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 :lmao:

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. :hippie:

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? :sad:

[SueM in MN]

Good idea for a thread:thumbsup2

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?
::yes::
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.:sad1:

[eternaldisneyfan]

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

[PrincessSuzanne]

Good idea for a thread:thumbsup2

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


::yes::
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.:sad1:



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! :thumbsup2

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

[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 :tigger:

[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!!!!! :rotfl2:

[OneLittleSpark]

Ariel has a huge disability even if you don't count the no legs part...she's a boy crazy teenager!!!!! :rotfl2:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[forr2grls]

Oh heck!You all have me thinking,sometimes not a good thing!LOL! Winnie the pooh,memory loss or maybe cognitive impairment? Sleepy,hmm, most of you have said narcolepsy,i was also thinking CFS(chronic fatigue syndrome). Eeyore,chronic depression.

Paula

[ireland_nicole]

Don't forget Donald's speech impairment.

[PrincessSuzanne]

Well, now that I think about it, Cpt Jack Sparrow is an alcoholic; Davy Jones had that nasty growth on his face :rotfl2:; so did "Bootstrap Bill" Turner; Barbossa, well he came back from the dead; And Will Turner had a Heart Transplant. There are probably more that I can't quite put my finger on

Suzanne

[OneLittleSpark]

Will Turner had a Heart Transplant.

I don't think it counts as a 'transplant' if you don't get one back! Definitely a disability, though! :rotfl:

[MightyMom]

Wheelie- from Rolie Polie Olie. I think his name speaks for itself.

Treelo- from Bear in the Big Blue House. ADHD and Speech Impairment

[PrincessSuzanne]

I don't think it counts as a 'transplant' if you don't get one back! Definitely a disability, though! :rotfl:

But he did get it back.............after 10 years.

[OneLittleSpark]

I though it stayed in the chest forever, but he was allowed ashore once every 10 years. Hmmmm maybe I got the wrong end of the stick.

Piglet is prone to bouts of anxiety.

[mechurchlady]

Lambert the Sheepish Lion
Gopher - speech problems


Mother Goose Melodies 1931
Three Blind Mice - Blind
Old King Cole - morbid obesity

1931 and 1939 Ugly Duckling and Lilo & Stitch
Ugly Duckling - low self esteem

1933 Old King Cole
Old King Cole - Morbid obesity
Crooked Man, Three Blind Mice, Jack Sprat's wife (morbid obesity)

The Broken Toys 1935
The toy soldier gets the broken toys in the dump to rally together to get fit.

Three Blind Mouseketeers 1936
Three Blind Mice and Captain Katt - Vision

Glasses Crow (Dumbo) - one of the shorter crows wore glasses

Saludos Amigos
Burrito - flying donkey with wings

Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Mr. Toad - Self center shopaholic
Angus McBadger - wore glasses


Joe Giraffe from Elmer the Elephant - glasses

Who Killed **** Robin? had a glasses wearing Judge Owl

[Schmeck]

Pooh has an eating disorder too. Rabbit is pretty OCD. And Peter Pan is developmentally delayed...

[eternaldisneyfan]

Mulan's father has a bad leg
All the dwarves are little people
Piglet has anxiety
Tigger has ADHD
Eeyore has depression
Mulan's friend that was really big-eating disorder and the guy who always lost his temper and then got happy-bipolar
Belle was a gifted person who couldn't achieve her potential

[PrincessSuzanne]

I though it stayed in the chest forever, but he was allowed ashore once every 10 years. Hmmmm maybe I got the wrong end of the stick.




Watch past the end credits and that will explain it. PM me if you want me to tell you, I don't want to spoil it just incase no one else has seen it (Yeah right!)

