Yuletide challenge nominations

[cesy]

As suggested by aris_tgd in the comments to jadelennox's last post:

Perhaps instead of straining anyone's spoons with a formal challenge, this year we could just have volunteers list disabled creators/characters that they recognize in the nomination list, and compile them here? And then transition to a more formal challenge next year if people feel more organized then?

I am hereby volunteering to compile and update such a list - please comment with any characters/fandoms you think should be on it.

Also, I'm mostly copy-pasting from your comments here, but please do let me know if anything on the list is phrased in an ableist way, and I'll correct the masterlist.

The list so far (including some which may not qualify for Yuletide):

• Dia Reeves' Bleeding Violet, whose protagonist has bipolar disorder.


• Mark O'Brien's poems -- he wrote poems about being disabled, about assisted living, about having sex, about breathing using an iron lung, and about baseball, among other things. He wrote two books of poetry, and some selections are available on his website.


• Lois McMaster Bujold - Vorkosigan series
  Miles Vorkosigan has brittle bones, a crooked spine and legs of uneven length. Many other characters have a variety of disabilities.


• Mary Renault - The Charioteer
  Laurie Odell, the protagonist, has a war injury that requires multiple surgeries and leaves him walking with a limp. Ralph Lanyon, another major character, lost part of his hand in the war.


• RPF - Beatles
  Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, was probably bipolar although he was never formally diagnosed.


• RPF - Classical composers
  Near the end of his life, Benjamin Britten was physically disabled after a stroke and used a wheelchair.
  Robert Schumann was institutionalised for mental illness. He may have been bipolar, or syphilitic, or both.
  Ludwig van Beethoven eventually lost his hearing... and continued to compose anyway.


• Stephen Fry (a creator) is bipolar.


• Avatar the Last Airbender
  Toph Bei Fong is blind, Teo uses a wheelchair.


• Avengers and The New Avengers
  Echo is Deaf.
  Hawkeye is hard of hearing


• Birds of Prey (comic)
  Birds of Prey (TV)
  Barbara Gordon uses a wheelchair (these are different continuities!)


• Cable & Deadpool
  Cable is a multiple amputee with prosthetic replacements.


• Captain America (comic)
  Bucky Barnes has a prosthetic arm


• Criminal Minds (though I don't think this will qualify!)
  Diana Reid has schizophrenia, Spencer Reid possibly has Asperger's


• Daredevil (movie)
  Matt Murdock is blind


• Gattaca
  Jerome is paraplegic


• Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House series
  Mary Ingalls is blind


• Power Man & Iron Fist
  Misty Knight has a prosthetic arm


• South Park
  Timmy uses a wheelchair, Jimmy uses crutches


• The Village
  Ivy is blind, Percy has unspecified developmental issues


• Tanya Huff - Blood and Smoke series
  Blood Ties (TV)
  Vicki Nelson is progressively going blind. At the time of the novels/TV series she has poor sight that is not completely correctable with glasses but is not legally blind.


• Twin Peaks
  Gordon is hard of hearing. Johnny Horne is developmentally disabled. Leo Johnson is diagnosed as being in a vegetative state though it's unclear to what extent he is actually affected.


• X-Men fandoms
  Professor Xavier uses a wheelchair.
  Julian Keller had both hands amputated, and as yet does not have prosthetics.
  Xi'an Coy Manh has a prosthetic leg.
  Laura Kinney probably has PTSD.
  Ruth Aldine is blind.


• Covert Affairs - Augie is blind.


• George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire: Tyrion Lannister is a person of small stature. Bran Stark is paralyzed in both legs after an injury. Jaime Lannister loses his right hand. There's a plethora of minor characters who are missing hands, eyes, arms or legs, usually due to battle wounds.


• Fringe: Walter Bishop has unspecified mental health issues and was involuntarily committed for some years.


• Jeffrey Deaver - Lincoln Rhyme: Lincoln Rhyme is quadriplegic.


• Jo Graham - Black Ships: Gull's foot is badly injured as a child, in adulthood it affects her mobility.


• Laurie R. King's Mary Russell: The protagonist has PTSD.


• Nessarose Thropp from Wicked was born without arms (bookverse).


• Big Bang Theory: Sheldon has Asperger's. (It's been confirmed by the producers despite not being shown on the programme.)


• Blakes7: Blake in Blakes7 has lost an eye. Travis, in Blakes7, has prosthetic replacements for one eye and one arm.


• Bennett Halvorsen in Dollhouse has a prosthetic arm.


• Flynn (Walter White Jr.) in Breaking Bad uses crutches as a result of cerebral palsy


• Zack Addy from Bones has ASD.


• Tanya Huff's Quarters quartet, Tadeus is blind. And I doubt he counts for this, but Benedict is considered to have a disability because his magic is only with water and there are exceedingly few people in the Quarters world who have magic and who don't have air magic. (But there are also a great many people in that world who have no magic at all.) I'm sure Benedict counts for losing an eye, though, and...crap. The scene where he loses an eye, he's being punished, and he doesn't freak about losing his eyes because he knows Tadeus and he doesn't freak about losing something else because he knows someone else who's got that disability but I cannot remember who the someone else is. (Minor character, very, whoever it is, but still worth mentioning, I think.)


• Early Edition--Marissa Clark is blind.


• Tegami Bachi - Sylvette Suede uses a wheelchair, and Mana Jones is blind.


• Ysabeau Wilce, Flora Segunda series - Poppy has a non-specific mental illness with elements of PTSD (at least as far as I can remember he still does, but it's been a while since I read the books).


• Trenton Lee Stewart, Mysterious Benedict Society - Nicholas Benedict and Mr. Curtain both have narcolepsy with specific triggers.


• Stigma (assuming this is the same manga I'm thinking of and not something else) - Tit is blind at the end of the volume.


• Stephen King, It - Eddie Kaspbrak has asthma.


• Stephen King, the Dark Tower series - Susanna uses a wheelchair and had (rather poorly executed) DID.


• Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon - Alan Reeves has a limp from a childhood injury.


• Transmetropolitan - Spider Jerusalem has a debilitating nerve-illness, which he doesn't know won't be fatal for most of the series, and the Transients are canonically an intersectional nightmare of issues. For more invisible disability fun times there's Mary and the other revivals, too, who suffer from a kind of future shock/PTSD.


• The Inda series, by Sherwood Smith, has a primary character with progressive chronic pain (possibly RSD--current medical diagnoses don't apply in the fantasy world.) It's handled with remarkable realism. Several characters have limbs amputated, and react in different ways.


• Elfquest:
  One-Eye (formerly Woodhue, long before the series started) lost his right eye to human attack
  Rillfisher (deceased before series started) was deaf
  Two-Edge has an undefined mental illness
  Ekuar is a multiple amputee; he lost an arm, a leg, and several fingers to torture during his imprisonment by trolls
  "The Broken One" (formerly Reef) was warped, physically & mentally, by hostile magic
  Madcoil, a monster, was a large cat and giant snake that got caught in a pool of "bad magic" and hit by lightning.


• Megan Whalen Turner - Queen's Thief series
  One major character in later books has an amputated limb.


• Diane Duane - Young Wizards series
  Darryl McAllister is autistic.


• Community: Probably still small enough for Yuletide. Abed Nadir probably has Asperger's syndrome; it's been discussed but not confirmed in canon.


• Angels in America:
  Harper Pitt has a Valium addiction; Prior Walter and Roy Cohn have AIDS. I'm aware it may be a vexed question whether these 'count' as disabilities, none of the characters identify either way.


• Dorothy L Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey series:
  LPW has shell-shock/PTSD.


• Dykes to Watch Out For:
  Thea has MS and uses various mobility aids. It is canonical that Clarice is being treated for clinical depression and taking medication for it. Then there is the whole Sydney-gets-breast-cancer character arc (not sure that's quite what you had in mind but thought I'd add it to the list).


• Girl Interrupted:
  It's set in a psychiatric hospital, so most of the characters!


• The History Boys:
  Irwin becomes physically disabled and a wheelchair user during the play/film.


• Master and Commander:
  William Babbington is of short stature.


• Mad Men:
  Betty Draper has unspecified anxiety issues and sees a psychiatrist regularly in the first season. Guy MacKendrick (one-off but fairly pivotal S3 character) has his foot cut off and loses his job as a result.


• Secretary:
  Lee Holloway has depression, was a psychiatric inpatient prior to the start of the film, and self harms.


• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  Garak is claustrophobic; Nog loses a leg; all the members of the Jack Pack have what would probably be considered personality disorders. It's debatable whether Bashir could also be counted here (born with developmental delays but genetically modified to be of higher-than-average intelligence and physical capacity. SF makes things hard).


• Star Trek: The Next Generation/Voyager
  Geordi La Forge is blind; Reginald Barclay has anxiety and phobias.


• The West Wing:
  Josh Lyman has PTSD; Joey Lucas is Deaf; Jed Bartlet has multiple sclerosis; Leo McGarry has a history of addiction (again, I'm not sure if you want to include that in disability lists, but fwiw).


• The Wire:
  Butchie is blind. Again, if you're including addictions as disability, Bubbles and some minor characters...


• Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes series
  John Watson has war wounds from Afghanistan with recurrent physical and mental effects. (Anyone else want to phrase this better, please do)


• Avatar (2009)
  Jake Sully is paraplegic and uses a wheelchair.


• Blackadder
  Captain Redbeard Rum has no legs. (It's played as a joke, but there it is)


• Brideshead Revisited
  Sebastian Flyte - alcohol dependence


• Cambridge Spies
  Guy Burgess - alcohol dependence


• China Mieville - Bas Lag series
  Various Remade characters could be considered disabled - more information on disabilities in Bas Lag at locusmag. Tanner Sack and Angevine in The Scar are particular examples.


• Dan Abnett - Gaunts Ghosts series
  Ibram Gaunt is blind later in the series, but gets ocular implants which perfectly replicate human sight. Inquisitor Ravenor is caught in an explosion at one point, has very limited mobility and possibly is blind (sorry, I'm basing this on what my partner informs me, haven't read them)


• Finding Nemo
  Nemo has one fin which is shrunken and minimally functional. (Er, IIRC)


• Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Secret Garden
  Pretty ablist but Colin Craven is definitely treated like a person with disabilities for most of the book.


• Futurama
  Leela and most other 'mutant' characters.


• Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
  Sammy Klayman/Sam Clay had polio as a child and has atrophied legs as a result.


• Moulin Rouge
  Toulouse-Lautrec has restricted growth.


• Oyeyemi - White Is for Witching
  Miranda has pica and spends some time in a psychiatric clinic.


• The Princess Bride (movie)
  Fezzik is...well, he's referred to as a giant, I'm not sure what the best term would be. Depends on definitions of disability I think (we're in territory I don't know vast amounts about here), but fwiw.


• RPF - 18th-19th c Politics
  Depending on breadth of 'politics', George III's recurrent mental health issues.


• RPF - 20th-21st c Politics
  Gordon Brown is blind in one eye. I love MORE THAN ANYTHING that I can include this in a fandom conversation.


• RPF - The West Wing
  Marlee Matlin, like her character Joey Lucas, is Deaf.


• There's a lot of 'madness' in Shakespeare that we would probably parse in terms of disabiity, but I am really sure someone else is better placed to pick out examples...


• True Blood
  Terry Bellefleur has PTSD, as does Lafayette Reynolds in s2. Sookie Stackhouse has referred to her telepathy and the social isolation it causes as a disability both in the books and on TV. Ruby Jean Reynolds has schizophrenia.


• Discworld
  Lord Vetinari walks with a cane after being shot in Feet of Clay.


• Hilary McKay - The Casson Family series
  Sarah is a wheelchair user, having had a serious (unspecified) illness as a child.


