Disability Superpower: Difference between revisions
→Real Life: Combine the 2 color vision entries, add detail
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== Real Life ==
* There are claims that the color-blind can outright see through some forms of camouflage.
** Someone who is partly or completely red/green color-blind will be proportionately more sensitive to shading and detail. Various armed forces have occasionally sought out such people for their ability to "see through" camouflage patterns designed for normal vision.▼
** Also useful in hunting. The color blind person will largely ignore the green foliage, instead seeing the deer, rabbit, etc.▼
** People with some kinds of color-vision loss report improved night vision.
** Those with red-green ambiguity are said to retain their usual color perception at lower light levels than people with normal vision - so their vision is better than average at ''dusk'' but normal at night.
* The astonishing story of Ben Underwood from Sacramento, who was rendered blind at age three due to retinal cancer, but learned to see by echolocation by making clicking sounds with his tongue. He was able to judge distances, ride a skateboard, play football, and could even tell the difference between metal, wood and glass just by the quality of the echo. He was even able to play ''[[Pokémon]]'' because the Mons all have distinct voice effects that let him differentiate between them.
** Though they probably don't have the sheer range of ability Ben had, there are others with the same ability of echolocation.
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* It's been claimed for a long time that blind people's hearing becomes more acute to compensate for their lack of sight. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120303073347/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-can-some-blind-people-process There's now scientific evidence to back that theory,] and it can frequently venture into what many people would consider super-hearing.
* [[wikipedia:Douglas Bader|Douglas Bader]], a Royal Air Force ace who shot down over twenty aircraft during [[World War II]], lost both his legs in a pre-war aerobatics accident. Despite originally being discharged on medical grounds, his disability may have actually helped him as a fighter pilot by making him more resistant to "black-outs", which occur whenever high g-forces cause blood to drain from the brain and into the legs. Since he didn't have any legs, it allowed him to pull off manoeuvres that would have otherwise left him temporarily unconscious.
* What some people with autistic spectrum disorders lack in social prowess, they make up for in intelligence and insight. Some of the greatest minds that revolutionized the world have been
* [[wikipedia:James Thurber|James Thurber]] was accidentally shot in the eye by one of his brothers as a child and became almost completely blind as a result. This led to him developing a distinctive wobbly-lined drawing style, making him as famous as a cartoonist as he was as a writer.
** It's also been speculated that losing his eyesight contributed to Thurber's creativity, as the parts of his brain that would normally be used for vision now had to find something else to do. It also obviously gave him a rather dark sense of humor.
* [[The House of Windsor|King George VI of Britain]] had a severe speech impediment (as depicted in the movie ''[[The King's Speech]]''), so when giving speeches he had to speak very slowly and deliberately. Many thought this gave his speeches a very fitting regal dignity.
▲* Someone who is partly or completely red/green color-blind will be proportionately more sensitive to shading and detail. Various armed forces have occasionally sought out such people for their ability to "see through" camouflage patterns designed for normal vision.
▲** Also useful in hunting. The color blind person will largely ignore the green foliage, instead seeing the deer, rabbit, etc.
* People will allergies are [https://web.archive.org/web/20140909071414/http://www.novamov.com/video/sm09ahfo0yjw9 less likely] to develop brain cancer, presumably because of their over-active immune system reacting early to mutated cells as well as possible mutagens.
** Speaking of allergies, there is some evidence that they're the result of the equivalent of Disability Superpower ''Kryptonite''. Our ancestors had to deal with all manner of parasites and grody hangers-on in their day-to-day lives that have long since been eliminated by hygiene and the like, but we still have immune systems that are primed and ready to keep them in check. So our immune systems get "bored", to oversimplify, and react to otherwise harmless things like pollen or peanuts. At least one proponent of this theory claims to have cured his own allergies by giving himself a controlled hookworm infection.
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