History Main / DisabilitySuperpower

!!Sub-Tropes:

* People who have had metal implanted in their bodies are frequently sensitive to changes in barometric pressure, and able to detect approaching storms. This unfortunately comes at the cost of pain at the site of the implant; the bigger the implant, the higher the sensitivity and the greater the pain, especially in cases of severe weather. It's a sort of 'worst superpower ever' scenario.

* High G turns are dangerous because the centrifugal force acting on the blood pulls it out of the head, starving the brain of oxygen and can cause pilots to temporarily lose their vision or even black out. The blood that is centrifuged away from the brain instead tends to pool in the legs. A WW2 Pilot named Doug Bader who had lost his legs in a previous accident, found that he could withstand much tighter turns than his wingmates, likely due to the fact that he had no legs to act as reservoirs for his blood to pool in. This may have contributed to his success as a pilot in the RAF, where he made ace against the Luftwaffe
* Most birds have little to no sense of smell, owls in particular rely on their highly developed hearing and sight to hunt. This allows great horned owls to be the only predators that habitually target skunks. The white stripes meant to warn predators of the skunk's musk, make them walking targets for a big enough owl. The remains of fifty-seven striped skunks were found in one great horned owl nest, and great horned owls brought into rehabilitation clinics oftern smell like skunk

*** Roy doesn't actually become more powerful, per se, but loses the ability to limit his alchemy [[spoiler: because he needs to be able to see what he's doing in order to limit the power of the blasts. Riza, who is helping him aim, tells him not to worry about it since the target is the BigBad.]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', we have the Red Lotus [[MakingASplash waterbender]] Ming-Hua. Though she has no arms (according to WordOfGod, it's a birth defect), she has the ability to create [[ArtificialLimbs arms/tendrils made out of water]] with her bending, which she can control pretty much psychically. And she [[IAmNotLeftHanded she isn't limited to two, either]]. She was put in a TailorMadePrison designed just for her for a ''reason'', she's one of the most dangerous benders alive. And, just like, Toph, her powerful abilities have an AchillesHeel: [[spoiler:As dangerous as her water limbs are, connecting them to herself leaves her vulnerable to an electrical current and Mako kills her by shooting lightning at them]].

* In ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'', despite that Haborym was blinded for his crimes (Which actually weren't his fault!), he's potentially one of the best swordmasters in the game, and he still has the highest dexterity of all characters.

* In ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', Vanellope is at first thought to be a glitch, but this gives her the ability to FlashStep across short distances when she gains control over it near the end of the movie.

[[folder:Film]]

** Izuku Midoriya's [[spoiler:inherited]] Quirk is "One For All", a Quirk designed to stock-pile power, granting him super strength unmatched by all other Quirk users. The [[PowerAtAPrice catch]] to having this power is that due to his lack of skill and a frail body, whatever body part he uses this power with is broken instantly, requiring Recovery Girl's repairing (but also stamina draining) kiss to heal him. Because Recovery Girl’s power simply speeds up the healing process and doesn't grant regeneration, Midoriya's continued use of his Quirk would eventually make him lose all function in his hands. To compensate, he now primarily attacks with his feet when using his Quirk (having learned more control over his powers).
** Denki Kaminari's Quirk "Electrification" allows him to generate and conduct electricity. Over exceeding his wattage limit, on the other hand short, circuits his brain, leaving him brainless for an hour.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', we have the Red Lotus [[MakingASplash waterbender]] Ming-Hua. Though she has no arms (according to WordOfGod, it's a birth defect), she has the ability to create [[ArtificialLimbs arms/tendrils made out of water]] with her bending, which she can control pretty much psychically. And she [[IAmNotLeftHanded she isn't limited to two, either]]. She was put in a TailorMadePrison designed just for her for a ''reason'', she's one of the most dangerous benders alive. And, just like, Toph, her powerful abilities have an AchillesHeel: [[spoiler:As dangerous as her water limbs are, connecting them to herself leaves her vulnerable to an electrical current and Mako kills her by shooting lighting up them]].

* [[HandicappedBadass Vitruvius]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie [[VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame Videogame]]'' has the "Blind Courage" ability, which lets him navigate treacherously narrow and unsafe ledges above certain death that no other character is brave enough to do, simply because he's blind and ''can't see the danger''. Like everything this is gleefully {{lampshade|Hanging}}d:

%%%

%%%

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1513009796035910700
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.

* Toph from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. She's a great Earthbender, both because of natural talent and because she's blind: She learned how to use earthbending to sense her surroundings by registering vibrations in earth from the giant badgermoles she played with when she was young. She's so skilled with it that she can even act as a LivingLieDetector by monitoring their pulse like a polygraph. It does have some obviously limations, however: she can't see if she's not on solid ground (like sand or in the water) and can't see anything in the air. Plus she can't see certain details, like being unable to read or see pictures. Her power is so effective it [[RunningGag frequently]] makes her friends forget she's blind.

* Hawkeye in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' temporarily received a boost to his other senses -- including hearing that rivalled Radar's ability to detect incoming helicopters -- when he was blinded by an exploding heater. It has been suggested that Radar's super-hearing is a compensation for his incredibly poor eyesight but it's a weak precognitive ability. He's also been known to comply with requests before they're made and answer questions before they're asked. (Some of which could be guessed by experience, some not). Hence his [[MeaningfulName nickname]].
* Master Po (and to a lesser extent Serenity Johnson) from ''Series/KungFu''.

* River Tam from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' (and its follow-up movie, ''Serenity'') winds up with eerie PsychicPowers - mind-reading abilities that apparently extend from emotions to actual thoughts (both of which were shown surprisingly clearly in the episode "Objects in Space") - and some surprising WaifFu abilities, which combined with her "extraordinary grace" (ostensibly from [[DanceBattler years of studying dance]]), essentially turn her into a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot psychic ninja ballerina]]. At one point she picks up a gun as if it's a toy, closes her eyes, fires three shots, and kills three bad guys. All of which would be awful nice, if they didn't almost all seem to result from brutal experiments that ''cut out a chunk of her brain'' (leaving her unable to filter her own emotions), and left her [[AxCrazy psychotic]].
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** Geordi la Forge was born blind, but given synaptic implants that allow a device he wears to translate large portions of the EM spectrum into visual impressions, allowing him at various points to detect by sight things which normally require scanners or tricorders to detect. These impressions are often cited as not being sufficiently "real" when the writers want to play up the disability aspect, though they certainly don't seem to be lacking in detail. In one episode the audience and his crewmates even get to see a visual-frequency representation of what he sees, and it's a psychedelic jumble of colors and lights. No wonder he gets a headache. Geordi's vision has also been subject to the occasional PhlebotinumBreakdown or DroppedGlasses moment. The later movies acknowledged that ScienceMarchesOn by giving him bionic eyes.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E5LoudAsAWhisper Loud As A Whisper]]", Riva, who's deaf, is also telepathic. This is apparently a trait of his family, and possibly linked to their deafness (both are hereditary among them).
** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] when Counselor Troi loses her empathic powers. She attempts to leave Starfleet on the grounds that she is now disabled. Picard tries to convince her otherwise, invoking this trope. Troi answers that there is no scientific evidence that losing one sense strengthens others and that the myth was likely created by non-disabled people in order to make themselves feel more comfortable around the disabled.
* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' reveals that [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Spock]] has dyslexia. His efforts to overcome this (with his mother's help) allow him to perceive the presence of the Red Angel.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "Blind Date", Angel comes up against one of the most skilled human assassins he has encountered, and she happens to be blind. She blinded herself, then learned to see outside the spectrum of normal human sight--effectively seeing the move you make before you make it. However, he can actually move faster than her, and ultimately overcomes her by moving in lightning-fast-spurts; if he doesn't move, she can't see him, because vampires don't breathe or have a heartbeat.

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' was [[TemporaryBlindness blinded for one episode]], but considering who we're talking about here, she picked up a staff and went right on with the ass-kicking. She even managed to catch her chakram based solely on hearing, ''millimeters'' from an ally's face.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'''s title character has, among other mental problems, a serious case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - which allows him to perceive details of crime scenes and other clues, making him a champion sleuth.
** In an episode when he was blinded, he also realized that it solved a lot of his OCD related phobias, since he couldn't see the chaos around himself, plus his tendency to put everything back at the same place and count his steps, gave him a great head start compared to other blind people.
* Parodied in a sketch in ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'' where Hugh Laurie reveals to Stephen Fry that his deafness has caused him to develop his eyesight, whilst his blindness has caused his hearing to improve to compensate. "So in other words, you can hear and see perfectly?". "Yes, that's right"
* ''Series/{{UFO}}'' ("The Man Who Came Back"). A blind man senses that there's something wrong with a SHADO operative who's had his personality removed and is being [[PuppeteerParasite remote-operated by the aliens]].