[Mean Queen]

Tigger seems to have ADHD :tigger:

Someone once explained the different types of ADHD/ADD to me in terms of Pooh and his friends (Disney, a language I totally understand.)
Pooh - the forgetful unfocused type
Piglet - the anxiety ridden one (like my DD)
Eeyore - the sad depressed one
Tigger - the hyperactive type

Violet from the Incredibles was definitely an outcast teen. As was Belle and Mulan.

[lovespoohbear]

I though it stayed in the chest forever, but he was allowed ashore once every 10 years. Hmmmm maybe I got the wrong end of the stick.

Piglet is prone to bouts of anxiety.
and studders(sp)....oh D-d-d-dear

[OneLittleSpark]

Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland) - Rage issues

Panic (Hercules) - severe stress and anxiety issues

Meeko (Pocahontas) - eating disorder

Sir Hiss (Robin Hood) - Lisp

Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story) - Hero complex (early on)



Suzanne, it looks like I'll have to watch Pirates again. Oh dear, what a shame ;)

[DevilDuckie]

Who Killed **** Robin? had a glasses wearing Judge Owl


Uh oh, Churchy! You said a nono word! :rotfl:

[PrincessSuzanne]

Suzanne, it looks like I'll have to watch Pirates again. Oh dear, what a shame ;)


Oh, no what a pity. What are we to do :confused3 :rotfl2:

[mechurchlady]

Uh oh, Churchy! You said a nono word! :rotfl:

Peter Rambo, check out his descendants. That happens to be a family name, honest.

[steffali]

What about Hannah Montana? Some days she is Hannah some days she is Miley. The poor girls has split personalities :rotfl:

[scojos]

stitch is just like my AS son, so i would have to add him!
Tracy

[mechurchlady]

Agent Pleakley definitely has gender identification problems.

Paul Bunyan had gigantism or other growth related problems as did Babe.

Frollo definitely needed to see a psychiatrist, lol.

Gaston was number one in his mind and a bit of a narcissist.

Jafar was another egomaniac who needed a psychiatrist.

Tinkerbell has personality issues like trying to kill Windy.

Izma from Emperor's New Groove was flat chested and emaciated, um, something definitely was wrong there, lol.

Medusa in Rescuers was very skinny and flat chested. She needed to eat them crocodiles, lol.


One of the dalmatians had food obsessian problems and obesity.

[OneLittleSpark]

One of the dalmatians had food obsessian problems and obesity.

That would be Rolly. Am I very, very sad for knowing that?! :rotfl:

[mechurchlady]

That would be Rolly. Am I very, very sad for knowing that?! :rotfl:

I can emphsize with him as I sit here cleaning up the peanut butter jar and am hungry. He was the most adorable of the Dalmatians. I wish I has your memory, I just can remember him saying he was hungry.

[OneLittleSpark]

I'm just a Disney geek. I was even called a Disney geek by a whole group of Disney geeks!! :rotfl: This might have had something to do with the fact that I could name every character of a mural, even some of the really obscure ones! :blush: Oh well, I take the term "Disney geek" to be a complement :3dglasses

[mechurchlady]

I'm just a Disney geek. I was even called a Disney geek by a whole group of Disney geeks!! :rotfl: This might have had something to do with the fact that I could name every character of a mural, even some of the really obscure ones! :blush: Oh well, I take the term "Disney geek" to be a complement :3dglasses

I have major memory problems or I would be a Disney Geek. People outside of boards do not understand what an E-Stop is or who Gurgi is. I am proud to have met a real Disney Geek. A pleasure indeed:cool1: :yay:

[OneLittleSpark]

Oh, my memory for day to day things is pretty bad (especially when the brain fog sets in), but when it comes to Disney, I can remember the most obscure and random things! I often get weird looks for spouting random trivia :blush:

Back to the original topic: I've not seen it for a while, but doesn't Belle's father have some medical concerns? Or have I misremembered that?

