History Main / HidingTheHandicap

* ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'' has Sumio Kodai, a police detective who has lost his hearing and learned lip-reading to hide it. Presumably, [[RealityEnsues his obscuring this from his superiors gets him arrested]].

* On a similar note, UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy kept his Addison's disease a secret until after his election in 1960. At one point, his opponents leaked the story, but Kennedy's doctors released a (true) statement that JFK did not have Addison's ''as a result of tuberculosis''; as it wasn't yet widely understood that only 20% of Addison's cases are TB-related, the opposition's claim didn't damage Kennedy's "fit young candidate" image.

* ''Manga/DrStone'': Suika and Kinrou both have blurry eye disease - which just means they need glasses. Problem is that they're not exactly available in the Stone Age. It's not as big a deal for Suika, who's found ways to work around it, but Kinrou is one of the town's guards. As such, the only person who knows about his eyes is his partner Ginrou.

** Mac Taylor on ''{{Series/CSINY}}''. He suffered from speech aphasia in the final season, after being shot and badly wounded in the previous season finale. Being naturally stubborn, used to not opening up to anyone and worried for his job, Mac refused to tell anyone what was going on, including his girlfriend. She had to threaten to leave to get him to admit his problem. Jo also tried to get it out of him, but despite their friendship, he just snapped at her and got mad.

* Joker in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series has Vrolik syndrome, which makes his bones exceptionally brittle and makes it difficult for him to walk without assistance. Joker keeps this hidden from most people because he doesn't want anyone to think he's had any special favors to earn his current position, and Shepard only finds out about it when he accidentally lets it slip during conversation.

* Redbeard Rum had no legs, and nobody, let along Edmund ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'', knew it, until he agreed to take Rum on to sail him to the Cape of Good Hope.

* Flejj Hillmover in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' came from a clan of dwarves who practised eugenics and would kill any disabled members rather than waste resources keeping them alive. Flejj himself was deaf but was able to hide his secret for years by being a very good lip-reader.

* UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt kept his polio-caused partial paralysis hidden from the public by giving public speeches and presentations either sitting down from his desk, standing behind a podium and using it to support his weight, or by using a walking cane to support himself. Eventually, it became so severe that the secret eventually came out, but he served the majority of his four terms as President keeping it hidden from the public.

SecretStabWound is a short-term version. Contrast ObfuscatingDisability and IAmNotLeftHanded. Can overlap with ClothingConcealedInjury if clothing is used to hide the handicap.

SecretStabWound is a short-term version. Contrast ObfuscatingDisability and IAmNotLeftHanded.

** Mac Taylor on ''{{Series/CSI NY}}''. He suffered from speech aphasia in the final season, after being shot and badly wounded in the previous season finale. Being naturally stubborn, used to not opening up to anyone and worried for his job, Mac refused to tell anyone what was going on, including his girlfriend. She had to threaten to leave to get him to admit his problem. Jo also tried to get it out of him, but despite their friendship, he just snapped at her and got mad.

* Card mechanic Richard Turner spent decades downplaying his visual impairment, which eventually progressed to complete blindness, and honed his abilities to the point that most people would have no idea he couldn't see what was in front of him until he told them. He only began using things like computer aids and a guide dog in his sixties when he came to the realization that stubbornly refusing to accept his limitations was putting undue strain on his family.

Hiding the Handicap is when a character with a disability or other type of affliction chooses to hide that fact. Reasons for doing this can vary: maybe the character in question believes he/she he can't afford to be seen as "weak", maybe they're afraid of being [[BullyingTheDisabled mocked]] or [[DontYouDarePityMe pitied]], or perhaps they'd no longer be allowed to do something if certain people found out. Can overlap with SecretlyDying, if the character has a debilitating mortal injury.

* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul[=:Re=]'', [[spoiler: Kishou Arima]] turns out to be completely blind in one eye, and beginning to lose sight in the other. His reputation requires that he never show any weakness, forcing him to compensate for his blindness and hide the fact he's also SecretlyDying.
* When UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi meets the infamous MasterSwordsman[=/=]BloodKnight Ito Ittosai in ''Manga/{{Vagabond}}'', he notices that Ittosai seems to always be concealing one of his arms. As Ittosai begins goading Musashi towards a fight, Musashi undergoes an entire process of guessing about whether Ittosai is hiding an injury (such as if that hand was cut off) or only pretending to do so in order to catch an opponent by surprise. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a bit of both; Musashi's arch rival UsefulNotes/SasakiKojiro had in fact cut off around half of Ittosai's hand in a bout between the two, but Ittosai, no longer able to hold a sword with that hand, has turned to using it for barehanded surprise attacks, as he does to Musashi.]]
* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', two orphaned Ishvalan brothers thought their mother had [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned them]] when she ran away during a bombing. In reality, she was going blind and didn't tell her kids. She had went inside the house looking for them when she died in the bomb.