• Jasper Fforde - Thursday Next
  Landen Parke-Laine had a leg amputated during the Crimean War.


• Questionable Content
  Hannelore has OCD.


• Slings & Arrows
  Geoffrey Tennant has severe unspecified mental health issues, and was institutionalised for a time.


• Sports Night is probably too big, but just in case:
  Dan Rydell has mental health issues he's in therapy for; Isaac is in recovery from a stroke for most of the show.


• The Lookout (2007)
  Chris Pratt (the main character) has cognitive and other disabilities as a result of a moderate traumatic brain injury. His best friend Lewis is blind.


• Percy Jackson & The Olympians (book and movie-verse): Percy and various other demigods have ADHD.


• Weeds - Megan is deaf, and Celia has breast cancer. I'm not familiar with later seasons, there are probably more.


• The Loved Ones - it's not clear which of Brent's injuries will prove permanent, but it seems very likely that the muteness will, and probably some of the other stuff as well. (Saying more would spoil the movie, rather.)


• Bend it Like Beckham - Joe has an injured knee.


• Bourne Identity - Jason Bourne has amnesia.


• Carnivale - Samson is a dwarf and walks with a cane, Jonesy has a limp, Management is a triple amputee, Lodz is blind, Appolonia is catatonic, Sabina has ectrodactyly, and there's a set of conjoined twins called Alexandria and Caladonia. It could probably be argued that Gabriel is developmentally disabled.


• Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre - Rochester has one hand amputated and partially loses his eyesight. And while Bertha isn't exactly a good example for mental illness, she's definitely mentally ill.


• Chocolat - Armande is diabetic.


• Cornelia Funke: Inkheart - Resa is mute during the first book and part of the second. (Also for part of the movie.)


• Degrassi High: Maya uses a wheelchair, Caitlin has epilepsy, Joey has dysgraphia.


• Degrassi Next Generation - Craig is bipolar, Jimmy uses a wheelchair (there may be more, I haven't seen much of this show)


• Diana Wynne Jones: Chrestomanci series - Word of God says Cat is on the autistic spectrum, though the books don't make this clear


• Diana Wynne Jones: Enchanted Glass - Tarquin has one leg (though he's taught a way to magically compensate).


• Dick Francis: Sid Halley series - Sid uses a prosthetic hand.


• Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman - the Reverend is blinded during the course of the series.


• Due South - Diefenbaker is presumably deaf. Although he's also a wolf. (Is this fandom even eligible?)


• E.R. - Kerry Weaver walks with a crutch, Robert Romano is an amputee, Reese (Peter Benton's son) is deaf.


• Farscape - John Chrichton has some mental issues that are a combination of external torture and the pressure of being in outer space. These manifest themselves in various ways, hallucinations being one.


• Firefly (I really doubt this is eligible) - River has paranoid schizophrenia (at least that's her brother's diagnosis).


• Forrest Gump - Forrest is developmentally disabled, Lieutenant Dan is a double leg amputee.


• Four Weddings and a Funeral - David is deaf.


• Frasier - Martin walks with a cane.


• Friday Night Lights - Jason Street is quadriplegic, a C7 break. He can move his arms, shoulders, wrists, and thumbs, and can clench-unclench his hands at the knuckles, so he can palm/grip an item, but he cannot move his fingers. (Further details here) Waverly Grady has bi-polar disorder.


• Fried Green Tomatoes - a character loses an arm during the course of the story.


• Fucking Åmål / Show Me Love - Viktoria is paraplegic.


• Fullmetal Alchemist - Ed uses a prosthetic arm and leg. Another character is temporarily blinded.


• The Hunchback of Notre Dame - well, duh...


• Jericho - Bonnie is deaf.


• Joan of Arcadia - Kevin is paraplegic.


• Joanne Greenberg: I never promised you a rose garden - Deborah (and the author) is diagnosed with schizophrenia (whether or not that's correct).


• Johanna Spyri: Heidi - Clara uses a wheelchair for a while.


• L.A. Confidential - One of the characters is shot towards the end of both book and film, with temporary or permanent disabilities as a result.


• Leverage - Word of God says Parker has Asperger's.


• The Little Mermaid - Ariel is temporarily rendered mute (though it's permanent in the book - or, well, she dies. So permanent until that.)


• MacGyver - Pete becomes blind during the course of the series.


• Maggie Stiefvater: Shiver - in addition to the werewolf thing, Sam has psychological issues that could probably best be described as PTSD.


• Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves - Zampanò is blind, Perafina has a mental illness, Billy Reston is paraplegic.


• Memento - Leonard has anterograde amnesia.


• Michael Ondaatje: The English Patient - The titular character has severe burns. Caravaggio has both thumbs cut off.


• Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote - I'm not sure what the protagonist's mental issues would be called, but they're doubtlessly there.


• Moonstruck - Ronny uses a prosthetic hand.


• My Own Private Idaho - Mike has narcolepsy.


• Mythology: Greek and Roman - Hephaestus walks with a limp.


• Mythology: Norse - Tyr loses his hand in the jaws of the Fenris wolf.


• The Oddyssey (TV show) - Jay spends much of the show in a coma, and has some issues waking up. Donna uses a crutch and leg brace.


• Open Hearts (Elsker dig for evigt) - Joachim is paraplegic.


• Penelope - Penelope's pig curse aside, Lemon is a dwarf and one-eyed.


• Press Gang - though I very much doubt anyone will write him, Billy Homer is quadroplegic (or tetraplegic, as he calls it).


• ReGenesis - Bob has Asperger's.


• Road to Avonlea - Jasper has a stutter. Another character is blinded towards the end of the series, and it's uncertain whether or not he'll recover.


• Rome - Caesar has epilepsy.


• Saved! - Roland is paraplegic.


• SeaQuest - Dagwood is developmentally disabled. J.J. Fredericks ("Freddy") has severe anxiety/PTSD, which is managed through a chip in her head. Anthony Piccolo is dyslexic.