* Comically subverted in the "Blind Kung-Fu Master" {{sketch|Comedy}}es from ''Series/{{MADtv}}''. The title character of the sketch is blind, but his years of martial arts training do ''absolutely nothing'' to compensate. HilarityEnsues.
* Parodied in an episode of ''Series/FatherTed'' when Ted confronts a person who he thought had been throwing paper balls at his head, only to find that the man is blind.
-->'''Ted''': (''extremely embarrassed'') Right, well, I suppose your other senses make up for it. I hear that with blind people there other senses become more alert, heh heh, so to speak, I suppose you can smell things from ten miles away and hear things before they happen, heh heheh.
-->'''Blind Priest''': No.
-->'''Ted''': No sixth sense of any kind? Or I suppose in your case it would be a ''fifth'' sense, seeing as you've only got the four. Unless you've got another one missing that I don't know about? How's your sense of touch? (''begins slapping at the man's arms and shoulder and laughing'')
-->'''Blind Priest''': Could you go away now please?
* An episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' has Natalia, wearing a hearing aid as the result of an injury suffered earlier in the season, discovered a device being used by jewelry store robbers to screw up the security camera system when it caused painfully loud static in said hearing aid.
* ''Series/GuidingLight'' did something similar when deaf Abby decided to have a cochlear implant (coinciding with the actress' RealLife decision to do the same). Her heightened sense of hearing allowed her to hear the ticking of an explosive device that had been planted and she was able to warn everyone before it went off.
* In an episode of ''Series/PainkillerJane'', one of the team member's former partner was paralyzed from neck down after an accident. He then becomes a "neuro" with telekinesis. He then goes on a rampage, killing all his former team members who he blames for his condition. He is killed at the end of the episode, which is probably more merciful than "chipping" him and turning him back into a helpless quadriplegic.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', "See No Evil": Abigail Breslin (''Film/LittleMissSunshine'') plays a blind child with brilliant pianism ability. She also has such a good ear for pitch that you could replace the sonar computer on a ''Los Angeles'' class submarine with her. She and her mother get kidnapped. The girl gets released. Guess how the mother is found...
* An episode of ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' has Nick blinded by a fly-like Wesen. He suddenly realizes that his hearing has been turned UpToEleven. Not only can he hear the MonsterOfTheWeek's buzzing (which no one else can), but he can also clearly hear whispered conversations in another room and both sides of a phone call. After stumbling a bit, he confronts the Wesen and ends up handily beating him, despite still being blind. After his eyesight is restored, he resolves to practice fighting blindfolded with [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Monroe]] throwing various fruits and vegetables in the air, and Nick attempting to hit them with a stick. Nick doesn't miss once. Later, Nick is temporarily zombified by the puffer fish-like Baron Samedi. After coming to his senses, he finds out that his metabolism control is much greater than before (e.g. he can go for a vigorous jog and not even break a sweat).
* This is how powers work in ''Series/{{Alphas}}''. Every person with a power is actually someone with some type of birth defect, from relatively tame ones like Bill's SuperStrength (which also gives him anger issues), to Gary's ability to see into the electromagnetic spectrum (which also makes him autistic). Therefore, not only does every Alpha have a specific "[[PowerAtAPrice downside]]" related to their power, it's also not uncommon to see random background Alphas who are blind, paralyzed, or otherwise crippled and disabled in ways not related to their ability. In fact, one of the earliest conflicts is a group of Alphas fighting to keep medicine that would cure birth defects off the shelves. They see it as a direct attack on their kind, but it's not clear if the company making the medicine even knew Alphas existed.
* In the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "Crackers Don't Matter", the Moya crew are exposed to a type of light that's driving them insane. Crichton is less affected because, as a human, he has weaker eyesight than the others.
-->'''Crichton:''' [[HumanityIsSuperior Humans are SUPERIOR!]]
* Parodied in ''Series/ThirtyRock'' by the show ''[[ShowWithinAShow Who Nose?]]'' about a detective who is constantly underestimated for his lack of smell.

* In ''Series/TheGoodDoctor'', Shaun's UsefulNotes/{{Autism}} grants him several benefits over neurotypical surgeons. He can spot a millisecond of altered heart activity so subtle that not even the monitors can pick up. He can project a VeinOVision on a patient and judge the best vein/artery to use at a glance. He can also, perhaps most impressively of all, recall any page of every single medical textbook he has ever read, automatically conjuring up the relevant information for the situation and allowing him to make technically perfect medical decisions. His bedside manner however is much less impressive.

* In earlier seasons of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Raj tended to be far more successful with women compared to the rest of the cast so long as he had a drink beforehand to be able to speak to them (because in his mind, alcohol was a temporary cure to his selective mutism). Once he was cured for real, he's lost that "power" and is now by far the worst with women.
* ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds2019'': Emily's able to see again at times and hear things no one else can as a result of the alien signal affecting her brain somehow. This appears to be a result of her blindness (or the condition behind it), since no one else can do these things.

* The {{MMORPG}} ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' plays rather brutally with this trope, by means of the Star Knight/Taekwon Master class. Their skill, 'Demon of the Sun, Moon, and Stars' (or 'Solar, Lunar, and Stellar Shadow'), grants its owner a + 30% bonus to Attack Speed - this bonus is insanely large. In exchange? ''The character's sight''. This isn't like the 'Blind' status effect, where a character takes a hit to their accuracy - accuracy is just fine. However the player's screen becomes black the moment this skill is learned, with a lighted area surrounding their character. As the skill is levelled up, and the attack speed bonus moves closer to + 30%, the lighted area shrinks, until at level 10 and + 30% ASPD, the tiles immediately surrounding a character can ''just be made out''. These effects are permanent and utterly irrevocable.
* In ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'', Alma's incredible mental powers came at a rather nasty cost: extreme sensitivity to negative emotions, particularly those relating to her father, which often resulted her being rendered catatonic with empathic terror when he was angry. On top of that, she suffered hallucinations, debilitating nightmares, and the occasional bout of pyrokinesis, as well as inadvertently [[MindRape mindraping]] anyone who spent too much time around her.
* In ''[[VideoGame/PsiOpsTheMindgateConspiracy Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy]]'' Jov Leonov was blinded during childhood by an accident. However, in exchange for his sight he ended up with formidable MindControl powers that he used in a successful career as a KGB agent, and then as the Movement's Master of MindControl and the man behind the Meat Puppet project.
* ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'' has Bentley in a wheelchair (due to the events of ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves''). Being a genius, he tricks out the wheelchair quite well. He still has moments of envy, but apparently has settled with the fact he's in the chair. A rocket-assisted, explosive-armed, tranquilizer-dart-firing wheelchair. Which proceeds to get ''even cooler'' in ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', with [[MultiArmedAndDangerous extra robot hands]] to help him do his business.

* Though not actually a disability, Regal Bryant of ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' learned to fight with his feet extremely well after his oath to keep his hands bound.
** In comparison to his normal combat skills, this is a massive disability. The only time he uses his hands he easily blasts through a wall using a HandBlast. The difficulty of using his weapon of choice is also shown in his DifficultButAwesome gameplay. His attacks are difficult to pick up, but when mastered he is the second strongest character, being able to chain devastating (and stylish) combos, and is one of the few characters capable of healing.
* Koishi Komeiji from the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series ended up sealing away her ability to read minds due to the fear it inspired in other people. This left her with the ability to read and manipulate people's subconscious, a much more powerful ability that places her as the extra stage boss, compared to her stage 4 boss sister.
* In ''Videogame/{{Warcraft}} 3'', Demon Hunters blind themselves to better see demons. They have their eyes burnt out, then the eye sockets are used to contain the essence of a demon, which gives them more power and abilities, such as the ability to better see magic in their surroundings, which includes demons. The demon's essence they seal in their eye sockets look like color tinted flames, so they often wear blindfolds over their eyes to keep from creeping out those around them.
%%* Law in ''VideoGame/FreedomForce''.
* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', the members of the ritualist profession blind themselves to better sense spirits. (Hence their hats) One character (Aeson) even was born blind, and became a ritualist for partially this reason. This is either making themselves blind, or wearing a hat that covers their eyes so they can be deprived of senses. Two ritualist [=NPCs=] (Togo and Yijo Tahn) actually don't wear hats covering their eyes.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' it is entirely possible to create something with no eyes. Funnily enough, this only barely effects your ability to actually see (the top third of the screen is blacked out and the rest is monochrome) and gives you a few extra evolution points to boot.
* Visas Marr and the miraluka in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe. Kreia, ironically enough, does roughly the exact same thing, "seeing with the Force." In her case she did it backwards, relying on the ability so much that her eyes atrophied.

* In ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'', despite that Haborym was blinded for his crimes (Which actually weren't his fault!), he's potentially one of the best swordmasters in the game, and he still has the highest dexterity of all characters.

* ''VideoGame/Mother3'': Duster walks with a limp due to having a clubbed foot, but he is ''very'' good at [[ArmedLegs swinging it around]].
* Check the "Comic Book" section's part on Daredevil, then apply the same to Kenshi from ''Franchise/MortalKombat: [[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Deadly Alliance]]'', as he was also blinded and improved his other senses as a result. Interestingly, the games ''Deadly Alliance'', ''Deception'', and ''Armageddon'' use this to defy GameplayAndStorySegregation, as Sonya and Kira's Kiss of Death moves won't affect him (sadly, he's just as vulnerable as anyone else in ''9'').
* Adam Jensen in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' is seriously injured in the prologue. His employer takes this opportunity to augment Adam above and beyond what was needed to save his life (he probably didn't really need the prototype ball-bearing bomb implanted in his chest for one thing), essentially turning him into a cyborg SuperSoldier.
* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' has Bedman, an IllBoy who is stuck in a nigh-perpetual coma and as such he remains bedridden all the time... so, what's the catch? Well, while asleep he has the ability [[DreamWeaver to enter and leave the world of his dreams at will]], letting him both summon nightmarish creatures from them or [[MindRape take his enemies into nightmarish worlds of his own creation to get rid of them]]. The fact that the bed he's confined to also doubles as a MiniMecha doesn't hurt.
* [[HandicappedBadass Vitruvius]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie [[VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame Videogame]]'' has the "Blind Courage" ability, which lets him navigate treacherously narrow and unsafe ledges above certain death that no other character is brave enough to do, simply because he's blind and ''can't see the danger''. Like everything this is gleefully {{lampshade|Hanging}}d:
--> '''Vitruvius:''' (While walking a ledge above flames) I'll just walk this perfectly safe ledge. It's not like I'm above a wall of flames or anything like that.\\
'''Batman:''' Does anyone else think he can actually see?
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Submachine}}'' series, Murtaugh apparently[[note]]according to the notes he's left; we never actually see any other characters[[/note]] lost his arm in an accident, but found out he had a "karma arm" which allows him to open portals.