* ''Film/TheGreatestShowOnEarth'': The Great Sebastian (a trapeze artist) gets severely injured. Later he comes back to the circus claiming he's fully recovered and has a job at another venue, but then the manager pulls Sebastian's coat off his arm (he had had it "causally" draped over his arm as if he's just carrying it around) to reveal that his arm is disfigured due to the bone improperly healing. Sebastian ends up a lowly roustabout at the same circus he had formerly starred at.

* In ''Film/TheLongestDay'', Brigadier General Roosevelt is trying to hide his arthritis from his commander so he'll be allowed to go in with the assault force. When he meets with his CO, he stashes his cane in the hallway and even lies outright when asked if he's having flare ups. Averted later on - when he lands on Utah Beach, he has his cane with him and has no

* In the first two books of the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, Tavi is generally open about his handicap of having no furies, because he's grown up with everyone knowing about it. This changes when he goes undercover as a legionnaire and has to hide his identity from a noble class who have all heard about the First Lord's "pet freak". His methods of hiding it range from cleverly making fire with magnification to breaking his own leg so others won't notice he can't march at a magically-enhanced pace.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Ser Jaime Lannister pretends he is still a MasterSwordsman after his right hand is cut off, while in reality he cannot even wield a sword properly at first. Most people are simply too afraid of his reputation to challenge him, although a few people figure out he is bluffing. He attempts to learn how to fight with just his left hand and a prosthetic, but his progress is extremely slow.

* In the Season 6 of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Diggle gets nerve damage in his right hand and is no longer able to shoot straight. He keeps it hidden from everyone, although Dinah figures it out. He resorts to buying what he assumes is a steroid that hasn't been approved by the FDA from a street dealer, although it turns out to be a designer drug. The drug helps the tremors at first, but later turns out to have done permanent nerve damage, leaving him worse off. Eventually, he's forced to admit the problem to everyone. Eventually, Felicity and Curtis come up with a subcutaneous chip that gives him full use of the hand.

* This is a core trope of the American series ''Series/{{Boss}}''. Thomas Kane is diagnosed with dementia, but refuses to let go of his power and so hides his disease from everyone.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E5Oxygen "Oxygen"]], [[spoiler:the Doctor is rendered [[TemporaryBlindness blind]] after a spacewalk. He seems to get fixed with medical equipment onboard the TARDIS — but it's revealed in the very last line of the episode that it didn't work, and he's been hiding it since then.]] In the next episode, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E6Extremis "Extremis"]], [[spoiler:he's concealing it by a) using the [[GogglesDoSomethingUnusual sonic sunglasses]], which give him an outline of his surroundings and can tell him if there's people in his line of sight, and b) Nardole explaining what's going on in front of him and covering it up by making it seem he's caught a bad case of CaptainObvious.]] In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E7ThePyramidAtTheEndOfTheWorld "The Pyramid at the End of the World"]], [[spoiler:Bill finally learns the truth.]]
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum "The Tsuranga Conundrum"]]: General Cicero is apparently on the ambulance ship because she has "Cotten's fever". She actually has a more dangerous condition called pilot's heart, and she's hiding it because she doesn't want her brother to worry, and because she doesn't think it the sort of condition that a war hero should suffer from.
* In an episode of ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman'' a famous landscape photographer comes to town to take photos, and hides the fact that he's going blind.

* In the pilot episode of ''The Powers of Matthew Star'' Matthew -- named David here -- is cared for by an older man who, we learn towards the end, has a robotic hand with only two fingers which he hides in a glove at all times. Had this version of the show continued we'd have learned about why he had this robot hand, but in the show as broadcast Matthew has a different guardian who doesn't have a robo hand.

* Woozie from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' is blind, but won't reveal this to CJ until CJ has done several missions on his behalf and earned his respect. CJ however had already been informed of Woozie's disability by one of his subordinates.

* ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'': Not everyone at the school talks openly about their disabities. Hisao, who has an invisible disability related to his heart, avoids talking to his friends about it.

* Played with in ''Webcomic/EnsignSueMustDie'', wherein the titular Ensign Sue claims to have done this her whole life with the dreaded "pedal transient paresthesia". (Given that that's a fancy term for her foot being asleep, it probably didn't take much effort.)
* Flejj Hillmover in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' came from a clan of dwarves who practised eugenics and would kill any disabled members rather than waste resources keeping them alive. Flejj himself was deaf, but was able to hide his secret for years by being a very good lip-reader.

* UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt kept his polio-caused partial paralysis hidden from the public by giving public speeches and presentations either sitting down from his desk, standing behind a podium and using it to support his weight, or by using a walking cane to support himself. Eventually it became so severe that the secret eventually came out, but he served the majority of his four terms as President keeping it hidden from the public.

* It is not unknown for highly motivated men doing advanced military training to conceal injuries that would otherwise have them washed out of the course, or worse still, back-squadded after medical intervention to do the whole gruelling thing again from scratch. There is a recorded case of a Royal Marines recruit who slogged his way to the end of basic training and passed out with the green beret, only to discover the leg injury he'd been covering up for wasn't just a sprain, it was in fact a broken bone. The Parachute Regiment and the SAS can boast similar stories. Tragically, men undergoing selection and training for elite Army/Marine units have died rather than confess to "weakness" and seek medical attention. For obvious reasons, the British Army now discourages heroic doggedness of this sort and is more proactive about checking for injury or potentially life-threatening medical complaints.
* Creator/MichaelJFox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, but kept it hidden until 1998, when his symptoms had worsened, semi-retiring from acting in 2000.
* Creator/JamesDoohan had lost the middle finger from his right hand during the D-Day landing in 1944, so on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' and its subsequent films, his right hand often got obscured on camera.

* Ditto Anthony Head, who has shortened fingers on one hand. Usually he's either holding something or hiding it in a pocket on TV and publicity shots.

* [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer ADD/ADHD]] individuals often do this, only telling about it to those who absolutely need to know about it. This is because it has been overdiagnosed in the past, it's relative lack of visible symptoms (especially in adulthood) means some non-ADHD people don't believe in it[[note]]Common claims include: "Watch less TV/Play less video games", "It's not a real disease and just an excuse for laziness/a conspiracy made by doctors to make money" You can't have it, you don't [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny chase squirrels]]" and ''dozens'' of other arguments[[/note]] and the fact that some, even non-ADHD people, abuse the stimulant medication leading some to believe it's addictive[[note]]Studies say that when when taken properly, the medication is not addictive; in fact, it's been noted that medication reduces the chances of addiction, as the person is less likely to drink or use illegal drugs for self-treatment[[/note]]. As a result, there's social stigma against the disorder, and many prefer to keep it hidden to avoid problems with their family/friends/workplace in case someone they know doesn't believe in it. While it's been getting better in recent years, most people still unfortunately know only of the stereotype of a 9-year old boy running around 24/7, causing underdiagnosis in girls and adults of both genders.
* Related to the above, many Autistic people hide their diagnosis if they can; this is again often down to other people not believing that the autistic person can really be autistic[[note]]The logic is usually along the lines of "But you can speak/have a job/are married/have a sense of humour/can write/etc! You're nothing like my actually autistic child/cousin/sibling/etc, therefore you must be lying!"[[/note]], and the fact that stereotypes regarding autistic people can definitely change how an autistic person is treated by others. Like with the ADD/ADHD example above, this also leads to there being a social stigma against autistic people (something that organisations seeking a "cure" capitalise on), and again has led to a stereotype that prevents women and girls from getting diagnosed. This trope definitely acts as a double-edged sword, however; the ability to hide autistic symptoms, or allow the more obvious once to be viewed as [[DitzyGenius eccentricity]] or [[ShrinkingViolet shyness]], can often mean that it's more difficult for a person to actually access resources or help because it's assumed that they're "high functioning" enough to not need any help anyway.

