Reactions to traumatic experiences are often focused on their negative aspects, such as being distressing, dysfunctional, and discomforting. However, the concept of post-traumatic growth reveals that individuals can make positive changes in their lives even after severely distressing traumatic events. The concept of self-compassion, while sharing similarities with post-traumatic growth, also functions as a protective factor against post-traumatic stress symptoms. Considering the relationship among these three concepts, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between post-traumatic stress symptoms, post-traumatic growth, and self-compassion in individuals who acquired a physical disability later in life, a topic less explored in the literature. A total of 154 individuals with acquired physical disabilities participated in the study. Correlation and regression analyses revealed that post-traumatic growth was not significantly related to either post-traumatic stress symptoms or self-compassion. However, a moderate, significant, and negative relationship was found between post-traumatic stress symptoms and self-compassion. At the sub-dimension level, it was determined that the self-kindness, awareness of shared humanity, and mindfulness sub-dimensions of self-compassion, along with the hyperarousal sub-dimension of post-traumatic stress symptoms, explained 16.1% of the variance in the total post-traumatic growth score. Parallel to these findings, the study concluded that many mediating variables discussed in the literature, such as the timing of the trauma, collectivist culture, and psychological resilience, may play significant roles in the process. Therefore, it is suggested that trauma-related phenomena should be examined within the framework of mediating variables and considering cultural context.