Yes - IF you are willing to train in their use and practice regularly.  A woman who had been training in the martial arts for a couple of years started training with me. 

She said her husband had asked her how long she was going to keep training.  He said "how long does it take to learn this?"  Her reply was that personal defense is not like algebra - you don't learn it and you're done.

There is a story I picked up somewhere about a student of martial arts.  His master asked him one day how he would respond if he were attacked. 

No dummy, the student answered "Run away!".  After all, he had heard that in class often enough.

 "Really?" the master asked.  "OK - start running - and I better not catch you!"

Don't we all have special needs?  I have to wear glasses to drive.  Some people need wheelchairs to get around.  Some can't see at all, and some can't see at night.

The whole point of A Personal Defense is to provide YOU with the skills to defend yourself and your loved ones with what you have, where you are, today.  If you are stuck in a wheelchair, let's find out what your options are and work on strategies to make them work for you.  Have a bad knee?  Well, I probably wasn't going to have you jump kicking anyway.

What are your limitations?  What are your strengths?  Lets use those strengths to their greatest advantage to minimize the limitations.  The personal defense goals of people with "handicaps" are not well served by traditional martial arts.  Fortunately, that is not the end of the story.

Whatever your abilities, there is a way to maximize them.  You may never win a title belt or a trophy, but you can learn to make the most of what you have.  After all, it's not about doing fancy or difficult things.  It's about YOU!

It's time for "answer a question with a question"!  The answer to "Do Martial Arts REALLY work" is "Does football REALLY work?".
To paraphrase Bruce Lee, if you learn how to "do" football and you lose a game, it doesn't mean the plays were bad.  It doesn't mean the technique of throwing a pass is no good.  It means simply that you have not developed the attributes required to apply those skills against that particular opponent.

I previously wrote about my friend Lam and an encounter he had with a would be attacker half a foot taller than him and literally twice his weight.  The fight was avoided by a simple "flick" to the throat, and no more ever came of it.

Was it the finger flick that did it?  Well, that was the tool.  Lam used a physically strong tool to attack a physically weak target.  

He "won" that encounter not by being stronger (he wasn't), or by knowing more "techniques" (though he did).  He won because he remained calm in the face of danger.  By remaining calm, he saw his opportunity and was able to take it.  Of course, if he had panicked, it would have been different.