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Genius Cripple: Difference between revisions
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[[File:rsz_stephen-hawkins_6917.jpg|link=Stephen Hawking|right]]
In the world of fiction, physical impairment = scientific credibility. The world is actually a [[RPG Mechanics Verse]], and when this [[Munchkin]] rolled up their character, they were [[Min
If you're stupid and in a wheelchair, man are you outta luck!
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A form of [[Disability Superpower]]. Many of these are inspired at least partially by [[Stephen Hawking]], although the trope predates him. See also [[Evil Cripple]] for when a Genius Cripple turns out to be evil.
The "plus side" of being a [[Squishy Wizard]] when [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]] applies. An athlete or a warrior who is crippled is pretty much screwed for life, but a genius or a wizard can keep on truckin'. The [[Blind Seer]] is another version of the archetype.
{{examples}}
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* Former Superman Christopher Reeve guest-starred on ''[[Smallville]]'' as genius scientist Dr. Virgil Swann.
** In Season 8 [[Evil Genius]] {{spoiler|[[Lex Luthor]]}} becomes one of these, courtesy of horrific injuries sustained earlier in show.
* The recurring villain Davros from ''[[
** Doctor Judson, the wheelchair-bound computer scientist in ''The Curse of Fenric''. Who gets very grumpy about his medical assistant treating him as helpless:
{{quote| '''Nurse Crane:''' A little respect for the wheelchair please, Commander. He's an invalid.<br />
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* Dr. John Ballard from ''[[Seven Days]]''.
* The eminently forgettable failed-series-pilot ''[[Exo Man]]'' featured a scientist who permanently lost the use of his legs, and so built a super-powered robotic exoskeleton for himself to make up for it.
* In ''[[
* Perhaps most notably of all, Stephen Hawking is the only person to ever play himself (or at least a hologram of himself) in any ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' franchise.
** Especially since he's playing poker with Data, Newton and Einstein. And beats everyone.
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** Hawking may also be a real life justification of the trope as his biography states that he took his studies far less seriously before his condition was discovered. The disability didn't make him smarter but it motivated him to live up to his potential as a physicist. It presumably also gave him a lot more free time to devote to non-physical activities like reading and thinking.
* Another real life example: Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was left with his left eyelid as his only functional body part after a stroke. Using a system of blinking that eyelid, he was able to dictate an entire book about his life with Locked In Syndrome, during which he had to keep the entire book in his memory and edit the whole thing before giving instructions to his typist.
* Irish writer and artist [
* Christopher Nolan ([[I Thought It Meant|no, not]] '''[[Name's the Same|THAT]]''' [[Christopher Nolan (Creator)|Christopher Nolan]]), another Irish author who was also rendered quadriplegic and mute by cerebral palsy. He can only properly write with an "unicorn stick" on his head ''only'' after the effects of spasmodic medication.
* US President [[Franklin D Roosevelt]]. Confined to a wheelchair by Guillain-Barré syndrome (The Polio diagnosis was incorrect) he still managed to become one of the greatest presidents America ever had. Of course, the general public didn't know that he was crippled. That's the benefit of a respectful press and a nice combination of leg braces and sheer willpower for those occasions that mandated standing up.
* Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, The Emperor Claudius, became Emperor by surviving, faking [[Obfuscating Insanity|mental illness]] and [[Obfuscating Stupidity|idiocy]], and suffered lameness in his legs (as well as [
* Arab Syrian poet Al-Ma'arri lost his eyesight at the age of four. It didn't prevent him from becoming one of the greatest poets and philosophers of his age.
* [[Jorge Luis Borges]], one of the most renowned writers of the 20th century, wrote many of his works when he was blind.
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[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
[[Category:Genius Cripple]]
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