• Second Sight - Tanner has severe vision loss.


• Steel Magnolias - Shelby has diabetes.


• Stephen King: The Stand - Nick is deaf (deaf-mute, according to the book), Tom is developmentally disabled.


• Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games trilogy - one of the characters has hir leg amputated by the end of the first book.


• Threshold - Ramsey is a dwarf.


• Tin Man - Glitch has had half his brain removed through magical means.


• United States of Tara - Tara has DID.


• Up - Carl uses a cane.


• William Golding: Lord of the Flies - Piggy has vision problems that become acute as his glasses are destroyed. Simon has seizures (epilepsy?)


• The Young Riders - Ike is mute.


• Zorro - Felipe is mute.


• Earth 2 - if it's still on the list for Yuletide, Uly has an autoimmune disorder


• Homestuck -- Several: Terezi, who is blind, Tavros, who uses a wheelchair and then robot leg prostheses, Sollux, who is bipolar, and Jade, who has narcolepsy. Vriska also has one eye and one arm for most of the story's action.


• How to Train Your Dragon: Gobber has a missing arm and leg, Toothless is missing part of his tail (which acts as a sort of rudder when he flies), and a major character loses a leg at the end.


• The Mentalist is probably touch and go whether or not it will still be qualified, but the main character Patrick Jane has a history of having spent time in a psychiatric hospital for unspecified mental health issues, most likely depression/PTSD.


• .hack/SIGN
  The vast majority of the story takes place in an MMORPG, but Subaru's player uses a wheelchair in real life.


• Assassin’s Creed
  Malik a-Sayf is an amputee.


• Avatar: the Last Airbender
  In addition to the characters already listed, Word of God says that Combustion Man has a prosthetic arm and leg.
  I tend to count Zuko as well, but YMMV.


• Perdido Street Station (Bas-Lag series)
  Yagharek's wings were amputated as a punishment, and as mentioned above, most of the Remade would qualify as well. One could maybe make a case for the victims of the slake-moth attacks, too.


• Bleach (rock musical)
  Manga canon has a fairly lengthy list of characters with disabilities, but the only one who appears in Burimyu is Tousen, who’s blind.


• Discworld series
  Pterry has a lot of characters who would be considered mentally ill, including (but not limited to) the Bursar, Foul Ole Ron, Owlswick Jenkins, Big Fido, Edward d’Eath, and Cosmo Lavish, More with spoilers. Additionally, Constable Cuddy has a glass eye.


• Dragonhaven
  It's never explicitly stated, let alone identified as disability, but it's implied that the combination of being raised by a human and the traumatic circumstances of her birth caused Lois to develop abnormally. The other dragons don't appear to mind, however.


• Dragonsong (Dragonriders of Pern series)
  Menolly receives an injury to her hand which is deliberately allowed to heal wrong so that she won’t be able to play music anymore, but it ultimately winds up becoming a non-issue.
  “Old Uncle”, an elderly man who Menolly and her sisters are frequently charged with looking after, has no legs.
  (Ruth, the ‘misborn’ white dragon and Brekke, who is at this point in canon seriously traumatized, also make cameo appearances, but they’re more fully covered in their own books.)


• Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Game series)
  Olhado Ribeira is blind and has ocular implants which are functionally equivalent to normal sight and with which he can record, store, and play back things that he’s looked at.
  Marcao Ribeira is dead before the story begins, but he had some sort of unspecified congenital disorder which eventually kills him. More with spoilers.


• Fledgling (Octavia Butler)
  Shori recieves a traumatic brain injury at the beginning of the book and has retrograde amnesia.


• Finding Nemo
  Nemo definitely counts- even if it’s a little ambiguous how much his ‘lucky fin’ actually affects his mobility, the narrative still frames him as a disabled character, IMO. Gill has a similar injury to one of his fins.
  Dory has short-term memory problems.


• Final Fantasy 6
  Kefka is a fairly textbook example of ‘Hollywood crazy’.
  Baram, who is only encountered in one character’s flashbacks, has an eyepatch.


• Final Fantasy 7
  Barret and Dyne are both amputees who use modular ‘gun-arm’ weapons.
  Nanaki/Red XIII appears to be missing an eye.


• Final Fantasy 8
  Fujin has an eyepatch. I’ve occasionally seen some speculation about her unusual speech mannerisms (one to two-word sentences in ALLCAPS), but that’s entirely fanon.
  Ward loses his ability to speak after a throat injury.


• Final Fantasy 9
  General Beatrix wears an eyepatch.


• Holes
  "X-Ray" has significantly impaired vision even with glasses.
  "Zero" is (inaccurately) regarded by the other campers as cognitively impaired.
  Backstory character Madam Zeroni was missing a foot for unspecified reasons.


• Metal Gear Solid 2
  Revolver Ocelot lost an arm in the previous game and replaced it with a transplant from his dead boss, Liquid Snake. There’s a rather bizarre subplot around this involving possession. Solidus Snake loses an eye.


• Metal Gear Solid 3
  Naked Snake/Big Boss loses an eye partway through the game- and the gameplay actually recognizes the difference.


• Nightmare Before Christmas
  Dr. Finklestein uses a wheelchair.


• Order of the Stick
  Haley temporarily loses her ability to speak coherently as a result of trauma (the comic represents this via replacing her words with a cryptogram.)
  Redcloak lost an eye in combat a few plot arcs ago. He’s capable of healing it magically, but his boss forbade him to do so.
  Various minor characters with disabilities include Minister Malack (albino lizardman), Captain Axe (amputee, has an axe grafted to his stump), and Old Blind Pete (self-explanatory).


• Psychonauts
  The game’s premise revolves around psychically going into various people’s heads (including the protagonist’s own) and fixing their problems. There are about five or six characters who are explicitly coded as having psychiatric disabilities who are living in an abandoned asylum, but the over-the-top characterizations in the game means that the dividing line between the ‘crazy’ characters and the ‘sane’ ones can sometimes get a little fuzzy.
  One of the villains also has a prosthetic arm.


