Midoriya, who is [[UnSorcerer Quirkless]], he doesn't even notice it.

* In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersSinsOfTheWreckers'', Verity, being an ordinary human who's senses are much more limited than those of a Cybertronian, is much better at handling the Noisemaze once the characters get trapped there. To her, it's merely unpleasant rather than completely debilitating, and she's able to guide the rest of the heroes out of it.