Famous people with disabilities who have achieved success for children. Ten world famous people with disabilities

I thank God for my injuries

who helped me find myself,

your work and your God.

H. Keller (deaf-blind writer)

The most famous and talented disabled people in history.

We would like to say a few words about those for whom physical limitations did not become an obstacle to fulfilling their dreams, about famous people with disabilities and people with disabilities who have achieved success.

It was much more difficult for them to realize their dreams than for most of us, because the obstacle was different kind physical disabilities, congenital or acquired.

But this did not stop them from realizing what they dreamed of; on the contrary, this is what prompted them to act against all odds in order to prove to themselves and the world that they, too, can live a full life. And they can serve as an even more striking example for us, for those who do not have these limitations.

The story of the first blind pilot

One such example of disabled people who have rightfully achieved success is Miles Hilton-Barber, the world's first blind pilot.

His difficult path to his dream, in my opinion, is a vivid illustration of how sometimes it is necessary to break the vicious circle of limited ideas that hold back our inner strengths, preventing them from breaking through and creating their reality. Miles Hilton-Barber was born into a pilot's family (1948, Zimbabwe), and when he grew up, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps.

He's trying to get into flight school, however, does not pass the medical examination for vision. And three years later he is told the terrible news that because of genetic predisposition he will soon go blind. And so it happened - by the age of thirty, Miles completely lost his sight.

Start with a dream

It’s even difficult to imagine what was going on in his soul at the same time - a man in the full prime of his life found himself cut off from a full life, and the path to his dream, as it seemed to him then, was forever closed.

Miles moved to England, where he worked at the Royal national institute for the blind. Recalling that time, he admits that he was “afraid to walk four hundred meters to the nearest supermarket for a loaf of bread.”

The example of younger brother Jeff. He is also blind, however, this did not stop him on the way to achieving his goals, and he alone managed to sail on a yacht from Africa to Australia.

It was Jeff who managed to instill in Miles the idea that if you want to succeed in life, you don’t have to start with the fact that you are blind, start with what you want to do most in life. From your dreams.

Incredible achievements of blind people

Thus, Miles, who by that time was already fifty years old, returned to his youthful dream of becoming a pilot. When he tried to get training, he was first told: “How can you? After all, you’re blind!” To which he replied: “So what? All civil aviation pilots are taught to fly blind, but I am already blind! Already fit for the profession!

Since then, Miles began new life. He began to participate in sports adventures that not every healthy person would dare to undertake, let alone blind people, such as marathons, running, rock climbing and flying in small airplanes.

He has a lot of achievements to his credit, for example, a marathon across the Sahara, conquering Mount Kilimanjaro, marathons in China and Siberia and much more.

In 2003, he became the first blind pilot to fly across the English Channel in a light aircraft. And through his personal example, he inspires many people around the world, encouraging them to do what they dream of and not let circumstances hold them back.

How to live life to the fullest despite physical limitations?

Lesson from this amazing story, consists, first of all, in the fact that when you really want something, you should not sit and wait for circumstances to change in better side, but you just need to go and act.

After all, as Miles himself admitted, he used to think that if only God or medical technology if they cured him of his blindness, then he would have dreams again, and he would begin to truly live.

However, he could have waited his whole life for this, but fortunately he did not do this. And this - good example for those who believe that they can achieve something when, for example, the economic situation or anything else in the outside world changes for the better.

But, as you know, water will not leak under a lying stone, and as Miles himself admits, “with that attitude I would still be sitting at home like a sofa vegetable.” You always need to start with yourself, because when we ourselves change, the world around us changes.

“If you want to achieve something in life, start with your dreams, not with your circumstances. When was the last time you did something for the first time in your life? This was the last time you grew as a person... Life is not measured by the number of inhalations and exhalations, but by the events that capture our spirit. Don’t be afraid to go where your breath will be taken!” M. Hilton-Barber.

And these words, of course, are relevant not only for those who suffer from any physical injuries, but also for any of us.

Accept the challenge of fate

In the life of any of us, it often happens that on the way to a cherished dream there are obstacles that seem insurmountable, and you suddenly involuntarily begin to think that no, I will never achieve this.

However, if your desire is truly strong, then such obstacles can be perceived as some kind of challenge from fate, a kind of test, like some higher power they check whether you really want what you are striving for.