* Senua of ''VideoGame/HellbladeSenuasSacrifice'' is a downplayed or perhaps subverted example. While Dillion and the narration imply that her condition makes her a better warrior, able to 'see patterns others miss,' and she successfully detects [[spoiler: plague in the water of her new village]], the many drawbacks of her condition are explored in horrifying detail. However, it's not clear how much of the pain caused by her condition is unavoidable and how much can be traced back to [[spoiler: her father's abuse]].
* While Kit loses her vision at the start of ''VideoGame/AnotherSight'', she finds herself able to see colored outlines based off sound [[spoiler:and can also detect the presence of the Node and some of the things it creates.]] She also develops an unexplained connection to Hodge, who can provide more detail by running around and meowing.
* Hayden Tenno of ''VideoGame/DarkSector'' is a sufferer of congenital analgesia (it's not clear whether he's fully insensitive to pain or simply indifferent, especially since sloppy story editing means [[AllThereInTheManual it's only mentioned in previews]]). He's a fairly unrealistic depiction even when ignoring the inconsistency, since he's managed to get up to adult age and become a black operative for the Not-CIA without having hideously damaged himself (e.g. breaking a bone in a way that obviously doesn't look right once it's healed), though regardless his condition turns out to be exactly what allows him to be infected by TheVirus and only gain the cool superpowers ''without'' the debilitating madness all other infectees suffer from, since they all go insane from extreme pain brought about by the infection (probably what you'd expect when a virus turns your skin into metal) that Hayden can't feel.

* Emi in ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' runs track and hardly appears to miss her feet - in fact, her synthetic legs actually give her an advantage due to their shape and composition. Meanwhile, it is repeatedly stated and shown that the blind Lilly has an insanely good sense of hearing (she mentions listening on people whispering in the next room over, although the walls are thin) and the deaf Shizune is a master strategist since she doesn't let outside influences distract her.
** [[ShrinkingViolet Hanako]], on the other hand, averts this. She has severe emotional scarring to go along with the burn scars covering most of the right half of her body, being painfully, painfully shy towards anyone except [[BlindAndTheBeast Lilly]].

* ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'' codifies this in canon with the [[OurSoulsAreDifferent Light Children]], who are born with just a little more or less soul than normal, but weren't born to Celeste parents. Since they often go undetected and lack the training that Celeste children receive for their extrasensory powers, this usually leads to them being diagnosed with various mental illnesses instead as these same extrasensory powers are often mistaken for hallucinations and other bad behavior. The most common power is resistance to the Celeste's CompellingVoice but they can develop other abilities. For instance Daisy is autistic and can teleport short distances. While White Noise is schizophrenic (supposedly) but shows no special traits other than seemingly complete immunity to Tone, possibly because he joined that universe's ChurchOfHappyology seeking a cure [[spoiler: but he did father said Church's so-called messiah, who now wants to destroy that scam of a religion.]]
* Inverted in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt''. Ysengrin was given magical, wooden PoweredArmor by Coyote, which gave him [[ShapeshifterWeapon powerful shapeshifting arms,]] [[GreenThumb control over plants,]] and let him walk bipedal. But due to a mistake by Coyote, the armor is not only arthritic, but Ysengrin's over-reliance on it has ravaged his body to the point where he can barely walk and eat without it. It's strongly implied that this is driving him insane.

* One pair of recurring antagonists in ''Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation'' includes "Resonance Ben", who traded in his eyes for ThePowerOfRock and advanced echolocation. Their first defeat was turned into a total loss by this - due to a loud noise, Ben's ears were ringing, rendering him unable to either make out what his partner was saying ''or'' defend himself, forcing said partner to just grab him and run.
** The author's accompanying comment: "There are a lot of heroes and villains with disabilities, and sometimes people seem to forget that they are still disabilities."
** There's also the hilarious time when Ben captured a Solar and tied him to a chair in the dark, trying (and mostly succeeding) to invoke NothingIsScarier... except Misho is one of the Chosen of the Sun, and summoning light is only slightly more trouble for him than reflexively knowing the current position of the sun in the sky (IE: so easy he barely has to think it). This reveals Ben in his boxers, laughing maniacally since he didn't notice.
* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' Hannelore has such severe OCD that she was virtually incapable of human contact and held major hygiene issues that stifled her social life, up until a short while ago in the comic (she's still dealing with the hygiene a little bit). She also loves to count and became a skilled drummer [[InstantExpert hours after she first began playing]] because drumming to her is "counting with your whole body." She's made a career out of being able and willing to count anything.
* {{Webcomic/Schlock|Mercenary}} comes from a species which is, without the aid of eyes that grow on trees, blind. His own senses are VERY acute, once identifying a man's dietary habits just by [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-06-04 smelling him]].
* Parodied in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=495 this]] Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal: Being quadriplegic but still able to move like an able-bodied person is not a very impressive superpower.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'', [[spoiler: Mecha Maid is [[http://www.spinnyverse.com/2010/11/05/11052010 completely paralysed]] due to ALS. To get around this, she built and uses a robotic suit that amplifies her nerves and allows for her to move normally, but only for use as a superhero. It is revealed later that she uses parts of her suit while in civilian clothing because even breathing is becoming increasingly difficult for her.]]

* [[TheDon Mobster Kingpin]] in ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' draws his special abilities from ''diabetes''. He can only be harmed when his blood sugar is high, and he can summon the ghost of [[MemeticMutation Wilford Brimley]].

* In ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'', Riku's original gimmick was that he was so depressed it gave him an emo-powered SuperMode. He's later revealed to be [[spoiler: a Time Lord with a regeneration impairment, meaning he keeps his face when he regenerates and [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap apparently can do so indefinitely]]]].
* ''Webcomic/PvP'' mocked the concept in [[http://www.pvponline.com/comic/2005/04/25/mon-apr-25 this strip]].

* This gets deconstructed in ''Webcomic/DrFrost''. While Frost's LackOfEmpathy makes him more objective, able to solve cases with more accuracy, and arguably a better psychologist, the downsides of his condition are shown far more than the positives. His [[NoSocialSkills lack of social skills]] alienate him from people, and it causes a lot of miscommunication that complicate cases or make people less willing to open up to him. Even people who genuinely care about him get discouraged.

* Razikale of ''Roleplay/ToRule'' was born without wings. In return, he had larger magic reserves.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', in which Huey wisely assumes that the blind Stinkmeaner was able to beat down Granddad thanks to super-human senses. He then {{train|ingFromHell}}s Granddad on [[YourEyesCanDeceiveYou how to combat such an opponent]], with one exercise involving watching old ''Zatoichi'' movies. It isn't until the rematch is well underway that Huey comes to realize that while Stinkmeaner had heightened senses, they were far from superhuman and he had just gotten lucky the first time. Before Huey can relay this to Granddad, Stinkmeaner's already lying dead on the ground.
* Thanks to Fry from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' having an *ahem* [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} 'special']] mind, he is immune to all psi attacks. Anybody can be an idiot, but not everybody is his own grandfather...

* [[InspirationallyDisadvantaged Felix]] from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', who thanks to his CoolChair added with a collection of AllUpToYou, CompressedVice, AnAesop became the most competent hero of two episodes.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy", Zim invents a machine that lets him substitute anything he wants (in this case, a toy pig) for any single object in the past. He uses this not to screw up the world history, but instead to mess up Dib's life out of petty revenge. As the episode goes on, Dib gets gradually more and more disabled by the injuries sustained by piggies being inserted into important points in his life, until he's dead. Until his MadScientist dad puts him in a life-sustaining, amazingly powerful robot suit, and he shows up on Zim's doorstep to tear his place apart. To Zim's horror, the more rubber piggies Zim throws into the machine, the more heavily-armed Dib becomes, presumably because Dib's father becomes increasingly worried about his son's well-being and installs more weaponry onto the robot suit.
* Phantom Limb from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' was born with withered arms and legs. A laboratory accident replaced these with fully-developed but invisible ones, with which he can kill by touch.
** Subverted however with the Impossible family, a parody of the Comicbook/FantasticFour. Other than the Reed Richards {{expy}}, they got the sucky aspects of the Four's superpowers without any of the benefits. Sally has to concentrate at all times or else her skin (and only her skin) will turn invisible, Cody bursts into flames whenever he is exposed to oxygen (and feels the same way any of us would if we were on fire), and Ned is a walking callus.

* Resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Mort in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' is proven in the episode "Sting Operation" to be too stupid to feel pain.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', DW was temporarily blinded by Megavolt. Despite briefly believing that his crimefighting career was over, he bounced back in perfect "LetsGetDangerous" fashion when Megavolt threatened Gosalyn and Launchpad, beating his opponent handily by allowing his other senses to compensate for his lost sight.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', Daolong Wong rendered Jackie mute, Jade deaf and Tohru blind. Uncle suggested improving the other senses to make up for the lost ones and mentioned, as an example, that he started improving his hearing when his sight became less than perfect, only to be told his hearing wasn't all that either.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'', OneSceneWonder the blind {{Catfolk}} soldier Lynx-O displays these, when he [[TheNoseKnows detects the scent]] of an invading {{Lizard|folk}} army that's out of sight of his fellow sentries.

* Defied in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Blind as a Bat". Bruce is blinded by an attack helicopter attack by the Penguin and, to compensate, develops a special helmet to let him see like his namesake. When a dogfight leads to him accidentally damaging the helmet, he's left helpless as its battery runs out and only succeeds in defeating the Penguin through luck and a leaky pipe.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'', General Amaya is Princes Callum and Ezran's aunt. She is deaf. Amaya is a capable warrior, having matched and beaten Sunfire elves in 3v1 combat. She has been portrayed as a well-respected military leader, as well as a very intelligent person. Amaya utilizes what appears to be American Sign Language to communicate. Her assistant, Commander Gren translates for her, most of the time. She had harbored a bigoted hatred for all elves throughout the series, but this seems to lessen by the end of Book Three.

