Disney Characters with Disabilities

[OneLittleSpark]

OK, so this is a completely random thought, but I figured you guys might like to join in. How many Disney characters can you think of that have disabilities, or are 'different' in some way? I know there are some characters who present a positive image of being 'different', and I was curious as to how many there actually are out there. I figure we may find quite a few if we put our heads together.

The first one that springs to mind for me is Nemo, from Finding Nemo, with his 'lucky fin' (mainly because I was watching this last night).

Who else is there?

 

[alizesmom]

Dopey. Bad name but consider the era in which he was born. Karen

 

[Talking Hands]

Hunchback

 

[freckles and boo]

We love Dumbo. While not disabled, he certainly was different.

 

[livndisney]

Hey hey Hey, watch the Dumbo comments

I can proudly annouce that lots of Disney Characters have only 4 fingers on each hand (ASK me how I know LOL) they include Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale.

 

[SandrainNC]

Nemo

Sandra

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If you want to consider mental problems, I would think Donald, Chip and Dale.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Sleepy, you know he was always falling asleep (can't remember the technical name).

 

[BeckyScott]

I always thought Dopey and Sleepy were just doing really good drugs.

Of course I could be wrong, my family didn't discuss that sort of thing when I was a child.

One thing many many of the Disney movies touch on is the whole idea of growing up and letting go and losing your childhood. Especially it seems the Pixar ones. That's hard for any parent to handle, but for a parent of a child with disabilities, that's a very very touchy subject, I think it scares us so much more. Seriously, who wasn't blubbering like an idiot by the end of Monsters Inc?

 

[SueM in MN]

Good idea for a thread

One of my kids favorites when Disney channel showed old cartoons was Lambert, the sheepish lion (he was very timid and shy).

Chicken Little wears big glasses.

All the 7 dwarves have some sort of disability - not exactly politically correct, but, hey, it was made in 1939!
Dopey - non-verbal
Sleepy - narcolepsy
Sneezy - severe allergies
Doc - wears glasses, plus I think he either stutters or mixes up words
Grumpy - oppositional defiant disorder, fear of soap and water
Happy - ? substance abuse?
Bashful - social anxiety

One thing many many of the Disney movies touch on is the whole idea of growing up and letting go and losing your childhood. Especially it seems the Pixar ones. That's hard for any parent to handle, but for a parent of a child with disabilities, that's a very very touchy subject, I think it scares us so much more. Seriously, who wasn't blubbering like an idiot by the end of Monsters Inc?

The one that really gets me is Toy Story 2. Jessie being abandoned by her child as the child grows up makes me cry every time. That song is SO sad.

 

[eternaldisneyfan]

Dory-memory problems
And there is a guest character on Kim Possible with a super electric wheelchair

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Good idea for a thread

One of my kids favorites when Disney channel showed old cartoons was Lambert, the sheepish lion (he was very timid and shy).

Chicken Little wears big glasses.

All the 7 dwarves have some sort of disability - not exactly politically correct, but, hey, it was made in 1939!
Dopey - non-verbal
Sleepy - narcolepsy
Sneezy - severe allergies
Doc - wears glasses, plus I think he either stutters or mixes up words
Grumpy - oppositional defiant disorder, fear of soap and water
Happy - ? substance abuse?
Bashful - social anxiety



The one that really gets me is Toy Story 2. Jessie being abandoned by her child as the child grows up makes me cry every time. That song is SO sad.

Don't know why I couldn't remember Narcolepsy. Thanks Sue

Suzanne

 

[OneLittleSpark]

I guess you could, in some ways, count Hercules when he's younger and unable to control his strength. I dunno, what do you guys think? It certainly made him "different".

Lilo has suffered emotional distress (don't know if there's a technical term), which has made her an 'outcast'.

Doc mostly spoonerises words, though I think you're right Sue, that he stutters too (I guess I'll have to watch it again!).

I think it's great that Disney has so many positive views of physical, emotional and mental 'differences'. I hadn't even though of half the ones you guys are coming up with, so keep them coming!

P.S. That bit of TS2 always gets to me! Cry like a baby (though I do at an awful lot of Disney films!) .

 

[Matt'sMom]

All the 7 dwarves have some sort of disability - not exactly politically correct, but, hey, it was made in 1939!
Dopey - non-verbal
Sleepy - narcolepsy
Sneezy - severe allergies
Doc - wears glasses, plus I think he either stutters or mixes up words
Grumpy - oppositional defiant disorder, fear of soap and water
Happy - ? substance abuse?
Bashful - social anxiety

I thought of the dwarves too... just the fact that they all have a form of dwarfism (chondrodystrophy, perhaps?) could be considered a disability of sorts.

And as for Dopey, I wonder if he might have expressive aphasia?

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Tigger seems to have ADHD

 

[mechurchlady]

Abby Mallard (Chicken Little) - spech impediment
Captain James Hook - Amputee
Chicken Little - Glasses
Chip (Beauty & Beast) - Damaged tea cup
Dormouse (Alice) - Narcolepsy
Dory - Memory problems
Eeyore - Kept lossing his tail
Fa Shu (Mulan) - Her disabled father
John Darling - Glasses
John Silver (Treasure Planet) - amputee/part cyborg?
Mad Hatter - Mercury poisoning which happened to workers long ago when they worked in felt
Milo James Thatch (Atlantis) - Glasses
Mole (Atlantis) - very near sighted
Nemo - Damaged fin
Pete - Amputee and enemy of Mickey Mouse
Scrooge - Glasses
Shere Khan (Jungle Book) - Phobic about fire
Smee - wore glasses


==============================
There is in Robin Hood a minor character on crutches
Doppler may have had glasses in treasure planet

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Long John Silver from Muppet's Treasure Island is also an amputee (I figured this would count, as Jim Henson Productions is now a part of the Disney family). And of course, if we're counting that film, we also have Blind Pugh (kinda obvious) and Dead Tom (vitally challenged)

The little seahorse in Nemo is H2O intolerant

Wheezy from Toy Story 2 - Asthma or other respiratory problem

 

[SandrainNC]

Chip (Beauty & Beast) - Damaged tea cup

I thought that was because he had a tooth missing as a person.

Sandra

 

[BillSears]

Of course Quasimodo has quite a few problems.

Ariel has a huge disability even if you don't count the no legs part...she's a boy crazy teenager!!!!!

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Ariel has a huge disability even if you don't count the no legs part...she's a boy crazy teenager!!!!!