“At the heart of every difficulty lies opportunity,” Albert Einstein once said. In this regard, I would like to recall one more story, which can also serve as a striking example of the fact that even physical injury is not an obstacle to your dream, and that you should never be afraid to do something that no one has done before.

Blind doctor

David W. Hartman went blind when he was eight years old. He had a dream of becoming a doctor, but the Temple University School of Medicine told him that there was not a single blind graduate among its graduates.

This did not stop David, he courageously accepted the challenge of fate and began to study from audio recordings, and he had recordings from twenty-five medical textbooks. And so, at the age of twenty-seven, David became the first blind medical graduate.

Such examples, of course, make us remember the strength of spirit that is inherent in each of us, which is capable of overcoming any difficulties and finding a way out of seemingly dead-end situations.

After all, when before your eyes is an example of someone who, suffering from some kind of physical injury, still managed to achieve his goal, then you involuntarily feel that you can do everything, because, unlike him, you have no restrictions, and you healthy and capable of doing absolutely anything you want.

Artist without hands

In this regard, another striking example comes to mind - the Colombian artist Zuly Sanguino. Her paintings are very talented, filled with light and life, and carry such a flow of positive energy that, looking at them, you don’t think at all that their creator is suffering congenital pathology(her limbs are underdeveloped, in fact, there are no arms or legs, and she draws with her brush clenched in her teeth).

The life story of this girl, a disabled artist, is another striking example of the fact that our spirit is stronger than any injury, and even if an illness is insurmountable, it cannot be an obstacle to the fulfillment of a cherished dream.

But before Zuly became what it is today, it faced many challenges. The girl was born with a diagnosis of phocomelia, and seemed doomed to be bedridden for the rest of her life. However, her mother did not want to put up with this and made incredible efforts to teach her daughter to sit and even walk on her own.

The family lived in poverty, their home was an ordinary hut with an earthen floor, but mother and daughter persistently pursued their goal. There was another problem they faced - aggression from their father, who did not disdain insults and often raised his hand against his wife and children.

In the end, he committed suicide, which was the cause of the girl’s many years of depression; it seemed that she would never want to take care of her own body.

Can people with disabilities succeed?

The mother had to put a lot of effort into restoring her daughter’s joy in life. She taught Zuly to write and draw, and the girl gradually realized her purpose and found a purpose in life.

At the age of fifteen, she realized that she wanted to devote herself to drawing, that it was worth living for, and she made enormous efforts to master the basics of painting. The girl gained the ability to embody her world on paper through blood and sweat, but since then she began a new, bright streak. After all, she realized her purpose - to give people light and joy through her painting.

But when you strive to bring joy to someone, your own suffering fades into the background, and you see and feel, first of all, the beautiful - in yourself and in the world around you.

Now Zuly is 24 years old, and she has learned to do almost everything on her own: she dresses herself, applies makeup, mops the floors and, of course, draws.

In addition, she takes an active part in environmental initiatives: together with her brothers and sisters, she regularly collects garbage in her neighborhood, free time helps a mother with younger children or babysits neighbor's kids.

Moreover, she gives motivational lectures in private companies, schools and even prisons. Of course, she, unlike most of us, has to overcome herself every day, faced with her own physical limitations, and what for us is simple action, for her is a small feat, but her example makes it all the more clear that when we show strength of spirit, we are able to overcome anything.

“The human spirit cannot be paralyzed. You breathe, which means you can dream.” M. Brown

The most famous and talented disabled people in history

And you can give many more examples famous people who accepted the challenge of fate and achieved amazing success, while having disabilities and other deviations from a healthy physical body.

• John Milton famous poet and the writer was blind.
• Itzhak Perlman, the famous world-class violinist, is paralyzed in the lower half of his body.
• James Thurber, cartoonist and humorist, had very poor eyesight.
• Heather Whiston, Miss America 94, is deaf.
• Rafer Johnson, decathlon champion, was born with a crippled foot.
• Eduard Golderness, a Russian poet and translator who lived in Georgia, was terminally ill from the age of fifteen.

But at the same time, as his beloved woman recalls:

“I have never seen a more heroic, restless fate around me. The point is not only that he was a poet, wrote sonnets, translated - he carried out a “connection between man and man,” he created new higher forms human communication, he ennobled those who lived next to him.”