* On a cellular level, nearly all the genes of so-called "super-bugs" that make them resistant to antibiotics are actually defects that tend to make them inefficient and less competitive outside an otherwise sterile hospital environment; for instance, loss of certain apertures that pump nutrients through the cell membrane also render a bacterium incapable of pumping the antibiotic that would kill it through those apertures, making it immune, yet also render it incapable of ingesting much nourishment. Research into various ways of "crowding out" these resistant strains of malevolent bacteria with other more benevolent bacteria is beginning to show some promise. But since most such resistance is carried on plasmids, which bacteria can rid themselves of at any time, calling it a 'disability' may be inappropriate - more of a temporary trade-off.

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1513009796035910700
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.

* In ''Manga/TheLastSaiyuki'', Koharu uses her psychic abilities to move her prosthetic limbs to move around.
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'':
** Shishio was covered in oil and set on fire. He did not die, but the fire destroyed all the sweat glands in his skin, meaning his body heat is constantly above normal. This apparently acts as a fuel to give him more strength, but also leads to his own demise from SpontaneousHumanCombustion.
** Usui was blinded by Shishio and learned how to see with his ears and spiritual senses.
* ''Manga/{{Shigurui}}'': The two protagonists. Irako Seigen, a blind Samurai, and Fujiki Gennosuke, a one-armed Samurai.

* ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' had [[spoiler: Galatea blind herself, allowing her to conceal her silver eyes and go into hiding. This increases her already impressive ability to sense Yoki ([[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]]) energy from great distances to near untold levels.]]
* In ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'', after Chikuma Koshirou ([[TheDragon Dragon]] to Yakushiji Tenzen) becomes blinded to protect [[BodyguardCrush his lady of liege Oboro]], he soon learns to compensate his lack of sight by using his senses of hearing and touch as replacement. Too bad [[spoiler: he gets killed when FemmeFatale Kagerou and MasterOfDisguise Saemon use that to their advantage and fool him, with Saemon imitating Akeginu's voice to distract him and Kagerou using that to kill Koushirou with her KissOfDeath.]]
** Muroga Hyouma, Gennosuke's mentor and uncle, has been already doing that for years. Since his powers are permanently activated through his eyes, he must keep them perpetually closed, but his hearing is so acute after so long that it's impossible to try ganging up on him. [[spoiler: On the other hand, it took a ''blind'' fighter like Koshirou to defeat him, since Hyouma's tricks didn't work on him.]]
** Hyouma and Koshirou are ''nothing'' compared to Jimushi Juubei. He has no arms and legs, but can slither on his belly as fast as any other ninja can run. He wields a dagger with his long tongue, and this attack is so fast and deadly that no opponent has ever lived to tell the tale when Juubei unleashed it.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** The Taijutsu specialist Rock Lee, who can't do any of the normal "jutsu" techniques (some unspecified flaw in his chakra network renders him physically incapable of performing any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu), but is so good at Taijutsu (martial arts), he's able to best the uber-talented Sasuke early in the series. His determination is practically a superpower in and of itself.
*** Qualified by dint of several long and painful rehab sessions after injuries, but as a baseline he has all regular human capabilities, which in a 'verse where most have superpowers makes you a BadassNormal.
*** Lee's biggest compensation for his lack of the usual ninja abilities is that he trained himself to be [[SuperSpeed very, very fast]]. In his aforementioned defeat of Sasuke, Lee mocked him for relying on his [[MagicalEye Sharingan]], saying that it didn't matter if his eyes could follow his movements if his body was too slow to keep up.
** Kakashi would also qualify for this -- [[spoiler:his left eye was replaced almost immediately after losing it, but]] now he's stuck with one eye, except for emergencies (since the Sharingan cannot be turned off).
* Yin from ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' is blind, but through her observer apparitions she's able to see, as long as both she and what she's observing is close to water. There appears to be little, if any, limit to the range of these apparitions.
* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Yomi, [[spoiler:after he was blinded by his old thieving partner Yoko Kurama]], has grown two more sets of ears, which allow him to sense things a long distance away.
* The character Sasaki Kojiro in Takehiko Inoue's ''Manga/{{Vagabond}}'' is born deaf. A character muses on the possibility that only being able to listen his "interior voice" is what gives Kojiro his remarkable ability in swordsmanship. Kojiro also develops a preternatural ability to sense people sneaking up behind him, much to the surprise of many a would-be attacker.
** ''Manga/{{Vagabond}}'''s Sasaki Kojirou is ''very'' different from the basis for the manga (Eiji Yoshikawa's ''Musashi'') in that he's deaf, with multiple character interactions and fights riding on this. Two separate characters even theorize that his swordsmanship has improved ''because'' of his deafness: one hypothesizing that his eyesight improved to compensate, while another thought that without sound to distract him he could better listen to his own body which already knew the techniques. Subverted by Kanemaki Jisai, who tried to dissuade him from a life of swordsmanship by repeatedly taking advantage of Kojirou's deafness to defeat him multiple times over the years.
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'': Nana's new prosthetic limbs turn out to be even more useful than her original natural ones. After all, a diclonius becomes that much more dangerous when she can [[RocketPunch throw her own arms at you.]]
** She also becomes mostly immune to Lucy's most devastating attacks. You can't rip off a detachable limb.
* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'''s main character Guts loses an arm in the Eclipse, but it is replaced by a metal hand with a cannon in it.

* Helen of ''Manga/HelenESP'' is blind, deaf, and mute, but possesses some amount of PsychicPowers, such as communicating telepathically with dogs, most notably her CanineCompanion and best friend, Victor.
* ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'': A planet is encountered where the inhabitants use telepathy to exclusively communicate. This ability mysteriously developed after the villain faction of the series "harvested" the people's vocal cords. There is no explanation for why the muted folk didn't didn't develop something practical, like sign language. There is just the implication that it has to do with their strong spirituality that may have a connection to the other enigmas driving the story.

* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', [[spoiler:Souther]] has a birth defect that causes his heart to be on the opposite side of his body (which is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrocardia a real condition]]). As a result, his {{Pressure Point}}s are the inverse of where they would be on anyone else, making him immune to Hokuto Shinken's attacks that target them.
* A recurring trait among quirk users in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia.''
** Izuku Midoriya's [[spoiler:inherited]] quirk is "One For All" is a quirk designed to stock-pile power, granting his super strength unmatched by all other quirk users. The [[PowerAtAPrice catch]] to having this power is that due to his lack of skill and a frail body, whatever body part he uses this power with is broken instantly, requiring Recovery Girl's repairing (but also stamina draining) kiss to heal him. Because Recovery Girl’s power simply speeds up the healing process and not grants regeneration, Midoriya's continued use of his quirk through his hands would eventually make him lose all function in his hands. To compensate, he uses his feet when using his quirk (having learned more control over his powers).
** Denki Kaminari's quirk "Electrification" allows him to generate and conduct electricity. Over exceeding his wattage limit on the other hand short circuits his brain, leaving him brainless for an hour.
** Yuga Aoyama has a physical disorder that prevents him from properly using his Navel Laser- it can leak out if he doesn't wear his special belt and using it too much causes problems ranging from stomachaches to incontinence.
* Possibly Akira in ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'', who deliberately destroyed his sight in order to match up with "born fighters".
* ''Manga/BlackButler'' has a downplayed example in Mey-Rin. By her own admission, she is terribly, ''terribly'' far-sighted, to the point of [[MakingASpectacleOfYourself Making a Spectacle of Herself]] with a pair of ''large'', '''round''' glasses. As a maid in a manor with narrow halls and a lot of statues, she's a [[CuteClumsyGirl total klutz]] who can't set a table without breaking a thousand pieces of fine china. As a sniper, she doesn't need a scope to shoot you down from ''across Phantomhive property''.
-->'''Sebastian''', ''chapter 5'': Word has it that the public adores silly maids, but I do not think I will ever understand it.\\
'''Peter''', ''chapter 33'': No way I can get close like this! 'Ow many are there? ...One!? Just one!?
* ''Manga/BlackClover'': Probably the one good thing Asta can make out of his lack of magic is the fact that he completely lacks a magical signature. As a result, if the opponent can't see or hear him, his attacks are practically invisible to any wizard unaware of this. This is exploited in the battle against the leader of Hell Lotus. It's later revealed that his AntiMagic weapons drain mana upon contact, making it extremely dangerous for anyone else to wield them. And then it's revealed that [[spoiler:because Asta was born without magic, he is a perfect vessel for anti-magic, a.k.a. the demon blood that is the source of all his abilities.]]

* DisabilitySuperpower: Niko is blind, but his other senses (especially his hearing) is so sharp he can practically echolocate.

* Cliff Steele, in the ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol'' comics, gains his powers from the fact that he's [[BrainInAJar just a brain]] [[WeCanRebuildHim installed in a robot body]]. Later versions of ''Doom Patrol'' played up this "super disability" concept and included Crazy Jane, whose 64 [[SplitPersonality multiple personalities]] [[SuperpowerLottery each have a unique superpower]], and Dorothy, whose [[YourMindMakesItReal overactive imagination]] conjures up creatures from her subconscious. Averted by the Doom Patrol's Chief, who is paralyzed from the waist down. And that's it. The entire Comicbook/DoomPatrol is made up of people whose powers don't make up for their disabilities at all.
** Well, there is Beast Boy, who got his {{animorphism}} powers from a disease that also made him immune to all other diseases; but that's a fairly recent development.

* Pied Piper, [[HeelFaceTurn an enemy and later friend]] of ''ComicBook/TheFlash''. He was born deaf, but his rich family had a scientist (Dr. Will Magnus, the same guy who made the ComicBook/MetalMen) implant a cybernetic hearing aid in his head. It worked a little ''too'' well, as his hearing became so sensitive that he was able to design sonic weapons that could control the minds and actions of others, but won't affect him.
** This was later explained as him being able to somehow channel the Anti-Life Equation thorough his pipe, but [[ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis given where this came from]] [[FanonDiscontinuity ...]]

