Once you get into brifters, forget it ....
With friction shifting you can wrap the cable around a stick, and yank the stick to shift (same with cable brakes.) (Of course, you can only shift in one direction ....
) If you have brifters you have a mess of tiny, fragile parts which conveniently stick up off the bars where they can get impacted in almost all sorts of accidents .... and if the cable snaps, the cable end can fall inside the brifter body and when you try to shift again, do terminal damage (don't ask me how I know.)
But no, it is hydro brakes which cause all the concern.
Seriously, the most common way to get sidelined is to do more damage to a tire than you can fix with a boot, or to poke more holes in a tube or tire than sealant/ emergency patches,/patch kits patches can cover. I have gotten four flats on one short ride--just once--but that was enough hole sin enough tubes that I was left limping.
We all know the real issue .... it is that of you ride a bike with disc brakes, the brakes will Cut Off All Your Limbs!!! This has been categorically proven by dozens of posts on this very site, all made by people who didn't own disc-brake bikes. Remember those glorious threads?