And this list could go on. After all, the main thing that unites all these people is the strength and fortitude of spirit, the ability not to resign themselves to circumstances, to live and create, embodying their cherished desires.

Live sincerely and you will achieve everything despite limitations.

“Fate is not given to a person from the outside, but matures every day in his heart,” said the famous Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda. In other words, each of us creates our own destiny every day, carefully growing it, like a sprout from a seed. After all, what you put into yourself eventually grows.

And the examples of those we talked about can be a clear confirmation of this idea - that each of us, ultimately, is the creator of our own destiny, and there is a way out of any, even the most dead-end situation, when you know what to do strive.

These are the people with disabilities who became disabled from birth or as a result of accidents, and teach us to appreciate more what we have and to reveal the possibilities God has given us.

After all, as the Russian woman Vera Kotelyanets, who was born without arms and learned to do everything with the help of her legs, says, including caring for children: “When I hear that someone complains about life, I think: “I would like your hands, I would like the world.” turned them over!

There is nothing to add to this, as they say.

Stop complaining that you don’t have enough money or good contacts, because if you start living sincerely, improving yourself and every day taking at least a small step towards your destiny and what you love most (your dream), then soon your happiness will and there will be no barriers left for you, and you will be able to achieve whatever you want, despite any physical or material limitations.

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December 3 is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. There are many examples of people with disabilities not only surviving, but becoming famous. We have made a selection of several disabled people who have become world famous.

1. Laureate Nobel Prize Stephen William Hawkingstudies the fundamental laws that govern the Universe. He is the owner of twelve honorary academic titles. His books A Multiple History of Time and Black Holes, the Young Universe and Other Essays became bestsellers. With all this, at the age of 20, Hawking was almost completely paralyzed due to the development of an incurable form of atrophying sclerosis and remains in this condition for the rest of his life. Only the fingers of his right hand move, with which he controls his moving chair and a special computer that speaks for him.

Nobel Prize winner Stephen William Hawking studies the fundamental laws that govern the Universe

2. One of the famous blind people- clairvoyant Vanga. At the age of 12, Vanga lost her sight due to a hurricane that threw her hundreds of meters. They found her only in the evening with her eyes filled with sand. Her father and stepmother were unable to provide treatment and Vanga became blind. She came to attention during World War II when rumors spread through villages that she could locate missing people, whether they were alive or where they had died.

One of the famous blind people is the clairvoyant Vanga

3. Ludwig van Beethoven- German composer, representative of the Viennese classical school. In 1796, already a famous composer, Beethoven began to lose his hearing: he developed tinitis, an inflammation of the inner ear. By 1802, Beethoven was completely deaf, but it was from this time that the composer created his most famous works. In 1803-1804 Beethoven wrote the “Eroica Symphony”, in 1803-1805 - the opera “Fidelio”. In addition, at this time Beethoven wrote piano sonatas from “Twenty-eighth” to the last - “Thirty-second”, two cello sonatas, quartets, and the vocal cycle “To a Distant Beloved”. Being completely deaf, Beethoven created two of his most monumental works - “Solemn Mass” and “Ninth Symphony with Chorus” (1824).

Ludwig van Beethoven - German composer, representative of the Viennese classical school

4. Pilot Alexey Maresyev, based on whose story “The Tale of a Real Man” was written, he was very active all his life and fought for the rights of people with disabilities. He is one of the few who passed a medical examination after amputation and began to fly with prosthetics. After the war, Maresyev traveled a lot and became an honorary citizen of many cities. He became living proof that circumstances can be overcome.

Pilot Alexey Maresyev, based on whose story “The Tale of a Real Man” was written, was very active all his life and fought for the rights of people with disabilities

5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt- 32nd President of the United States - was also disabled. In 1921, Roosevelt became seriously ill with polio. Despite years of efforts to overcome the disease, Roosevelt remained paralyzed and confined to wheelchair. Some of the most significant pages in history are associated with his name foreign policy and US diplomacy, in particular, the establishment and normalization of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and US participation in the anti-Hitler coalition.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - 32nd President of the United States

6. Ray Charles famous American blind musician, author of over 70 studio albums, one of the world's most famous performers of soul, jazz and rhythm and blues music, was awarded 17 Grammy Awards, was inducted into the rock and roll, jazz, country and blues halls of fame, and his recordings were included in US Library of Congress. He went blind as a child.