* His abilities don't come from being unable to see, but it's worth mentioning Rot Lop Fan, a Comicbook/GreenLantern from a species that never evolved sight at all (and thus no conception of color or light... or lanterns, for that matter). His Green Lantern Oath goes:
-->In loudest din or hush profound
-->My ears catch evil's slightest sound
-->Let those who toll out evil's knell
-->Beware my power, the F-Sharp Bell!
* The character Mr. Sensitive/the Orphan from the ''ComicBook/XForce'' and ''ComicBook/XStatix'' comics had an interesting variation on this: ''all'' of his senses were enhanced, to the degree that he had to wear a special suit to block out most of what he felt, or else he'd go nuts from the sensory overload; he can't even take a normal shower and has to use a specially made misting nozzle. He could hear people's heartbeats through walls, but even a light breeze on his exposed skin could cause him incredible pain. At one point, his powers were even used against him: a villain (who knew about his powers) tortured him simply by making a shallow cut on his skin with a Swiss army knife. The pain from this relatively minor wound almost caused him to black out.
** He once had a fight with Iron Man wherein they both lost their armor. The battle then became a test to see whose disability was worse, Iron Man's weak heart or Mr. Sensitive's hypersensitivity. Mr. Sensitive won, but just barely.
* During the series ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', ComicBook/AdamStrange lost his eyes in a freak teleportation accident. However, he quickly compensated by connecting his ship's sensor array to his visual cortex, allowing him sight as long as he was piloting.
* Ever since an incident with a villain using sound-based mind control and one of his own ultrasonic arrowheads, ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} from ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' needs a hearing aid. This doesn't come up often, but occasionally it protects him against the subtler sonic attacks as a plot point. (Perhaps less plausibly, once he's also shown unmasking an android as such by, apparently, turning his hearing aid all the way up and ''hearing'' the imposter's internal mechanisms.)
** The reason it doesn't turn up any more is because his hearing was restored after ComicBook/HeroesReborn.
** Though in ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'', Hawkeye is blind... yet still manages to be the world's greatest archer simply by listening more. The mini-series ''ComicBook/OldManHawkeye'' revealed in the end that [[spoiler:he was trained by a surviving Daredevil]].
* Many wheelchair-bound people have PsychicPowers or their [[SuperWheelchair wheelchair]] is a CoolCar[=/=]PoweredArmor hybrid. The uber-example is Charles Xavier aka Professor X, a man contained in a wheelchair who is also one of the most powerful telepaths in the whole Franchise/MarvelUniverse.
* Nävis, heroine of the French comic ''ComicBook/{{Sillage}}'' (a.k.a. ''Wake'') is one of the few sentient beings in the universe with no telepathic abilities. The upside is that her mind can't be read or controlled, which makes her a valuable agent.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** In the ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers Transformers]]'' comics from Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}, there was a perfect example of this in Circuit Breaker. Josie Beller, with all but one hand paralyzed after becoming collateral damage from marauding giant robots, used that hand to build herself an outer skinsuit with electronics that could transmit the neural signals her own nervous system could no longer carry. Oh, and it also let her fly and barbecue Transformers as an act of revenge, on top of it. And looks very much like a [[MostCommonSuperPower quite revealing]] [[{{Stripperiffic}} tinfoil bikini]] as well.
** Megatron, in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', briefly had his body turned into a living space-bridge, an event that riddled his internal mechanisms with miniature portals. This physically weakens and pains him, and makes him difficult to repair, but it also makes him a difficult opponent in a fistfight; hit him in the wrong spot and [[PortalCut you'll find your hand on another planet.]]
* [[Comicbook/{{Batgirl 2000}} Cassandra Cain]] was raised in a modified language deprivation experiment, the intent being for her brain to orient itself to interpreting body movement as a first language. As a result she's functionally illiterate and barely able to communicate verbally. However, as a trade-off, she's able to accurately predict the thought process of an opponent based on subtle body language and predict their strategies and individual moves before they make them.
* Barbara Gordon had some skill with criminology and computers when she was Batgirl, but [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke when the Joker put her in a wheelchair]] [[ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey she focused on her detective and computer skills and became the world's foremost hacker/information gatherer.]] Somewhat justified in that, not being Batgirl anymore, she had more time to focus and plenty of motivation.
* Shroud. Blind, but with mystic vision.
* Mindf**k from ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'' also is a BlindSeer. [[spoiler: Mind████'s brother tried to invoke this intentionally, when he did things described simply as horrifying to his sibling. More specifically, he cut out her eyes and tongue, so she has to piggyback on another person's senses to see and taste things.]]
* A ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comic story revolved around a skeptical blind girl who did not believe in Superman's abilities and dismissed all his demonstrations of them as tricks. At one point he showed off his super-hearing by reciting the conversation going on in the next room. This didn't impress her, because she herself was able to hear it; Superman noted that blind people often develop an acute sense of hearing, and surmised that the girl had done so without being aware of it.
* Bruce Wayne/Batman in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''. By the time of ''ComicBook/KingdomCome,'' Bruce has taken so many beatings that his body has essentially said "so long" and given up, and he needs an exoskeleton to be able to ''stand up''. Of course, it wasn't a ''huge'' step to cover the exoskeleton in armor and add enough gadgets to go full Iron Man.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Vampirella}}'', Conrad van Helsing is blind but has a psychic vision that can warn him about evil and his hearing is good enough for him to aim a gun with.
* ''ComicBook/KickAss'''s high pain threshold is due to nerve damage.
* Bunnie Rabbot from ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' has this in a reverse perspective. She isn't seen anywhere without the roboticized and weaponized limbs that, according to the setting, [[CursedWithAwesome cause her to not be "flesh and blood"]]. She gets so used to having super power she ends up totally helpless when she is accidentally "healed" by [[EvilSorcerer Naugus]].
* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': King Snake frequently used his blindness as an asset, ambushing people in the dark, knocking out sources of light, and using disorienting flashes or other visual stimuli. Interestingly, he becomes ''less'' dangerous in one instance where his sight is restored by a Lazarus Pit. Robin fights him and is surprised that he's holding his own before he realizes that King Snake was ''so'' used to fighting blind that suddenly ''having'' sight was a distraction that he couldn't compensate for. King Snake [[StatusQuoIsGod ends up blind again]] by the end of the issue.

* In ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'', the blind character Whistler overhears his own name spoken in conversational tones -- thirty feet away, on the other side of thick plate glass. Later he listens through a powerful microphone aimed at a distant building, and deduces what rooms are which behind sealed windows -- even identifying one as an emergency exit ("I can hear the emergency floodlight batteries recharging"). He also deduces what road Creator/RobertRedford's character was driven on, while tied up in the trunk, based solely on what he heard. The character is based on a RealLife hacker who could actually communicate with modems at low speeds ''sans device'' due to his ability to recognize and replicate the signals.
** Also, Whistler is the one who figures out that a certain black box on a desk is important. The others (who could see it) quickly discarded it as just an answering machine. This case is not completely Disability Superpower (The important clue is in the audio) but partly "only seeing people can be fooled by the optical illusion".
* In ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico'' Agent Sands becomes a badass blind gunfighter after getting his eyes gouged out by the sick Dr. Guevara. He'd only been blinded for about half an hour, and had to have a kid assist him in taking on several of the cartel by telling him where to shoot. But his final shootout had him taking down two guys all by himself, using sound in order to pinpoint their location and kill them.
* Near the end of ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' [[spoiler: Neo is blinded by Bane, a human who has been taken over by Neo's rival Agent Smith. However he still manages to overpower and kill him due to his powers as [[TheChosenOne the One]]: he can see data and machinery as glowing yellow light. This appears to also include humans who have been possessed by programs. It also happens only in the real world; while in the Matrix, Neo's body still posses normal eyes and vision]].
* ''Franchise/{{Zatoichi}}'', the blind masseur from the eponymous Japanese film series, who possesses a skill with a sword equal to the greatest samurai.
** In his first film, he tosses a candle into the air and slices it vertically, from a sitting position, in a single ''iaido'' draw.
** In the more recent Beat Takeshi version, Zatoichi defeats a sword-bearing {{mook}} by slicing between his hands. The mook is left standing with two portions of a useless (and worthless) sword. His rival in plans to strike him down by exploiting the usual way Zatoichi draws his sword, but Zatoichi hears him change his stance and adjusts his grip accordingly.
** Zato-Ino of ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo, a blind pig who uses his nose to compensate.
** Yet another Zatoichi ShoutOut comes from Zato-One (ichi = one) from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear''. He was blinded when he [[DemonicPossession accepted a demon]] named Eddie. As a trade-off, he is now extremely powerful and can control shadows. It's never explained how exactly Zato sees, though ostensibly Eddie sees for him.
* ''Film/{{Yellowbeard}}'': Harold "Blind" Pew, is keen-sensed sightless informant who also conceals a deadly surprise in his walking stick. (Harold is a parody of and a ShoutOut to ''Franchise/{{Zatoichi}}''.)
* In ''Film/BlindFury'', Rutger Hauer plays a blind Vietnam vet who is a ShoutOut to Zatoichi. After getting blinded by a grenade, he stumbles across a Vietnamese tribe that, for some reason, decides to teach him how to use his other senses to become a master with a {{katana|sAreJustBetter}}. Years later, he returns to America with a sword hidden in his walking stick and uses his moves to protect a bratty kid from drug dealers.