* Related to the above, many Autistic people hide their diagnosis if they can; this is again often down to other people not believing that the autistic person can really be autistic[[note]]The logic is usually along the lines of "But you can speak/have a job/are married/have a sense of humour/can write/etc! You're nothing like my actually autistic child/cousin/sibling/etc, therefore you must be lying!"]], and the fact that stereotypes regarding autistic people can definitely change how an autistic person is treated by others. Like with the ADD/ADHD example above, this also leads to there being a social stigma against autistic people (something that organisations seeking a "cure" capitalise on), and again has led to a stereotype that prevents women and girls from getting diagnosed.

* Related to the above, many Autistic people hide their diagnosis if they can; this is again often down to other people not believing that the autistic person can really be autistic [[note]]The logic is usually along the lines of "But you can speak/have a job/are married/have a sense of humour/can write/etc! You're nothing like my actually autistic child/cousin/sibling/etc, therefore you must be lying!"]], and the fact that stereotypes regarding autistic people can definitely change how an autistic person is treated by others. Like with the ADD/ADHD example above, this also leads to there being a social stigma against autistic people (something that organisations seeking a "cure" capitalise on), and again has led to a stereotype that prevents women and girls from getting diagnosed.

* Related to the above, many Autistic people hide their diagnosis if they can; this is again often down to other people not believing that the autistic person can really be autistic [[note]] The logic is usually along the lines of "But you can speak/have a job/are married/have a sense of humour/can write/etc! You're nothing like my actually autistic child/cousin/sibling/etc, therefore you must be lying!"]], and the fact that stereotypes regarding autistic people can definitely change how an autistic person is treated by others. Like with the ADD/ADHD example above, this also leads to there being a social stigma against autistic people (something that organisations seeking a "cure" capitalise on), and again has led to a stereotype that prevents women and girls from getting diagnosed.

* In ''Film/JustTheWayYouAre'', a lady (Kristy [=MacNichol=]) puts her leg in a cast at a ski resort to disguise it's permanently lame.

* In the first few books of the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, Tavi is generally open about his handicap of having no furies, because he's grown up with everyone knowing about it. This changes when he goes undercover as a legionnaire and has to hide his identity from a noble class who has all heard about the First Lord's 'pet freak'. His methods of hiding it range from cleverly making fire with magnification to breaking his own leg so others won't notice he can't march at a magically-enhanced pace.

* Redbeard Rum had no legs, and nobody, let along Edmund Series/{{Blackadder}}, knew it, until he agreed to take Rum on to sail him to the Cape of Good Hope.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E5Oxygen "Oxygen"]], [[spoiler:the Doctor is rendered [[TemporaryBlindness blind]] after a spacewalk. He seems to get fixed with medical equipment onboard the TARDIS -- but it's revealed in the very last line of the episode that it didn't work, and he's been hiding it since then.]] In the next episode, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E6Extremis "Extremis"]], [[spoiler:he's concealing it by a) using the [[GogglesDoSomethingUnusual sonic sunglasses]], which give him an outline of his surroundings and can tell him if there's people in his line of sight, and b) Nardole explaining what's going on in front of him and covering it up by making it seem he's caught a bad case of CaptainObvious.]] In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E7ThePyramidAtTheEndOfTheWorld "The Pyramid at the End of the World"]], [[spoiler:Bill finally learns the truth.]]

* In the Season 6 of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Diggle gets nerve damage in his right hand and is no longer able to shoot straight. He keeps it hidden from everyone, although Dinah figures it out. He resorts to buying what he assumes is a steroid that hasn't been approved by the FDA from a street dealer, although it turns out to be a designer drug. The drug helps the tremors at first, but later turns out to have done permanent nerve damage, leaving him worse off. Eventually, he's forced to admit the problem to everyone. Eventually, Felicity and Curtis come up with a subcutaneous chip that gives him full use of the hand.

* UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt kept his polio-caused partial paralysis hidden from the public by giving public speeches and presentations either sitting down from his desk, standing behind a podium and using it to support his weight, or by using a walking cane to support himself. Eventually it became so severe that the secret eventually came out, but he served the majority of his 4 terms as President keeping it hidden from the public.
* On a similar note, John F. Kennedy kept his Addison's disease a secret until after his election in 1960. At one point, his opponents leaked the story, but Kennedy's doctors released a (true) statement that JFK did not have Addison's ''as a result of tuberculosis''; as it wasn't yet widely understood that only 20% of Addison's cases are TB-related, the opposition's claim didn't damage Kennedy's "fit young candidate" image.