Anne McCaffrey's series of books, one of which is "The Ship Who Sang," tells stories of spaceships controlled by 'crippled' humans (whose bodies were hopelessly mangled from birth) who were encased in protective shells (they were nicknamed 'shellpersons'), with connections to the outside for all sorts of senses-- sight, sound, etc., plus interfaces to the machinery that ran the ship. The humans had rights, but were indentured until the cost of their upbringing and maintenance was paid off. Ships were called 'brainships' because of the human component, and were accompanied by a "brawn," a trained human who would handle the off-ship requirements of the relationship. The brainship chose the brawn as her/his partner.
There was a series of books in the same universe, including one about a spacestation with a 'shellperson' running things.
There might have been one or more novels with a co-author, but most were by Anne McCaffrey herself.
There was also a series of books/stories by different authors placed in the same universe / on the same planet as an example of what different authors could do, given the same background and environment. Unfortunately, I don't remember what it was called!
--Paul E Musselman
