Famous People with Vision Impairment

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Helen Keller

This quote coming from a woman who accomplished more in a lifetime than ten people with sight did. The purpose of this blog is to open your eyes to the world of NO LIMITS. The only limits that are placed on our dreams and achievements are those we place on ourselves.

We will explore and showcase great achievements of famous blind people. This should serve to inspire us all to go beyond our current limitations whether we have a visual impairment or not. All the people listed here had debilitating, limited or no vision in one or both eyes. Some were born blind, others lost their vision to other causes. Here is the list:

Helen Keller (1880-1968): American author, activist and lecturer. She was the first deaf/blind person to graduate from college.

Judy Heumann (1947-present): American Disabilities Rights Activist

Apl.de.ap (1974-present): Black Eyed Peas Rapper

Andrea Bocelli (1958-present): Musician/Singer.Blind at the age of 12 years old following a football accident in which he was hit in the head. Bocelli has also sung with Pavarotti.

Tom Sullivan (1969-present): Singer,actor, author,and entertainer. Performed on Highway to Heaven and won Helen Keller Achievement Award in 1997.

FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945): 32nd President of the United States of America,Roosevelt had several disabilities including vision impairment.

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913): Brought hundreds of black slaves back to safety throughThe Underground Railroad. She became victim to vision impairment after a beating from a slave owner.

Louis Braille (1809-1852): Became blind after he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father's awl. He was an inventor and designed Braille writing, which enables blind people to read through feeling a series of organized bumps representing letters. If it were not for Louis Braille's blindness he may not have invented this method of reading.

John MIlton (1608-1674): Wrote the epic poem Paradise Lost.John Milton became blind at the age of 43.

James Thurber (1894-1961): A comedian and cartoonist most known for his contributions to New Yorker Magazine. His brother accidentally shot him in the eye with an arrow while playing a game of William Tell.

Claude Monet (1840-1926): Founder of French impressionist painting. He had progressive blindness . However, in his last decade of life Monet, nearly blind, painted a group of large water lily murals (Nympheas) for the Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris

Brian McKeever (1973- present): Canadian Cross Country Skier and Biathlete

Dr. Jacob Bolotin (1888-1924): The first congenitally blind man to receive a medical license.

Marla Runyon (1969-present): Marathon Runner

William Prescott (1726-1795): Revolutionary War Colonel who coined the term “Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes!”

Kelvin Tan Weilian (1981-present): Famous Singapore professional singer

Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911): Co-established the Pulitzer Prizes

Erik Weihenmayer (1968-present): First blind person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest in 2001

Isaac: Biblical patriarch

Homer: (8th Century BC): Greek poet said to have been blind.

And to top it off, here are the Top Ten Blind Male Musicians:

10. Ronnie Milsap

09. Noboyuk Tsujii

08: Blind Willie Johnson

07: George Shearing

06: MOONDOG

05: Blind Willie McTell

04: Jose Feliciano

03: Art Tatum

02: Stevie Wonder

01: Ray Charles

So, if you are having a bad day, and think you cant quite get up that hill....just remember Erik Weihenmayer, who climbed Mt. Everest blind, and let YOUR vision be set on YOUR unique gifts and talents to share with the world today...........

(Contributing source: www.disabled-world.com)

 

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