• Real
  The manga is about wheelchair basketball (and one of the B-plots is also disability-centric), so the majority of the characters would qualify.


• RENT
  Roughly a third of the central cast is HIV-positive or has AIDS.


• Rocky Horror Picture Show
  Dr. Scott uses a wheelchair.


• Sector General series
  The series is basically hospital drama scifi, so most impairments wind up being cured and things are generally really, really medical model. The one exception is Marrasarah in the book Mind Changer: she’s an alien character with a species-specific impairment who (with some help from her psychologist) orchestrates a disability rights campaign for individuals like her. Sadly, her plotline takes place almost entirely offscreen.


• Snow Crash
  Mr. Eng basically has a tricked-out cybernetic firetruck for a wheelchair.


• The Book Thief
  Minor character Tommy Muller is hearing-impaired.


• The Dead Zone
  Johnny Smith wakes up from a 5-year coma with a traumatic brain injury and (at least, in the book) mobility impairments. In the novel, his mother Vera also has psychiatric issues, and he and the police armchair diagnose Frank Dodd, one of the killers he tracks down, as bipolar. I've never seen the show, so I'm unsure how much carries over.


• The Red Tent
  As in the Bible, Isaac is blind. More with spoilers.


• Treasure Planet
  John Silver is a cyborg with a prosthetic arm, leg, and eye. At one point in the film, the mechanisms in his leg are damaged and he walks with a crutch.


• Trickster’s Choice/ Trickster’s Queen (Tortall series)
  King Oron Rittevon never really appears ‘onscreen’, but is described as mad/insane and there are repeated allegations of his family line being ‘bad blood’.
  Ysul is mute and speaks in sign language.


• Startide Rising (Uplift series)
  More with spoilers.


• Ursula Vernon/ Digger webcomic
  Hyena matriarch Boneclaw Mother is blind.
  Murai is mentally ill as a result of carrying a god's shadow in her head.


• Vagrant Story
  More with spoilers.


• Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic
  Jone Whiteeye is mute... and her plotline is several different kinds of problematic.
  Glon Bloodhand loses a hand on at least two separate occasions only to have it magically healed later.


• Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber: Vialle is blind, Benedict is missing an arm, Brand is described by other characters as possibly having bipolar disorder, Jurt in the 2nd series is missing various body parts that may or may not regenerate someday, Coral in the 2nd series loses an eye in a rather traumatic fashion.


• Toy Story series: Woody temporarily loses an arm, Jessie has PTSD, Both Potato Heads are missing an eye at various points, Sid is generally considered to have ADHD.


• Richard Kadrey - Butcher Bird: Shrike spends most of the book blind.


• Boston Legal: Jerry Espenson has Asperger's (officially per canon).


• Airwolf: Michael Coldsmith Briggs III (aka Archangel) is blown up in the first episode and thereafter wears an eyepatch and carries a cane/limps.


• Caprica: Amanda Graystone. It's unclear how permanent her injury/ies will be, but she is mobility impaired and walks with a crutch.


• In Her Shoes: has a dyslectic main character and a bipolar secondary character (the main characters' mother, who is dead by the point the story takes place, but is a central part).


• Life Unexpected: Lux has dyspraxia and/or dyslexia (currently in the diagnosis process) from previous physical abuse which caused a stroke (she had a pre-existing congenital heart problem).

Comments

[noracharles]

Lois McMaster Bujold - Vorkosigan series
Miles Vorkosigan has brittle bones, a crooked spine and legs of uneven length.

[bliumchik]

Also in this series, Bothari and Mark both have serious mental disabilities with plenty of ficmeat on'em :) and I suppose Taura might count as well. Oh, not to forget Simon Illyan...

[naraht]

Thanks for volunteering to compile! I think this is a fantastic idea.

Mary Renault - The Charioteer
Laurie Odell, the protagonist, has a war injury that requires multiple surgeries and leaves him walking with a limp. Ralph Lanyon, another major character, lost part of his hand in the war.

RPF - Beatles
Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, was probably bipolar although he was never formally diagnosed.

RPF - Classical composers
Near the end of his life, Benjamin Britten was physically disabled after a stroke and used a wheelchair.
Robert Schumann was institutionalised for mental illness. He may have been bipolar, or syphilitic, or both.

Stephen Fry (a creator) is bipolar.

[lilacsigil]

Avatar the Last Airbender
Toph Bei Fong is blind

Avengers and The New Avengers
Echo is Deaf.
Hawkeye is hard of hearing

Birds of Prey (comic)
Birds of Prey (TV)
Barbara Gordon uses a wheelchair (these are different continuities!)

Cable & Deadpool
Cable is a multiple amputee with prosthetic replacements.

Captain America (comic)
Bucky Barnes has a prosthetic arm

Criminal Minds (though I don't think this will qualify!)
Diana Reid has schizophrenia

Daredevil (movie)
Matt Murdock is blind

Gattaca
Jerome is paraplegic

Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House series
Mary Ingalls is blind

Power Man & Iron Fist
Misty Knight has a prosthetic arm

South Park
Timmy uses a wheelchair, Jimmy uses crutches

The Village
Ivy is blind, Percy has unspecified developmental issues

Tanya Huff - Blood and Smoke series
Blood Ties (TV)
Vicki Nelson is progressively going blind. At the time of the novels/TV series she has poor sight that is not completely correctable with glasses but is not legally blind.

Twin Peaks
Gordon is hard of hearing. Johnny Horne is developmentally disabled. Leo Johnson is diagnosed as being in a vegetative state though it's unclear to what extent he is actually affected.

X-Men fandoms
Professor Xavier uses a wheelchair.

[st_aurafina]

Covert Affairs - Augie is blind.

George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire: Tyrion Lannister is a person of small stature.

Fringe: Walter Bishop has unspecified mental health issues and was involuntarily committed for some years.