* ''Film/TheLookout'' has the protagonist rendered psychologically scarred and has trouble remembering things. Not too much of a superpower, but he uses a technique that he learned from his blind friend of "Start from the end" which enables him to plan which eliminates the BigBad and TheDragon. Though, this is more to the point that the aforementioned villains fail to recognize the protagonist as a true threat.
* Parodied by the blind character Blinkin in ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights''. In one scene he snatches an arrow right out of the air, remarking "'Eard it comin' a mile away" to the shocked Merry Men. Immediately afterwards, Robin compliments him, to which he responds, "Who said that?"
** An earlier scene has him standing in a lookout tower. Robin asks what he's doing up there, and he replies, "Guessing? I ''guess'' nobody's coming?"
** The Prince's men are very lucky Blinkin is blind. After all, look what he did to that ''wood pillar''; if he could see, he'd probably have liberated England by himself.
* In ''Film/HouseOfFlyingDaggers '', the blind Mei is capable of insane and technically physically impossible combat feats despite her disability. [[spoiler:Except... not really. It's all a ruse -- she's impersonating the old revolutionary leader's blind daughter, who doesn't know martial arts -- and she actually ''can'' see.]]
* Not quite a superpower, but the title character of ''Film/RookieOfTheYear'' breaks his arm, and it heals in such a way as to make him a super-fast baseball pitcher.
** Truth in television, for very rare cases. Mordecai Brown pretty much destroyed his hand through several accidents, and became a baseball pitcher afterwards. His new hand allowed him to throw a devastating curve ball.

* [[spoiler:Leonard, the amnesiac]] from the 2000 film ''Film/{{Memento}}'' is described by another character as the perfect assassin - since [[spoiler:he can't remember ever having killed anyone, he doesn't act like his targets expect an assassin to act and feels no guilt afterwards. His partner keeps setting him up to kill people and they never see him coming.]]
* In ''Thunderpants'', Patrick has the disability of excessive farting. It is later discovered however that this can be used to power a rocket into space because his twin stomachs resemble the rocket's engine.
* ''Franchise/RoboCop''. Most of his damaged body is replaced by cybernetics, even parts that didn't need to be removed. This leaves him incredibly strong and ImmuneToBullets, if slow.
* In the Thai movie ''Film/{{Chocolate}}'', the main character is autistic, with the attendant social difficulties and learning disabilities. However, this enables her to naturally [[AwesomenessByAnalysis absorb martial arts from]] Creator/BruceLee and Tony Jaa movies on television. She then progresses through the entire movie, beating up trained fighters and men twice her size. The only warrior who challenges her has ''Tourette syndrome'', which allows him to make unusual moves, but she's able to adopt his style as well and defeat him.

* Jimmy in ''Film/TheWizard'' is stricken with grief over the death of his twin sister, but his mental state also grants him amazing abilities with video games.
* ''Film/RainMan'' features Dustin Hoffman's autistic character having amazing calculation skills, being able to count a scattering of spilled toothpicks at a glance.
** The autistic Simon Lynch in ''Film/MercuryRising'' is able to crack a government code that was secretly published in one of his puzzle books by the creators to see if anyone can crack it.
* The Muppet version of Blind Pew in ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'' parodies this trope; Pew is a comically handicapped blind man for the majority of his scenes, but when Billy Bones cocks a pistol to shoot him, Pew flies across the room directly at him and knocks it out of his hands. (After the plot has been sufficiently advanced, he's back to tripping over chairs and walking into walls. Maybe it's an act? Or just the RuleOfFunny.)
* The titular superhero of ''Film/KickAss'', due to getting, well, his ass kicked and hit by a car on his first attempt at heroics, leaving him with severely damaged nerve endings, giving him an increased tolerance to pain.

* In ''Film/{{Blindness}}'', by being an ordinary blind man prior to the outbreak of contagious blindness, The Accountant is fully capable of functioning normally, and so he quickly gains the upper hand over everyone else in the facility.
* In ''Film/TheBookOfEli,'' [[spoiler:Eli is revealed to be blind, though his amazing ability to kick ass is implied to be divine favor.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', Vanellope is at first thought to be a glitch, but this gives her the ability to FlashStep across short distances when she gains control over it near the end of the movie.
* The Quasi-Dead from ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' take this trope to its logical conclusion. As the name suggests, they are practically dead. This near-death state, however, gives them amazing psychic powers.
* In ''Film/MyNameIsKhan'', the titular character is an autistic savant with a [[MrFixIt talent for fixing things]] that borders on MachineEmpathy. [[ChekhovsSkill This comes in handy many times throughout the film.]]

* ''Film/RogueOne'': Chirrut is blind, but his connection to the Force lets him be a martial artist and dead shot despite this.
* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': Besides River Tam, who has {{telepathy}} amplified by brain surgery at the hands of Alliance scientists that also left her with a form of schizophrenia, [[spoiler:at the climax Malcolm Reynolds turns out to be immune to the Operative's PressurePoint paralysis because of an old injury: the nerve cluster the Operative targets was destroyed by shrapnel during the Unification War.]]

* Enchantress Hiresha from ''Literature/LadyofGems'' is one of the most accomplished enchantresses in the Lands of Loam not despite her uncontrollable sleeping but because of it.
* Astrid's little brother, Little Pete, in ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' is autistic. He's also the most powerful person in the FAYZ, other than maybe [[spoiler: the Gaiaphage]]. He has the ability to make things appear out of thin air, teleport him and Astrid to anywhere he wants, and [[spoiler: he caused the FAYZ]].
* Montolio in R.A. Salvatore's ''[[Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy Sojourn]]'' is a blind ranger who is sufficiently badass at hand-to-hand combat to scare off a whole dungeon's worth of [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]]. His familiarity with his surroundings helps, though.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse''
** The Miraluka are a race of beings who evolved the ability to "see" through the Force, but at the same time lost use of their eyes, then lost their eyes entirely. Kreia from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' displays a similar ability, which the main character of that game can learn.
** A character in the ExpandedUniverse, a Wookiee named Ralrra, has a "speech impediment" -- which removes enough of his "accent" for Leia to understand him perfectly. Therefore he has a job in the Kashyyyk embassy, as his speech impediment makes him easier for aliens to understand.
** [[Literature/NewJediOrder The Yuuzhan Vong]] were cut off from the Force when their sentient homeworld was destroyed by their constant warfare. This caused them so much pain that they came up with a CombatSadomasochist culture to cope. Being cut off from the Force also meant that the Vong couldn't be directly affected by Force powers, giving them a huge advantage against Force-wielders.
* In ''Literature/GenerationDead'', arguably every single zombie in the entire book falls under this trope, since they're not only [[OnlyMostlyDead legally dead]], but get seemingly superhuman strength, endurance, speed and toughness; all while not needing to eat, sleep or drink and being practically unkillable without being either set on fire or bashed in the head... but on the other hand? ''Most of their organs no longer function''; they can't heal themselves if injured; and their brain is generally much slower-functioning, to the point where they're almost all slow-moving klutzes even if they were dancers or athletes before they died, and a previously brilliant teen gets stuffed into remedial classes. Then there's also the thing where they tend to have all or most senses (taste, touch, you name it) dulled, assuming they work at all. NotQuiteDead? You betcha! Better off? Er... good question.

** At least two witches are described to have developed some combination of blindness or deafness due to old age but use their magic to compensate - Miss Treason from ''Literature/{{Wintersmith}}'' sees and hears through her animal companions, and Desiderata Hollow from ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'' has trained her second sight to work in the present.

* Zephyr the oracle from ''Literature/{{Silverwing}}'' is albino and, due to his old age, also blind, and so has developed a sense of hearing so acute he can hear the echos of anything, anywhere. He can also see into the future and past using his ears (or something).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''
** Creator/DanAbnett's Inquisitor Gideon Literature/{{Ravenor}}, main character of the eponymous series of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novels. A Chaos-engineered disaster during an Imperial triumphal procession nearly killed him and left his body entirely broken, confining him permanently to a mobile life support chamber. On the other hand, it gave him considerable time to further develop his innate PsychicPowers. The life-support pod is fitted with armour comparable to that of a ''Leman Russ Main Battle Tank'', contains powerful psychic amplifiers (partially accounting for Ravenor's power increase), and has mounted upon it ''two'' fully automatic, rocket-propelled grenade launchers loaded with daemon-killing DepletedPhlebotinumShells.
** Colonel 'Iron-hand' Straken, who has a much stronger replacement arm thanks to the original being bitten off by a Miral Land Shark.
** Commissar Yarrick has a bionic eye with a laser built in and a robot arm made from the very Ork Battle Klaw that removed the original.
** Lord Militant Commander Drang has a replacement bionic eye which lets him spot an enemy warship up to half a light-year away.
** Astropaths get a power boost from hooking their soul to the God-Emperor, at the cost of serious damage to (if not the destruction of) their eyes and optic nerves.
** Dreadnoughts are HumongousMecha piloted by crippled Astartes heroes, for whom they also act as life-support machines (much like Ravenor, in fact).
* Peter Reidinger I of the ''[[Literature/TowerAndTheHive Talents]]'' series (specifically the ''Pegasus'' sub-series), who becomes paralyzed from the neck down in adolescence due to a wall collapsing on top of him. However, it is soon discovered that he is the most powerful psychic Talent in the world: he proves so adept at telekinesis that he actually ''fakes normal movement'' by levitating his body (it's not perfect: he has a difficult time making complex movements with his fingers, and occasionally forgets to keep his feet on the ground).
* The title character in ''A Wizard Alone'', the sixth Literature/YoungWizards book, is [[spoiler:an autistic kid who happens to be one of the "Pillars of Creation", through which a lot of positive energy is dumped into the universe]]. By the end, [[spoiler:he's no longer autistic, but he's still a Pillar]].
* Rowan from ''Literature/LordsOfTheSky'' is physically blind, but can still see her surroundings due to her innate magic abilities. Not only is she an accomplished sorceress, but [[spoiler:she's also a Dragon Master, meaning she has a very special affinity to Dragons]].
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''
** Bran Stark gets crippled from a fall and lapses into a coma. When he awakens, he gains [[spoiler:prophetic "green dreams" and the ability to consciously take control of living things. These abilities qualify him to become a powerful sorcerer called a greenseer]].
** In ''A Dance with Dragons'' [[spoiler: Arya learns to see through the eyes of a cat to compensate for having been blinded by the priests of the Many Faced God. It's implied that this is a latent power in all the Stark children just waiting for some trigger to be expressed. Ironically, the purpose of the blindness was to force her to develop the disability superpower of heightened senses. Using the supernatural shortcut might have caused her to miss out on some of that training]].
* Ng in ''Literature/SnowCrash'' lost all of his limbs in Viet Nam and has the ultimate CoolCar of a wheelchair: a heavily-customized and heavily-armed airport firetruck. Given the heavily-commercialized nature of the world, he can get anything he needs via drive-thru. Not only is he permanently jacked into TheMetaverse, where his DigitalAvatar has limbs, but his body is suspended in a gel that gives him force feedback, making him the only known character in the story to be able to actually ''feel'' massages given to his DigitalAvatar.
* In Jose Saramago's ''Literature/{{Blindness}}'', all of humanity becomes blind with the exception of one person. People who were previously blind are accustomed to their condition, and have enough of an advantage that at least one becomes a gang leader of sorts.
* Dinah Bellman from Creator/StephenKing's novella ''The Langoliers'' is a young blind girl that displays a grab-bag of psychic powers and enhanced senses. In the [[Film/TheLangoliers tv movie]], she is able to see Craig Toomey's paranoid delusion by looking at him, communicate telepathically, seems to have a degree of precognition, acts as a human lie detector and [[HellIsThatNoise hears the approaching]] [[EldritchAbomination monsters]] with her superhuman hearing. Furthermore, in the film's climax, [[spoiler:she begins to astral project to Craig Toomey and apparently alters his paranoid delusions to show him exactly what he wanted to see.]]

