# Differently-Abled Actors and Actresses **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118 "2022-02-08T19:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/141 "2022-02-13T03:25:41Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Maybe not for the sake of this thread, but in real life, yes they do count. Great, but we’re not talking about real-life, we’re talking about this thread, so do we really need to pursue this further? ---
**Author:** ![missimin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea5d25/32.png) [@missimin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missimin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/142 "2022-02-15T06:05:56Z")
Micah Fowler, who has cerebral palsy, starred on the tv show Speechless. Comedian Zach Anner, who also has CP, made a guest appearance on the show. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/143 "2022-02-16T00:58:23Z")
I see musicians are in the thread, so… Normally a missing finger tip or two wouldn’t constitute the gravest of setbacks for performers, unless if you’re Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who lost parts of the tops of his fingers at a young age in an industrial accident and was told his playing days were over. After attempts with different materials, he found that the leather from his jacket could be fashioned in a such manner with a homemade prosthetic soas to make it possible to continue playing, albeit with some pain. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/144 "2022-02-16T01:26:17Z")
Mark your calendar: Tuesday is the 117th anniversary of [Sandra Bernhardt’s leg amputation.](https://www.historytoday.com/archive/sarah-bernhardts-leg). “ Her amputated leg was supposedly rediscovered late in 2008, preserved in formalin at Bordeaux’s Faculty of Medicine and found in a storeroom with other grisly curiosities. Experts, however, said it was a left leg that had been amputated below the knee, so not in any sense the right one.” ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/145 "2022-02-16T17:45:54Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Ellen Corby had a stroke but returned to The Waltons I remember that! I remember being impressed even as a kid that they dealt with her being stroked out by writing it into the script that “Grandma Walton had a stroke–carry on.” And then they proceeded to show an old woman disabled by a stroke continuing to live her life while dealing with it. What an opportunity for her and the show. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/146 "2022-02-17T15:17:30Z")
Has anyone mentioned [Millicent Simmons](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8075925/)? The young actress (_A Quiet Place_ and _A Quiet Place Part II_) has been deaf since childhood due to a medication overdose. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/147 "2022-02-17T18:20:30Z")
Bruce Willis has hearing damage from filming the first Die Hard. I don’t know how severe it is now but I believe he wears a hearing aid offscreen. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/148 "2022-02-17T21:15:32Z")
Yup, post six up the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/149 "2022-02-17T21:21:39Z")
Stephen Hawking technically counts - he appeared on _The Simpson_, _Futurama_, and _Big Bang Theory_. He was playing himself in all three shows, though, so that might not count. Christopher Reeve appeared on _Smallville_ post-riding accident, as a quadriplegic scientist. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/150 "2022-02-17T21:38:18Z")
James Dean was extremely near-sighted, and was never without his glasses when he was not on-screen. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118/151 "2022-02-22T23:02:29Z")
If you read that linked article, a LOT of the situations involved an actress turning down a role due to being pregnant - which is a very different thing from an actress being fired (or not considered) due to pregnancy. I remember reading, at the time, that they had to do some creative filming of Pam Dawber’s scenes in Stay Tuned due to her pregnancy. Star Trek: The Next Generation featured deaf actor Howie Seago in an episode in season 2 (a deaf negotiator who worked with a “chorus” who spoke for him). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differently-abled-actors-and-actresses/959118.md?page=7)