Jeffrey Deaver - Lincoln Rhyme: Lincoln Rhyme is quadriplegic.

Jo Graham - Black Ships: Gull's foot is badly injured as a child, in adulthood it affects her mobility.

[executrix]

Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Blake in Blakes7 have lost an eye.

Travis, in Blakes7, has prosthetic replacements for one eye and one arm.

Bennett Halvorsen in Dollhouse has a prosthetic arm.

Flynn (Walter White Jr.) in Breaking Bad uses crutches as a result of cerebral palsy

[mercredigirl]

Laurie R. King's Mary Russell: The protagonist has PTSD.

Nessarose Thropp from Wicked was born without arms (bookverse).

The Big Bang Theory's Spencer Reid has Asperger's.

And to supplement AtLA: Teo uses a wheelchair.

[cesy]

Isn't Spencer Reid the one in Criminal Minds, and Sheldon is in Big Bang Theory? I think they're both commonly written as Asperger's or ASD, but I'm not sure how explicit it is in canon - do you know?

[alexseanchai]

Tanya Huff's Quarters quartet, Tadeus is blind. And I doubt he counts for this, but Benedict is considered to have a disability because his magic is only with water and there are exceedingly few people in the Quarters world who have magic and who don't have air magic. (But there are also a great many people in that world who have no magic at all.) I'm sure Benedict counts for losing an eye, though, and...crap. The scene where he loses an eye, he's being punished, and he doesn't freak about losing his eyes because he knows Tadeus and he doesn't freak about losing something else because he knows someone else who's got that disability but I cannot remember who the someone else is. (Minor character, very, whoever it is, but still worth mentioning, I think.)

Supernatural, in all but her first appearance and her died-and-in-heaven appearance, Pamela Barnes is blind, and through most of season five, Bobby Singer uses a wheelchair. Bobby's an instance of magical disappearing disability, and possibly so is Pamela, but.

[cesy]

Supernatural's too big to qualify for Yuletide, though, right?

[akamarykate]

Early Edition--Marissa Clark is blind.

[hokuton_punch]

Tegami Bachi - Sylvette Suede uses a wheelchair, and Mana Jones is blind.

Ysabeau Wilce, Flora Segunda series - Poppy has a non-specific mental illness with elements of PTSD (at least as far as I can remember he still does, but it's been a while since I read the books).

Trenton Lee Stewart, Mysterious Benedict Society - Nicholas Benedict and Mr. Curtain both have narcolepsy with specific triggers.

Stigma (assuming this is the same manga I'm thinking of and not something else) - Tit is blind at the end of the volume.

Stephen King, It - Eddie Kaspbrak has asthma.

Stephen King, the Dark Tower series - Susanna uses a wheelchair and had (rather poorly executed) DID.

Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon - Alan Reeves has a limp from a childhood injury.

... I might come back and tackle more of the nominated fandoms later. Goodness, there are a lot.

[bliumchik]

Transmetropolitan - Spider Jerusalem has a debilitating nerve-illness, which he doesn't know won't be fatal for most of the series, and the Transients are canonically an intersectional nightmare of issues. For more invisible disability fun times there's Mary and the other revivals, too, who suffer from a kind of future shock/PTSD.

[adrian_turtle]

The Inda series, by Sherwood Smith, has a primary character with progressive chronic pain (possibly RSD--current medical diagnoses don't apply in the fantasy world.) It's handled with remarkable realism. Several characters have limbs amputated, and react in different ways.

[sodzilla]

Also re: the main character of Inda - in the last book it's hinted that he has some sort of developmental disability or possibly ASD, but I wouldn't blame you for skipping this since 1) it's really really badly handled (his mother basically says he was cured because she asked everyone around him to be especially loving toward him) and 2) I, as an ASD person myself, never saw the slightest hint of it throughout the first three books.

[glass_icarus]

For RPF- Classical Composers: Ludwig van Beethoven eventually lost his hearing... and continued to compose anyway.

[elf]

Elfquest:
One-Eye (formerly Woodhue, long before the series started) lost his right eye to human attack
Rillfisher (deceased before series started) was deaf
Two-Edge has an undefined mental illness
Ekuar is a multiple amputee; he lost an arm, a leg, and several fingers to torture during his imprisonment by trolls
"The Broken One" (formerly Reef) was warped, physically & mentally, by hostile magic
Madcoil, a monster, was a large cat and giant snake that got caught in a pool of "bad magic" and hit by lightning.

[gavagai]

I'm just doing the fandoms I thought of instantly for the moment, I'll go through the nominatedfandom list line by line later *g*

Angels in America:
Harper Pitt has a Valium addiction; Prior Walter and Roy Cohn have AIDS. I'm aware it may be a vexed question whether these 'count' as disabilities, none of the characters identify either way.

Dorothy L Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey series:
LPW has shell-shock/PTSD.

Dykes to Watch Out For:
Thea has MS and uses various mobility aids.

Girl Interrupted:
It's set in a psychiatric hospital, so most of the characters!

The History Boys:
Irwin becomes physically disabled and a wheelchair user during the play/film.

Master and Commander:
William Babbington is of short stature.

Mad Men:
Betty Draper has unspecified anxiety issues and sees a psychiatrist regularly in the first season. Guy MacKendrick (one-off but fairly pivotal S3 character) has his foot cut off and loses his job as a result.

Secretary:
Lee Holloway has depression, was a psychiatric inpatient prior to the start of the film, and self harms.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Garak is claustrophobic; Nog loses a leg; all the members of the Jack Pack have what would probably be considered personality disorders. It's debatable whether Bashir could also be counted here (born with developmental delays but genetically modified to be of higher-than-average intelligence and physical capacity. SF makes things hard).

Star Trek: The Next Generation/Voyager
Geordi La Forge is blind; Reginald Barclay has anxiety and phobias.

The West Wing:
Josh Lyman has PTSD; Joey Lucas is Deaf; Jed Bartlet has multiple sclerosis; Leo McGarry has a history of addiction (again, I'm not sure if you want to include that in disability lists, but fwiw).