* The whole idea behind the half-bloods having ADHD and dyslexia in ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. The ADHD actually doubles as battle reflexes, and the dyslexia is explained as their minds being hardwired for Latin or Ancient Greek, rather than English.
* Invoked in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. When the team decides to increase their numbers, they specifically choose disabled teens. Since no Yeerk would infest a disabled body when plenty of healthy ones are available, it guarantees that disabled teens are safe to receive the morphing ability. A few get better thanks to morphing, but most stay disabled while human.
* ''Literature/WorldWarZ'':
** An old gardener who'd been blinded in the bombing of Nagasaki during World War II becomes a zombie-killing Franchise/{{Zatoichi}} reference, using precise study and memorization of the landscape and his hearing to track the zombies by their moans, and his gardening spade to kill them.
** Another interview has a man in an ordinary wheelchair man taking up zombie defence patrols-- crawling zombies trying to attack him from behind get the chair instead of his legs.
* Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/KnownSpace'' character Gilbert Gilgamesh Hamilton (Gil the Arm) develops a telekinetic replacement arm when his original is lost in an asteroid mining accident. It's very weak (barely able to lift a full shot glass in Earth gravity) and due to Gil's lack of imagination is restricted to the range of the original... however, he manages to keep it when the meat arm is finally [[{{Organlegging}} replaced]], it has its own sense of touch which can feel ''inside'' things (including people), and he can reach through a videophone screen in two ways -- to touch the electronics inside, or to touch the person on the other end of the call...
* Jayfeather from ''Literature/WarriorCats'' is born blind, but learns he has the ability to read minds. As well, he can creep into dreams, in which he gains perfect vision.
* An unusual example is seen in ''Literature/MyNameIsRed''. [[spoiler:The artists often go blind due to overwork, but sometimes welcome this, as it allows them to draw from an idealized memory instead of a world they think is growing ever more corrupt]].

* ''Literature/ProfessorMmaasLecture'' is about termites, who are almost completely blind--not that they need sight inside their mound. They all have a very acute sense of smell which gives them an equivalent of sight. Their language even reflects this ("unforesmelled"), and their "disguises" and "masks" involve solely altering one's smell.
* Thomas from ''Literature/TheBadPlace'' has Down Syndrome but possesses mysterious telepathic powers.

* Glen Cook's ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'' series has IKnowYourTrueName in full effect. Any wizard can be instantly and permanently stripped of his powers by someone invoking his True Name. As a result, one of the requirements of a wizard rising to significant power is a willingness to ruthlessly destroy anyone who knows his True Name, including friends and family (lest they be tortured into revealing it to a rival). The only powerful wizard in the series who isn't an EvilSorceror was born under unusual circumstances and was never given a real name, only a temporary nickname that stuck far longer than intended. He complains about his lack of a real name in the final book, apparently unaware of the unique status it gives him.
* An inversion happens in ''Literature/ToughMagic'', where the main character successfully becomes a skilled and powerful wizard, despite being unable to easily cast spells. The inversion part comes from the fact that it doesn't happen because overcoming his handicap makes him better than he'd otherwise be; but rather, he becomes a strong wizard ''despite'' being handicapped.
* Istvan in ''Literature/DeadSpaceCatalyst'' has heard voices all his life, sees patterns everywhere, can get violent if approached in the wrong way, and does not sync with reality very well. While this normally causes problems for him, when he comes in contact with the [[ArtifactOfDoom Red Marker]] (which causes people to hear voices, draw patterns on everything, get violence, and go crazy), he is able to communicate it with it to some degree.
* Inverted in ''Literature/VampireAcademy'': Rose has the ability to see through Lissa's eyes, but doing so makes her blind to what is going on around her.
* In the Literature/RachelPengNovels (which take place in the ''Webcomic/AGirlAndHerFed'' universe), Rachel goes blind after staring at the sun for two days straight. (She was... not in a good mental place.) However, she discovers that the implant that allows her to talk to machines ''also'' allows her to perceive electromagnetic waves, giving her the ability to "see" not just frequencies of visible light, but a massive array of other types of radiation as well, meaning she can see through walls just fine. Oh, and she can also see emotions. Somehow.

* Fairies in ''Literature/DisneyFairies'' cannot [[SuperDrowningSkills swim]] due to their wings. Rani sacrificed her wings and thus is the only fairy able to.

* Rehhaile from [[Literature/{{Kane}} "Cold Light"]] was ripped out of her dying mother's womb when ThePlague struck her homeland Demornte. As a result she is blind but she can get into other peoples' minds to see through her eyes. In addition, she can see their feelings and emotions and sometimes she can even influence them. The problem is, very few people survived the plague and they are all depressed and despondent, so there's nothing interesting in their minds.

* In ''Literature/TheLegendOfSunKnight'', [[spoiler: Grisia]] loses his eyesight [[spoiler: as a consequence of raising the dead]]. He makes up for it by honing his elemental-detection skills, which let him see through walls and detect things all around him. It has the drawbacks of making him unable to see color, preventing him from making aesthetic judgements such as whether someone is beautiful or whether a disguise is adequate, and reverting him to helpless blindness whenever he is unable to use his powers.
* ''Literature/AkataWitch'': Among magical people, a deformity or condition usually comes with an innate knack for some sort of juju. Sunny has albinism and the ability to enter the SpiritWorld; Sugar Cream has severe scoliosis and can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting transform into a snake]]; Orlu has dyslexia and is excellent at [[DispelMagic unraveling juju]]; and so on.
* ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'': According to Dulcinea, terminally ill people make incredible {{Necromancer}}s because they generate a huge store of death energy; the trick is to be [[YourDaysAreNumbered incurable]], but not [[CastFromStamina too physically weak to use the power]]. Her House actually cultivates bloodlines with fatal genetic conditions for that reason.
* ''Literature/TheManWhoGotOffTheGhostTrain'': Danny "Magic Fingers" Myles was born blind, but has extremely keen hearing and the ability to [[{{Psychometry}} intuit things about whatever he touches]].

* Toph from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. She's a great Earthbender, both because of natural talent and because she's blind: She learned how to earthbend, and how to sense her surroundings by registering vibrations in earth, from the giant badgermoles she played with when she was young. She's so skilled with it that she can even act as a LivingLieDetector by monitoring their pulse like a polygraph. She says that Earthbending is her way of "seeing" the world.
** In an unusual take, this power isn't limited to her and it doesn't require blindness, as she eventually taught it to the fully sight-capable Aang. [[spoiler: It proved a decisive factor in helping beat Ozai.]] Her daughter Lin in the SequelSeries also uses vibration sensing in her role as a police chief, and there are 'truth seers' who have learned her ability to act as a LivingLieDetector. Mostly, she's so good and inventive because she's using her Earthbending 24/7; even one who practices hours a day has nothing on someone who's never ''not'' doing so. It's definitely not one of the usual InspirationallyDisadvantaged cases where being blind is magic.
** Her power [[RunningGag frequently]] makes her friends forget she's blind.

* Bunnie Rabbot from ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' has this in a reverse perspective. She isn't seen anywhere without the roboticized and weaponized limbs that, according to the setting, [[CursedWithAwesome cause her to not be "flesh and blood"]]. She gets so used to having super power she ends up totally helpless when she is accidentally "healed" by [[EvilSorcerer Naugus]].

* In ''Film/MyNameIsKhan'', the titular character is [[TheRainman an autistic savant]] with a [[MrFixIt talent for fixing things]] that borders on MachineEmpathy. [[ChekhovsSkill This comes in handy many times throughout the film.]]

* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' Hannelore has such severe OCD that she was virtually incapable of human contact and held major hygiene issues that stifled her social life, up until a short while ago in the comic (she's still dealing with the hygiene a little bit). She also loves to count and became a skilled drummer [[InstantExpert hours after she first began playing]] because drumming to her is "counting with your whole body." She's made a career out of [[TheRainman being able and willing to count anything.]]

* TheRainman

* In ''Bollywood/MyNameIsKhan'', the titular character is [[TheRainman an autistic savant]] with a [[MrFixIt talent for fixing things]] that borders on MachineEmpathy. [[ChekhovsSkill This comes in handy many times throughout the film.]]

** Hilariously, it is revealed in "The Ember Island Players" that the Fire Nation attributes her sight to echolocation[[note]]which is in fact how many real life blind people get a sense of their surroundings[[/note]]. The fact that Toph is also loud and [[DeadpanSnarker rather mouthy]] probably helped to contribute such a notion. While everyone else is complaining or angsting about their representation, [[TheBigGuy Toph loves hers]].