[PrincessSuzanne]

Oh, my memory for day to day things is pretty bad (especially when the brain fog sets in), but when it comes to Disney, I can remember the most obscure and random things! I often get weird looks for spouting random trivia :blush:

Back to the original topic: I've not seen it for a while, but doesn't Belle's father have some medical concerns? Or have I misremembered that?

Yes, I think he did. Now, some of the problem was Gaston was making up some of that stuff, so I don't remember which is real and which wasn't.

[OneLittleSpark]

Also, one I just thought of, Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins may be bi-polar.

[mechurchlady]

Oh, my memory for day to day things is pretty bad (especially when the brain fog sets in), but when it comes to Disney, I can remember the most obscure and random things! I often get weird looks for spouting random trivia :blush:

Back to the original topic: I've not seen it for a while, but doesn't Belle's father have some medical concerns? Or have I misremembered that?
I do not think he had a condition but being in that old mansion as a prisoner of Beast made him sick. He was a wee bit eccentric, lol.

Back to hunting for characters. I am not to familiar with the live action stuff. Muppets had Gonzo and Animal, lol. Miss Piggy well she needed help big time. I remember one character had low esteem. Back to my fog and hugs.

[OneLittleSpark]

I thought I'd rekindle this thread, see if anyone could think of any more :goodvibes. I know I have a few to add!

Sid's toys in Toy Story have a fair range of disabilities... that he gave them

Rhino in Bolt has a weight problem

Dr. Finkelstein in Nightmare Before Christmas uses a wheelchair

Pete, from Pete's Dragon, had an abused childhood, and had some trust issues because of this (of course, in true Disney style, he was able to overcome these and find a loving family in the end :goodvibes)

Elliot, the dragon from Pete's Dragon, was non-verbal, and also didn't quite understand what is and isn't acceptable behaviour around others (on the spectrum, perhaps?)

While we're on Pete's Dragon, Lampie had an alcohol dependency

OK, who has more? :thumbsup2

[scojos]

;)oh, i loved this thread, but have no imagination!
tracy

[robynchic]

One of my friends decided to have fun one day (after learning that I'm a CM) and looked at the different Winnie the Pooh characters (who, technically, are property of the A.A. Milne estate, not owned by Disney) to "diagnose" them.

Rabbit- OCD
Eeyore- Bipolar
Piglet- Social Anxiety Disorder
Tigger- ADHD (another disability he has- he has a lisp)
Pooh- Lowered mental capacity
Kanga- Empty Nest Syndrome
Gopher- Agoraphobia (fear of open spaces)
Roo- Separation anxiety
Owl- Narcissitic tendencies and superiority complex

I think my friend had too much time on his hands...

[scojos]

i think so too:rotfl2:

[LockShockBarrel]

I think Rafiki was either delusional or had some weird chemical dependency issues, and Scar was a sociopath.

I have to say Lilo and Stitch gets me every flipping time when the little girls make fun of Lilo and she throws Scrump down..then goes back and hugs her. Had a similar childhood..I can sympathize.. and had I known about voodoo I probably would have tried that on my "friends" too.

[OneLittleSpark]

Pumba - Some kind of digestive problems, causing a few.... socially awkward problems - IBS, perhaps? Though I suppose it could just be what happens when you have a diet comprised entirely of creepy crawlies :eek:

[jezaduck24]

Oh heck!You all have me thinking,sometimes not a good thing!LOL! Winnie the pooh,memory loss or maybe cognitive impairment? Sleepy,hmm, most of you have said narcolepsy,i was also thinking CFS(chronic fatigue syndrome). Eeyore,chronic depression.

Paula

My mom and I have always said that Eeyore had Major Depression, Tigger has ADHD, Piglet has Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Rabbit is absolutely OCD, and Pooh is a Complusive Overeater.
That's humor in a household full of behavioral health professionals. We tend to be a little dark in the funny department sometimes. :laughing:

And I can say there is one character in the Disney lexicon that I abhor. Sid from Toy Story. That kid is a sociopath waiting to happen.