The Wire:
Butchie is blind. Again, if you're including addictions as disability, Bubbles and some minor characters...

Thanks for doing this!

[gavagai]

Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes series
John Watson has war wounds from Afghanistan with recurrent physical and mental effects. (Anyone else want to phrase this better, please do)

Avatar (2009)
Jake Sully is paraplegic and uses a wheelchair.

Blackadder
Captain Redbeard Rum has no legs. (It's played as a joke, but there it is)

Brideshead Revisited
Sebastian Flyte - alcohol dependence

Cambridge Spies
Guy Burgess - alcohol dependence

China Mieville - Bas Lag series
Various Remade characters could be considered disabled - more information here. Tanner Sack and Angevine in The Scar are particular examples.

Dan Abnett - Gaunts Ghosts series
Ibram Gaunt is blind later in the series, but gets ocular implants which perfectly replicate human sight. Inquisitor Ravenor is caught in an explosion at one point, has very limited mobility and possibly is blind (sorry, I'm basing this on what my partner informs me, haven't read them)

Finding Nemo
Nemo has one fin which is shrunken and minimally functional. (Er, IIRC)

Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Secret Garden
DUBIOUS and iirc pretty ablist but Colin Craven is definitely treated like a person with disabilities for most of the book.

Futurama
Leela and most other 'mutant' characters.

Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Sammy Klayman/Sam Clay had polio as a child and has atrophied legs as a result.

Moulin Rouge
Toulouse-Lautrec has restricted growth.

Oyeyemi - White Is for Witching
Miranda has pica and spends some time in a psychiatric clinic.

The Princess Bride (movie)
Fezzik is...well, he's referred to as a giant, I'm not sure what the best term would be. Depends on definitions of disability I think (we're in territory I don't know vast amounts about here), but fwiw.

RPF - 18th-19th c Politics
Depending on breadth of 'politics', George III's recurrent mental health issues.

RPF - 20th-21st c Politics
Gordon Brown is blind in one eye. I love MORE THAN ANYTHING that I can include this in a fandom conversation.

RPF - The West Wing
Marlee Matlin, like her character Joey Lucas, is Deaf.

There's a lot of 'madness' in Shakespeare that we would probably parse in terms of disabiity, but I am really sure someone else is better placed to pick out examples...

True Blood
Terry Bellefleur has PTSD, as does Lafayette Reynolds in s2. Sookie Stackhouse has referred to her telepathy and the social isolation it causes as a disability both in the books and on TV. Ruby Jean Reynolds has schizophrenia.

[jadelennox]

you are the queen of awesome. That's all I'm saying. Totally totally awesome.

Adding to the list:

Megan Whalen Turner - Queen's Thief series
One major character in later books has an amputated limb.

Also, Vorkosigan books and Bujold in general are full of too many canon disabilities to list, so those are good to just put up as open-ended.

Diane Duane - Young Wizards series
Darryl McAllister has autism. Is autistic. I'm not sure of the right way to say it.

Community
Probably still small enough for Yuletide. Abed Nadir probably has Asperger's syndrome; it's been discussed but not confirmed in canon.

[cesy]

Thank you :)

[raven]

Discworld
Lord Vetinari walks with a cane after being shot in Feet of Clay.


Hilary McKay - The Casson Family series
Sarah is a wheelchair user, having had a serious (unspecified) illness as a child.

Jasper Fforde - Thursday Next
Landen Parke-Laine had a leg amputated during the Crimean War.

Questionable Content
Hannelore has OCD.

Slings & Arrows
Geoffrey Tennant has severe mental health issues, and was institutionalised for a time.

Sports Night is probably too big, but just in case:
Dan Rydell has mental health issues he's in therapy for; Isaac is in recovery from a stroke for most of the show.

[raven]

...aaaand I've just realised no one nominated Thursday Next this year! Never mind that.

[sophinisba]

Thanks for volunteering to compile the list!

The Lookout (2007)
Chris Pratt (the main character) has cognitive and other disabilities as a result of a moderate traumatic brain injury. His best friend Lewis is blind.

[passerine]

Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber:

- Vialle is blind
- Benedict is missing an arm
- Brand is described by other characters as possibly having bipolar disorder
- Jurt in the 2nd series is missing various body parts that may or may not regenerate someday
- Coral in the 2nd series loses an eye in a rather traumatic fashion

Toy Story series:

- Woody temporarily loses an arm
- Jessie has PTSD
- Both Potato Heads are missing an eye at various points
- Sid is generally considered to have ADHD

[fiercynn]

Slings & Arrows: Geoffrey Tennant has unspecified mental health issues and was once institutionalized for them. (Also I haven't seen S3 and barely remember S2, so it's entirely possible I missed someone else.)

Percy Jackson & The Olympians (book and movie-verse): Percy and various other demigods have ADHD.

[bliumchik]

Weeds - Megan is deaf, and Celia has breast cancer. I'm not familiar with later seasons, there are probably more.

[katta]

I nominated The Loved Ones - it's not clear which of Brent's injuries will prove permanent, but it seems very likely that the muteness will, and probably some of the other stuff as well. (Saying more would spoil the movie, rather.)

As for the rest of the fandoms, here are the ones I recognized and haven't seen mentioned. I've removed character names on those instances when using them would spoil a non-classic story.

Bend it Like Beckham - Joe has an injured knee.

Bourne Identity - Jason Bourne has amnesia.

Carnivale - oh my. Samson is a dwarf and walks with a cane, Jonesy has a limp, Management is a triple amputee, Lodz is blind, Appolonia is catatonic, Sabina has ectrodactyly, and there's a set of conjoined twins called Alexandria and Caladonia. It could probably be argued that Gabriel is developmentally disabled.

Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre - Rochester has one hand amputated and partially loses his eyesight. And while Bertha isn't exactly a good example for mental illness, she's definitely mentally ill.

Chocolat - Armande is diabetic.

