Best of Physically Disabled Characters

Posted on  12/01/2024 10:05:38

Do you have a favourite book featuring a disabled MC?

If yes, could you leave it in a comment below, so I can add it to my list.

Characters with disabilities have a surprisingly long history in science fiction and fantasy. However, only recently disability representation has been set into focus and actively featured on different bookish platforms. Several master lists of books with disabilities are also easily found on the web, some of them being pretty comprehensive.

Then why make another one, you ask?

Because disability plays an important role in my life and it represents the reason I set up this Magic Book Corner. 

You see... I swear I'm not pulling a Dhar Mann on you! I'll just tell it as it is.

My 15 year old son has been diagnosed with lennox gastaut syndrome, which is a rare and severe type of epilepsy with multiple different types of seizures and a very bad long-term prognosis. And having to deal with such a condition irrevocably changed our lives. I'm not gonna lie and paint a pretty picture. Dealing with it is HARD. There are times when you just want to curl up in a ball and cry, or when you get so angry, that you want to scream at God. And there are days when worries drive you to your knees and leave you wondering how you can muster the will to go on. 

And you know what?

It was books with disabled characters kicking ass and taking names, despite their disability, that inspired and had us dust ourselves off and try again during those dark days. Because IF THEY CAN DO IT, SO CAN WE!

And for that I will be always grateful. 

So here I am, with my very own list of Physically Disabled Characters. One strictly referring to physical disabilities, including neurological disorders and other medical conditions like diabetes for example, that physically affect the body.

And they don't get magically healed or grant the disabled character some extra super power. 

Because disability doesn't just magically disappear in real life and it isn’t something to be “fixed” about a person. It just is. And a good representation of it in fiction needs to be based on that, to not only raise awareness, but also inspire.

This Corner of our MBC is dedicated to them. Hope you will cherish them just as much as we do! :) 

A Best of Physically Disabled Characters List will be uploaded later, once the master lists for all the site pages have been done. Until then, please make yourselves at home, have a look at our bookish hoard and pick your poison. There's some pretty good stuff here, if I may say so myself.  

And who knows, one of them might just be THAT book that inspires you.

Fantasy Books with Physically Disabled Characters -  A Master List

Please note that it includes both trad and Indie books, as well as popular and less known ones. They are all neatly listed in an alphabetical order of the book title, with a little mention of the particular disability they represent. 

 Click on any of them and you'll be taken to the GoodReads page.

A 

Against the Grain by Melanie Harding-Shaw (Coeliac Disease)

Age of Assassins by RJ Barker (clubfoot)

Archive Undying (The) by Emma Mieko Candon (limp/cane user)

B 

Blacksmith’s Apprentice (The) by Bey Deckard (Mutism)

Blood Price by Tanya Huff (Visual Impairment)

By Winged Chair by Kendra Merritt (wheelchair user)

C 

Clementine Book 1 by Tillie Walden (Amputation / Missing Limb)

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge (Amputation / Missing Limb)

Curse of Chalion (The) by Lois McMaster Bujold (chronic pain)

D 

Dragon School series by Sarah K.L. Wilson (crippled leg)

E 

F 

Fallible Justice by Laura Laakso (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome)

Familiars and Foes by Helen Vivienne Fletcher (Epilepsy / Seizures, Low Blood Pressure - service dog)

Final Strife (The) by Saara El-Arifi (Epilepsy / Seizures, Mutism / Amputation)

Frostfire by Sam Thorne & Lauren Ivey (Amputation / Missing Limb)

G 

Gallant by Victoria Schwab (Mutism)

Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (A) by Mackenzi Lee (Epilepsy)

Girl in Red (The) by Christina Henry (Amputation / Missing Limb)

H 

Hollow Places (The) by T. Kingfisher (limp/cane user)

I 

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (limp/cane user)

J 

Joe the Barbarian by Grant Morrison (Diabetes)

K 

L 

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal (Aphasia, Celiac/Coeliac Disease, Cerebral Palsy, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Endometriosis, Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, Migraines / Headaches)

M 

Mirror Empire (The) by Kameron Hurley (limp/cane user)

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (Deafness/Hard of Hearing)

Mrs Pettigrew Sees a Ghost by Katherine Hayton (brain injury)

N 

O 

One for All by Lillie Lainoff (Chronic Illness)

Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn (Paraplegia)

P 

Pod by Laline Paull

Q 

R 

Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst (Limp/ Cane user / Scars)

Raven Boys (The) by Maggie Stiefvater (Limp/ Cane user)

S 

Shape of Water (The) by Guillermo del Toro (mutism)

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Chronic Pain)

Spear Cuts Through Water (The) by Simon Jimenez (Amputation / Missing Limb)

Sword Dance by A.J. Demas (Limp/ Cane user)

T 

Theft of Sunlight (The) by Intisar Khanani (clubfoot)

Throne of Swans (A) by Katharine & Elizabeth Corr (Amputation / Missing Limb)

U 

Unbroken (The) by C.L. Clark (Limp/ Cane user)

V 

Vela (The) by Becky Chambers, Yoon Ha Lee, Rivers Solomon, SL Huang (deafness)

W 

Wards of the Roses by Celia Lake (blindness)

Where Shadows Lie by Allegra Pescatore (Chronic Pain, Chronic Illness, ambulatory Wheelchair user - service dragon in book 2 of The Last Gift series)

Witches of New York (The) by Ami McKay (Missing One Eye / Blindness in One Eye, Scars)

X 

Y 

Z

We're getting great stuff ready for you all. So do come back later please. 

For now all you'll find here is some great Bookdragon and men eye candy. 

And NO! We didn't loose our shirts! It's just HOT in here and we are working! :D