[OneLittleSpark]

And I can say there is one character in the Disney lexicon that I abhor. Sid from Toy Story. That kid is a sociopath waiting to happen.

And he's not waiting that patiently either! :scared1:

Goob from Meet the Robinsons has height issues during his childhood, and doesn't seem to grow at all between the age of about 10 and 15!

[robynchic]

And I can say there is one character in the Disney lexicon that I abhor. Sid from Toy Story. That kid is a sociopath waiting to happen.
I was thinking he was also showing some indications of borderline personality disorder...

Has anyone mentioned yet that Gaston is a narcissist, Cinderella may be schizophrenic (I mean, come on! A fairy godmother that shows out of nowhere and mice that talk to her! Ever noticed that Bruno and Lucifer don't talk?), Frollo is racist (though that's more of a social disability than a physical/mental one, IMO) and Scar is a sociopath.

[LorlovesStitch]

I think that Stitch might be bipolar! My DD is bipolar and you can really explain the ups and downs of the disorder by thinking about Tigger and Eeyore all rolled into one person!:goodvibes

[Whitewater]

I'm glad that somebody mentioned Cinderella at last, I was beginning to think that I was the only one!

LOL, if she does have schizophrenia, it's in addition to the severe emotional abuse she's suffered since her father remarried (which could explain the delusions all on its own, come to think of it, even if they don't fit true delusion behavior by providing actual, real stuff in addition to other real interactions).

Anyhow, she also shows classic victim escapist behavior by being perfectly willing -- even eager! -- to marry the 1st man she meets in order to get out of her family's abusive situation.

Thinking of Cinderella in this light makes me realize that most of Disney's animated lead characters seem to have significant abandonment issues that in many ways negatively affect their lives. Think of Megara, for instance. Not only did she literally sell her soul to Hades, god of the underworld, in order to keep her relationship together, she then became Hades' willing minion (until she met Herc, anyway) in order to keep what little security she had left after her BF left her.

And Lady, from Lady and the Tramp, is struck with jealousy because *she* is afraid (at first) and then convinced that her family will get rid of her because of the new baby in the household.

But . . . nobody's mentioned Bambi yet. A classic compulsive overachiever due to his mother's early death and an absent father who nevertheless demands perfection.

Let's see, who else? Well, most of the more recent heroines (all motherless, what is UP with that?) generally have to sacrifice themselves in some pretty gruesome ways in order to serve the general good (the princess from Atlantis comes to mind) although Ariel, driven by what I would consider a pathological need for acceptance by a culture other than her own, actually does it all to *herself* (self-harm, anybody?).

Oh, I almost forgot Simba. Obsessive guilt, particularly when taken to the extreme that he does, is clearly in his life a massive negative influence that fits diagnostic criteria. He also has life-affecting critically low-self esteem, which affects his life so much that he actually casts himself out of his own society.

Something else has just occured to me -- Belle has Stockholm Syndrome.


Anybody else?


Whitewater

[OneLittleSpark]

Something else has just occured to me -- Belle has Stockholm Syndrome.

I'd never thought of that before, but now that you say it, it makes perfect sense!

RV in Toy Story is non-verbal.

Rex has anxiety issues and numerous insecurities

Slinky Dog - hypermobility? :rotfl: *


Bacchus in Fantasia has an alcohol dependency

Rattigan in Basil the Great Mouse Detective has some serious identity issues in refusing to accept that he is a rat, not a mouse (not to mention all the standard psychoses that seem to be a mandatory part of being a Disney villain :lmao:)


*no offense intended to hypermobiles and EDSers everywhere, of course

[flying_babyb]

the girl in Nightmare Before Christmas has a issue with amputation (her arms fall offf, alot!!)

[fluffycow333]

Uncle Waldo from the Aristocats is an alcoholic...and the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland is definately smoking something.

[OneLittleSpark]

Mama Oddie from Princess and the Frog is blind