Contributors to Our World Who Have Disabilities
Jim Abbott - Only player to play major league baseball born with one hand.
Michelle Banks - Member of the National Black Deaf Advocates and founder of Onyx Theater, Inc., this
actress has appeared on several television programs including Soul Food and Strong Medicine, and has also
been in films including Malcolm X
Ludwig Von Beethoven – German musical genius considered to one of Europe’s greatest composers,
who lost his hearing at the age of 52
David Blunkett – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in Great Britain who was blind at birth
Linda Bove – Actress who plays the part of Linda on the children's television program Sesame Street.
Both Lindas are deaf
Bernard Bragg - Accomplished actor, director, playwright and lecturer, and co-founder of the National
Theater of the Deaf who was born deaf, as were his parent
Louis Braille – Inventor who was blinded at age 3, and developed a system of
writing given his name, that uses raised dots in specific patterns to spell our words
Deanne Bray - Star of “Sue Thomas: F.B.EYE,” this actress who was born deaf
portrays a deaf woman who works undercover for the FBI
Trix Bruce - Creative storyteller who is deaf, and brings folktales, poetry and stories
to life with audience interaction, hand shapes, and 3-D representations
Ann Marie (Jade) Bryan – This “Deaf woman of color” is the founder of Jade Films (an independent
film production company engaged in the development and production of multi-media technology, video,
broadcasting, television and film)
Tom Cruise – Hollywood actor who is severely dyslexic
Francisco de Goya – One of the most famous 19th century Spanish painters, he became deaf after a
serious illness at the age of 46
Albert Einstein – Mathematician and physicist who had a learning disability, did not speak until he was
three years old, had difficulty doing math and expressing himself through writing in school
Thomas Edison – American inventor genius who was unable to read until he was 12 years old
Lou Ferrigno - Bodybuilder and actor with hearing loss
Andrew Foster - The first African American to graduate from Gallaudet College (for the Deaf) in
Washington, D.C.
Stephen Hawking – Physicist and mathematician who is confined to a wheelchair because of Lou
Gehrig’s disease. He uses a computer to speak.
More People With Disabilities
Frank Hochman - The first American born Deaf to earn a medical degree and become a physician
William Ellsworth “Dummy” Hoy - First Major League baseball player who was Deaf
Dr. Linda Medleau Jacobs - one of the 70,000 Americans who are both blind and profoundly Deaf, Dr.
Jacobs is an award winning veterinarian who specializes in small animal dermatology, and is nationally
recognized as an outstanding teacher in her field
I. King Jordan - First Deaf president of Gallaudet University
Marlee Matlin - Oscar-winning actress who lost her hearing at 18months old due to childhood illness.
Heather Whitestone McCallum - First Miss America who was Deaf
Steve McQueen – Known as one of the “coolest” actors in the 1960s and 1970s, this famous film actor
experienced partial hearing loss in his left ear due to an ear infection at the age of 6
John Milton – English poet who became blind at 43 years of age, after which he wrote his most famous
epic Paradise Lost
Claude Monet – French Impressionist painter whose vision began to fail in his later years
Horatio Nelson – Most famous British admiral, he accomplished some of his greatest naval victories after
losing sight in his right eye and having an arm amputated due to wartime injuries
Curtis Pride – Contemporary Major League Baseball player who was identified as Deaf at 17 months old,
has played for the Expos, Tigers, royals, Yankees and Atlanta
James Ryun – after experiencing partial hearing loss due to childhood measles, he went on to be a 3 time
Olympic runner who won a silver medal in the 1968 Olympics. He was elected to serve in Congress in
2002 (R-Kansas)
Franklin Roosevelt –victim of polio who was elected governor of New York and to 4 terms as President of the
United States
Christy Smith - Deaf contestant on "Survivor"
Robin Williams – Hollywood actor who was diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) as a child
Stevie Wonder - American singer and composer who has been blind since infancy