* A boy castrated before puberty will sustain a beautiful, ethereal soprano singing voice called ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin castrato]]''. Castrato singers have been documented since the days of the Byzantine Empire, but they really hit it big in Enlightenment-era Italian opera. Eventually, people realized that maiming a kid just so he could sing pretty was kind of a [[StealthPun dick]] move, but Italy only banned the practice after unification in 1861. The Vatican only stopped hiring new castrati in 1878, and they still had a few of them ticking around from before the ban; they stopped using castrati altogether in 1903. If you're wondering what castrati sounded like, the last Sistine castrato singer ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Moreschi Alessandro Moreschi]]) actually did audio recordings; you can find 'em on Website/YouTube. Modern castrato voices can be found in men who for whatever reason never hit puberty; these men include [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Scott Jimmy Scott]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radu_Marian Radu Marian]], and [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Maniaci Michael Maniaci]] (all of whom can also be found on Website/YouTube). Hell, according to [[http://phys.org/news/2011-03-michael-jackson-chemically-castrated-child.html this]] theory (also [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19552_5-insane-celebrity-conspiracy-theories-that-make-sense.html detailed]] by the good folks at Website/{{Cracked}}), Music/MichaelJackson kept his high voice throughout his life due to an anti-acne treatment that prevented him from hitting puberty.

*** When Tousen later gains a Hollow form that has functional eyes, he ends up being dealt a mortal wound by his former Lieutenant, Hisagi...who notes that Tousen would've "seen" the sneak attack coming a mile away if he were still blind.

* ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'', had [[spoiler: Galatea blind herself, allowing her to conceal her silver eyes and go into hiding. This increases her already impressive ability to sense Yoki ([[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]]) energy from great distances to near untold levels.]]

* Erza from ''Manga/FairyTail'' loses an eye to torture as a child. We never get to see the damage thankfully, since it scares her closest friend who just proved that, in spite of this flashback being ''before'' he [[BrainwashedAndCrazy lost it]], he was perfectly capable of murder. She gets a fake eye in its place which makes her completely immune to illusion magic and lessens the effects of another [[TakenForGranite spell that requires eye contact]].

*** Later on, another major character, [[spoiler: Roy Mustang, is forced through the Gate (he doesn't commit human transmutation]] and can then transmute without a circle, and [[spoiler: becomes blind and seemingly downgraded into TheLoad. But his]] alchemy apparently becomes ''bounds'' more powerful. [[spoiler: He]] just needs someone else to help out [[spoiler: with his aim]] now.

* ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'': A planet is encountered where the inhabitants use telepathy to exclusively communicate.This ability mysteriously developed after the villain faction of the series "harvested" the people's vocal cords. There is no explanation for why the muted folk didn't didn't develop something practical, like sign language. There is just the implication that it has to do with their strong spirituality that may have a connection to the other enigmas driving the story.
* The assasin N'Doul from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'' is blind, but he has mastered his hearing ability and developed a stand that can accurately dispatch his target for a long range. He turns out to be a very effective magical sniper of sort.

** This was later explained as him being able to somehow channel the Anti-Life Equation thorough his pipe, but [[ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis given where this came from]] [[FanonDiscontinuity ....]]

* [[Comicbook/{{Batgirl 2000}} Cassandra Cain]], was raised in a modified language deprivation experiment, the intent being for her brain to orient itself to interpreting body movement as a first language. As a result she's functionally illiterate and barely able to communicate verbally. However, as a trade-off, she's able to accurately predict the thought process of an opponent based on subtle body language and predict their strategies and individual moves before they make them.

* Bruce Wayne/Batman in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''. By the time of ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' Bruce has taken so many beatings his body has essentially said "so long" and given up, and he needs an exoskeleton to be able to ''stand up''. Of course, it wasn't a ''huge'' step to cover the exoskeleton in armor and add enough gadgets to go full Iron Man.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fic ''Towards the Light'', after being blinded by his uncle, Harry discovered that he could sense the presence and nature of magic - which was no good for dealing with non-magic objects, animals or people.

* Parodied by the blind character Blinkin in ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights''. In one scene he snatches an arrow right out of the air, remarking "'Eard it comin' a mile away" to the shocked Merry Men. Immediately afterwards, Robin compliments him, to which he responds "Who said that?"

* Indirectly invoked in ''Film/{{Darkman}}'': After Peyton Westlake is horribly burned all over his body, the doctors cut off his sense of touch to block the constant pain. The side-effect is that his body ends up overproducing adrenaline, and the adrenal overload makes him [[SuperStrength super-strong]], hyper-agile, [[MadeOfIron impervious to pain]] ... and prone to [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity unstable mood swings]].

** Colonel 'Iron-hand' Straken, who has a much stronger replacement arm thanks to the original being bitten off by a Miral Land Shark
** Commissar Yarrick, bionic eye with a laser built in, robot arm made from the very Ork Battle Klaw that removed the original.
** Lord Militant Commander Drang, whose replacement bionic eye lets him spot an enemy warship up to half a light-year away
** Astropaths get a power boost from hooking their soul to the God-Emperor, at the cost of serious damage to (if not the destruction of) their eyes and optic nerves
** Dreadnoughts are HumongousMecha piloted by crippled Astartes heroes, for whom they also act as life-support machines (much like Ravenor, in fact)

* Dinah Bellman from Creator/StephenKing's novella ''The Langoliers'' is a young blind girl that displays a grab-bag of psychic powers and enhanced senses. In the [[Film/TheLangoliers tv movie]], she is able to see Craig Toomey's paranoid delusion by looking at him, communicate telepathically, seems to have a degree of precognition, acts as a human lie detector and [[HellIsThatNoise hears the approaching]] [[EldritchAbomination monsters]] with her superhuman hearing. Furthermore, in the film's climax [[spoiler:she begins to astral project to Craig Toomey and apparently alters his paranoid delusions to show him exactly what he wanted to see.]]

* Invoked in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. When the team decides to increase their numbers they specifically choose disabled teens. Since no Yeerk would infest a disabled body when plenty of healthy ones are available it guarantees that disabled teens are safe to give the morphing ability to. A few get better thanks to morphing, but most stay disabled while human.

** There's also Niki Sanders whose power appears to be "being insane". Oh, and superstrong. Technically, yes, but in nicer terms she would be a dissociative identity disorder sufferer with a superhuman alter-ego, not unlike The Hulk, Thorn or Typhoid Mary. She is, however, able to use the super-strength on the "Niki" side now that she's learning to control "Jessica". [[spoiler: Unfortunately, there's more than just Niki and Jessica in there.]]

* An episode of ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' has Nick blinded by a fly-like Wesen. He suddenly realizes that his hearing has been turned UpToEleven. Not only can he hear the MonsterOfTheWeek's buzzing (which no one else can), but he can also clearly hear whispered conversations in another room and both sides of a phone call. After stumbling a bit, he confronts the Wesen and ends up handily beating him, despite still being blind. After his eyesight is restored, he resolves to practice fighting blindfolded with [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Monroe]] throwing various fruits and vegetables in the air, and Nick attempting to hit them with a stick. Nick doesn't miss once. Later, Nick is temporarily zombified by the puffer fish-like Baron Samedi. After coming to his senses, he finds out that his metabolism control is much greater than before (e.g. he can go for a vigorous jog and not evne break a sweat).

*** A concept introduced in ''Champions: The Super Roleplaying Game'' (aka the TabletopGame/HeroSystem) two decades before M & M came into existence. The rules for Disadvantages note that you can't get any points for a disadvantage that is directly negated by a special ability (gamemaster judgment calls may be required -- for instance, sonar vision doesn't truly "negate" blindness because you can't read, see colors, etc).

* Wu Zi Mu from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' embodies this to the point where he's a respected street racer, good enough to aim and fire a submachinegun and ''beat CJ at video games'', all despite his complete blindness. There are limits to his abilities. His henchmen manipulate some of his pastimes (like golf) so that he wins. When they are not around, he is not always infallible, such as in this exchange during the 'You've Had Your Chips' mission: he's playing blackjack with CJ. Going for a five-card hand ...

-->'''CJ''': Not good. You got ... uh, 47.

* In ''Videogame/{{Warcraft}} 3'', Demon Hunters blind themselves to better see demons. They have their eyes burnt out, then the eyesockets are used to contain the essence of a demon, which gives them more power and abilities, such as the ability to better see magic in their surroundings, which includes demons. The demon's essence they seal in their eyesockets look like color tinted flames, so they often wear blindfolds over their eyes to keep from creeping out those around them.

* Senua of ''VideoGame/HellbladeSenuasSacrifice'' is a downplayed or perhaps subverted example. While Dillion and the narration imply that her condition makes her a better warrior, able to 'see patterns others miss' and she successfully detects [[spoiler: plague in the water of her new village]], the many drawbacks of her condition are explored in horrifying detail. However, it's not clear how much of the pain caused by her condition is unavoidable and how much can be traced back to [[spoiler: her father's abuse]].

** There's also the hilarious time when Ben captured a Solar and tied him to a chair in the dark, trying (and mostly succeeding) to invoke NothingIsScarier...except Misho is one of the Chosen of the Sun, and summoning light is only slightly more trouble for him than reflexively knowing the current position of the sun in the sky (IE: so easy he barely has to think it). This reveals Ben in his boxers, laughing maniacally since he didn't notice.

* Color blind people were once highly sought after in the military as camouflage is built around perception of normal people but sticks out like a sore thumb to people with colorblindness.

[[/folder]]
----

* In the
''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'', General Amaya is Princes Callum and Ezran's aunt. She is deaf. Amaya is a capable warrior, having matched and beaten Sunfire elves in 3v1 combat. She has been portrayed as a well-respected military leader, as well as a very intelligent person. Amaya utilizes what appears to be American Sign Language to communicate. Her assistant, Commander Gren translates for her, most of the time. She had harbored a bigoted hatred for all elves throughout the series, but this seems to lessen by the end of Book Three.