TV Series Featuring Characters or Performers With Disabilities

Show: Alphas
Network: SyFy
On the Air: 2011-2012
Character of Interest: Gary Bell (Ryan Cartwright), a young man with autism whose abilities as a "human antenna" make him valuable to a crime-fighting team of people with extraordinary abilities.

Show: The Big Bang Theory
Network: CBS
On the Air: 2007-
Character of Interest: Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), a theoretical physicist and all-around quirky guy who talks about and displays many symptoms of Asperger syndrome.

Show: Bones
Network: FOX
On the Air: 2005-2017
Character of Interest: Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel), a forensic anthropologist who looks to a lot of viewers like a person with Asperger syndrome.

Show: Breaking Bad
Network: AMC
On the Air: 2008-2013
Character of Interest: Walter White, Jr. (RJ Mitte), son of the chemistry teacher turned meth maker, who, like the actor who plays him, has ​cerebral palsy.​

Show: The Bridge
Network: FX
On the Air: 2013-2014
Character of Interest: Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger), an El Paso police detective with Asperger syndrome.

Show: Covert Affairs
Network: USA
On the Air: 2010-2014
Character of Interest: Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham), a blind CIA analyst who's a tech whiz, a sidekick for the newbie agent played by Piper Perabo, and a chick magnet.

Show: Glee
Network: Fox
On the Air: 2009-2015
Characters of Interest: Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), a glee-club member who uses a wheelchair; Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter), a cheerleader with Down syndrome.

Show: Grey's Anatomy
Network: ABC
On the Air: 2005-
Character of Interest: Dr. Virginia Dixon (Mary McDonnell), a cardiac surgeon with Asperger syndrome who appeared in several episodes of the series' sixth season.

Show: King and Maxwell
Network: TNT
On the Air: 2013
Character of Interest: Edgar Roy (Ryan Hurst), described on the show's site as "a high-functioning autistic savant who specializes in patterns and numerical sequences."

Show: Legit
Network: FX
On the Air: 2013-2014
Character of Interest: Billy Nugent (DJ Qualls), a man with severe muscular dystrophy sprung from a nursing home by a trying-to-do-good friend.

Show: Life Goes On
Network: ABC
On the Air: 1989-1993
Character of Interest: Corky Thatcher (Chris Burke), a high-school student with Down syndrome and a member of the family the series focused on.

Show: The Middle
Network: ABC
On the Air: 2009-
Character of Interest: Brick (Atticus Shaffer), youngest child of the Heck family, a quirky little fellow whose odd ways and habit of repeating things in a whisper has some viewers wondering if he's on the autism spectrum. Whether the character is or not, the show remains of special-needs interest for Shaffer, who has osteogenesis imperfecta.

Show: Modern Family
Network: ABC
On the Air: 2009-
Actor of Interest: Sarah Hyland, who plays Haley Dunphy, revealed in May 2012 that she was diagnosed with kidney dysplasia at age 9 and received a kidney transplant from her father in April 2012, at age 21.

Show: Parenthood
Network: NBC
On the Air: 2010- 2015
Character of Interest: Max Braverman (Max Burkholder), a member of the youngest generation of the sprawling Braverman clan and, as of the show's first episode, a child diagnosed with Asperger syndrome.

Show: The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Network: ABC Family
On the Air: 2008-2013
Special-Needs Connection: Tom Bowman (Luke Zimmerman), a young man with Down syndrome who's more level-headed than most of the show's sex-obsessed characters.

Show: St. Elsewhere
Network: NBC
On the Air: 1982-1988
Special-Needs Connection: Tommy Westphall (Chad Allen), the autistic son of hospital honcho Dr. Donald Westphall, who in the show's last episode is apparently revealed to have dreamed up the entire series.

Show: Switched at Birth
Network: ABC Family
On the Air: 2011- 2017
Character of Interest: Daphne Vasquez (Katie Leclerc), a hearing-impaired teenager who finds out she went home with the wrong family as an infant. The show features other hearing-impaired characters and did one episode entirely in American Sign Language (ASL).

Show: The West Wing
Network: NBC
On the Air: 1999-2006
Character of Interest: Joey Lucas (Marlee Matlin), a pollster whose deafness was used to comedic (though never at her expense) and dramatic effect, but was never the sum of her character.