Cornelia Funke: Inkheart - Resa is mute during the first book and part of the second. (Also for part of the movie.)

Degrassi High: Maya uses a wheelchair, Caitlin has epilepsy, Joey has dysgraphia

Degrassi Next Generation - Craig is bipolar, Jimmy uses a wheelchair (there may be more, I haven't seen much of this show)

Diana Wynne Jones: Chrestomanci series - Word of God says Cat is on the autistic spectrum, though the books don't make this clear

Diana Wynne Jones: Enchanted Glass - Tarquin has one leg (though he's taught a way to magically compensate).

Dick Francis: Sid Halley series - Sid uses a prosthetic hand.

Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman - the Reverend is blinded during the course of the series.

Due South - Diefenbaker is presumably deaf. Although he's also a wolf. (Is this fandom even eligible?)

E.R. - Kerry Weaver walks with a crutch, Robert Romano is an amputee, Reese (Peter Benton's son) is deaf.

Farscape - John Chrichton has some mental issues that are a combination of external torture and the pressure of being in outer space. These manifest themselves in various ways, hallucinations being one.

Firefly (I really doubt this is eligible) - River has paranoid schizophrenia (at least that's her brother's diagnosis).

Forrest Gump - Forrest is developmentally disabled, Lieutenant Dan is a double leg amputee.

Four Weddings and a Funeral - David is deaf.

Frasier - Martin walks with a cane.

Friday Night Lights - Jason is quadroplegic (with some use of his arms and hands).

Fried Green Tomatoes - a character loses an arm during the course of the story.

Fucking Åmål / Show Me Love - Viktoria is paraplegic.

Fullmetal Alchemist - Ed uses a prosthetic arm and leg. Another character is temporarily blinded.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - well, duh...

Jericho - Bonnie is deaf.

Joan of Arcadia - Kevin is paraplegic.

Joanne Greenberg: I never promised you a rose garden - Deborah (and the author) is diagnosed with schizophrenia (whether or not that's correct).

Johanna Spyri: Heidi - Clara uses a wheelchair for a while.

L.A. Confidential - One of the characters is shot towards the end of both book and film, with temporary or permanent disabilities as a result.

Leverage - Word of God says Parker has Asperger's.

The Little Mermaid - Ariel is temporarily rendered mute (though it's permanent in the book - or, well, she dies. So permanent until that.)

MacGyver - Pete becomes blind during the course of the series.

Maggie Stiefvater: Shiver - in addition to the werewolf thing, Sam has psychological issues that could probably best be described as PTSD.

Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves - Zampanò is blind, Perafina has a mental illness, Billy Reston is paraplegic.

Memento - Leonard has anterograde amnesia.

Michael Ondaatje: The English Patient - The titular character has severe burns. Caravaggio has both thumbs cut off.

Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote - I'm not sure what the protagonist's mental issues would be called, but they're doubtlessly there.

Moonstruck - Ronny uses a prosthetic hand.

My Own Private Idaho - Mike has narcolepsy.

Mythology: Greek and Roman - Hephaestus walks with a limp.

Mythology: Norse - Tyr loses his hand in the jaws of the Fenris wolf.

The Oddyssey (TV show) - Jay spends much of the show in a coma, and has some issues waking up. Donna uses a crutch and leg brace.

Open Hearts (Elsker dig for evigt) - Joachim is paraplegic.

Penelope - Penelope's pig curse aside, Lemon is a dwarf and one-eyed.

Press Gang - though I very much doubt anyone will write him, Billy Homer is quadroplegic (or tetraplegic, as he calls it).

ReGenesis - Bob has Asperger's.

Road to Avonlea - Jasper has a stutter. Another character is blinded towards the end of the series, and it's uncertain whether or not he'll recover.

Rome - Caesar has epilepsy.

Saved! - Roland is paraplegic.

SeaQuest - Dagwood is developmentally disabled. J.J. Fredericks ("Freddy") has severe anxiety/PTSD, which is managed through a chip in her head. Anthony Piccolo is dyslexic.

Second Sight - Tanner has severe vision loss.

Steel Magnolias - Shelby has diabetes.

Stephen King: The Stand - Nick is deaf (deaf-mute, according to the book), Tom is developmentally disabled.

Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games trilogy - one of the characters has hir leg amputated by the end of the first book.

Threshold - Ramsey is a dwarf.

Tin Man - Glitch has had half his brain removed through magical means.

United States of Tara - Tara has DID.

Up - Carl uses a cane.

William Golding: Lord of the Flies - Piggy has vision problems that become acute as his glasses are destroyed. Simon has seizures (epilepsy?)

The Young Riders - Ike is mute.

Zorro - Felipe is mute.

[cesy]

Wow, that's an impressive list. Thank you!

[alianora]

Earth 2 - if it's still on the list for Yuletide, Uly has an autoimmune disorder (disease? I'm not sure of the difference)

[feathercircle]

I've actually been perseverating on this enough to keep a running list of disabled characters for past year or so... but looking at the Yuletide FAQ, I think more than a few of them are from canons that are either too big or too small for Yuletide.

Would you folks prefer that I list them anyway, just for reference, or should I leave them out?

[cesy]

It's probably worth listing here for reference, possibly in a new entry, but I won't add them all to the list above, if you don't mind.

[nextian]

Hahah, missed this post! This'll probably be disqualified, but:

Homestuck -- Several: Terezi, who is blind, Tavros, who uses a wheelchair and then robot leg prostheses, Sollux, who is bipolar, and Jade, who has narcolepsy. Vriska also has one eye and one arm for most of the story's action.

[jadelennox]

I just wanted to send you 1 million hearts again. This list looks gorgeous.

[cesy]

Thank you :)

[alliterate]

This list is incredible. I have just a few to add for X-Men fandoms:

Julian Keller had both hands amputated, and as yet does not have prosthetics.
Xi'an Coy Manh has a prosthetic leg.
Laura Kinney probably has PTSD.
Ruth Aldine is blind.