The world is a wide spectrum with people of varying abilities inhabiting this planet. While most people may look similar, many are different from each other at the core. Among such people are those that the world terms as disabled.
Being disabled is mostly thought of as a problem. Some popular thinking is that if you are disabled, you are “incapable”, you cannot “achieve anything”, and you are a “burden”. However, this is not the case. Throughout the world and through all the ages, the world has witnessed people with disabilities who have challenged the odds to become successful. Out of several such motivating people, today we are going to look at the stories of three people who have been a great source of inspiration to many.
Stephen Hawking
First, we’ll talk about Stephen Hawking. A world-famous cosmologist and theoretical physicist, Hawking is renowned for many of his theories, mainly about black holes. A British citizen, Hawking was born on 8th January 1942. It was around 26 years of age that he got diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). It is a disease in which motor neurons slowly get cut off and a person loses control of his muscles. Despite the disability, Hawking still went on with his daily life. Soon, many of his muscles started getting cut off from his body, leading to limitations that an ordinary person cannot even imagine.
But Stephen Hawking resurfaced. Working with scientists at the American company Intel, he made a voice generator that he could control with the twitch of his cheek muscles. He also engineered his own wheelchair, which allowed him to keep moving around with minimum control. Nurturing the dream to experience zero-gravity, he went on a Zero-G flight, where he could experience zero-gravity. He got 13 Honorary Degrees from various universities and authored many books. His astounding work on black holes and quantum physics won him many accolades. His talks have inspired many and the list of his awards is endless.
For a man who was given a lifespan of 3 years after the discovery of his disease, he went on to use his abilities and he thwarted the claims of doctors by living fruitfully for the next 55 years. He is a true embodiment of how an able disabled man surpassed the regular able people because of his passion and zeal for excellence.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Secondly, we look into the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, a famous music prodigy, known everywhere in the world. He rose to stardom with his famous song : “Fur Elise”. Beethoven started losing his sense of hearing around his mid-20’s, after gaining repute as a popular musician and composer. As his senses decimated, the way he was able to tell how his music worked was by using a revolutionary invention, a metal rod attached to the piano, that he bit down on. This metal rod would conduct the vibrations through bone conduction, which allowed Beethoven to listen to his music even more clearly than before.
His music started resonating with the pathos of life due to his progressive loss of hearing. His pitch kept on increasing as did his popularity. By the time he turned 44, he had gone totally deaf. It was during the years that he was going deaf that he wrote a great piece of music, Symphony No.5.. It is recognised all over the world. Beethoven could not work in music after going completely deaf but till the time he could, he marched boldly against the odds of disability by believing in whatever ability was left in him.
Albert Einstein
Finally, we have Albert Einstein- one of the most globally recognised names. Renowned for his theory of relativity, his name is synonymous with the famous equation e= mc2. What many people don’t know is that Einstein also was thought to have suffered from a form of disability. When Einstein was in school, his teachers most of the time thought that he was a failure. He kept on failing all his classes. Such was his notoriety that if his teachers knew how much of an idol he has become today, they would probably get heart attacks.
While the contemporary proponents claim that he suffered from ASD or Asperger’s Syndrome, Einstein never thought of himself to be disabled. Perhaps this is the reason why he was confidently able to solve many puzzles in physics. Despite being highly dyslexic and limited in motor skills, he achieved great feats. Publishing books, doing social work and raising many capable students are few among his extraordinary endeavours. His story is another testament of how someone who is disabled, can still be successful.
Not just these 3 people, there are numerous people in all corners of the world who are labelled as disabled, yet they have left an indelible mark on society through their achievements. Challenges have not broken their spirit, only nourished it further, to shine as geniuses in the eyes of society. This shows us that there is a lot of ability in everyone out there. Even if you are disabled, there are lots of things that you can accomplish in life and become the able disabled.
Writer : Aadarsh Nair
Grade : 9 (Year 2024)
Place : Melbourne, Australia
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