Ray Charles, famous American blind musician

7. Eric Weihenmayer- the world's first rock climber to reach the top of Everest while blind. He lost his sight when he was 13 years old. Onako Eric completed his studies, and then became a teacher himself high school, then a wrestling coach and world-class athlete. Director Peter Winter made a live-action television film about Weihenmayer's journey, "Touch the Top of the World." In addition to Everest, Weihenmayer has conquered the seven highest mountain peaks in the world, including Kilimanjaro and Elbrus.

Eric Weihenmayer is the world's first rock climber to reach the summit of Everest while blind.

8. Oscar Pistorius disabled since birth. This man has achieved outstanding results in a field where traditionally people with disabilities cannot compete with able-bodied people. Having no legs below the knee, he became a track and field runner, and after numerous victories in competitions for the disabled, he won the right to compete with completely healthy athletes and achieved great success. He is also a promoter of sports among people with disabilities, an active participant in support programs for the disabled, and a unique symbol of how much success a person with physical disabilities can achieve, even in such a specific area as sports.

Oscar Pistorius, disabled since birth

9. Blind American Musician, Stevie Wonder, who had a huge influence on the development of music of the 20th century as a whole, was one of the founders of classic soul and R’n’B. Stevie Wonder is second among pop musicians in the number of Grammy awards he has received: he received them 25 times, including for lifetime achievement. The musician went blind shortly after birth.

Another blind American musician - Stevie Wonder

10. Irishman Christy Brown, unlike previous famous disabled people, he was born with disabilities - he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Doctors considered it unpromising - the child could not walk or even move, and was developmentally delayed. But the mother did not abandon him, but cared for the baby and did not give up hope of teaching him to walk, talk, write, and read. Her action deserves deep respect - Brown's family was very poor, and his father did not accept his “inferior” son at all. In fact, Brown only controlled his left leg fully. And it was with it that he began to draw and write, mastering first chalk, then a brush, then a pen and a typewriter. He not only learned to read, speak and write, but also became a famous artist and short story writer. A film about his life, Christy Brown: My Left Foot, was written by Brown himself.

Irishman Christy Brown, unlike previous famous disabled people, was born with disabilities

Andrey Detzel

There are millions of people with disabilities in the world. There are even celebrities in the world whose health does not allow them to live full life. But don’t think that a disability can stop a person from achieving his dream! The example of all these stars makes it easy to see the opposite. Even if your capabilities are limited, you can become a famous person all over the world.

Musician Stevie Wonder

Music legend Stevie Wonder went blind immediately after birth. Despite this, he became an extremely successful musician. He has an incredible number of Grammy awards - twenty-two! He proved himself to be an amazing composer and was able to create more than thirty incredibly popular hits. Stevie's unique musical talent was noticeable from early years. He learned to play various instruments, including drums, bass guitar and piano. His high voice allows him to perform songs brightly and lively. He is also talented as a producer, and he has become one of the finest musicians of the twentieth century. Wonder is a shining example of how an incredibly talented person becomes successful in part because of his disability. His net worth is estimated at over one hundred million dollars and he has sold over one hundred million albums and singles.

Physicist Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking has had amyotrophic sclerosis since he was 21. Despite the paralysis, he became one of the leading scientists, known not only among specialists, but also in general. He has a positive impact on the world of science, proposing brilliant theories and making incredible discoveries. Despite his almost completely paralyzed body and the need to talk using a special device, he still does what he loves. His books are breaking sales records. This all confirms the incredible impact Hawking has on the world and the level of success he has achieved. The film “The Theory of Everything” is dedicated to him. His fortune is estimated at over twenty million pounds, he has been married twice and has two children.

Actress Kitty McGeever

This talented British actress lost her sight at the age of thirty-two due to diabetes. She is the first blind actress to appear regularly on British screen. She speaks openly about the difficulties she faced after losing her sight. The actress claims that disability is not the end of life. Positive attitude helped her keep moving forward and succeed. She communicates that it is possible to live with such a disability and is actively involved in charity work to change the public mood on this issue.

Activist Francesca Martinez

Francesca is a comedian, writer and political activist. At two years old she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. As a result of this disease, a person's muscles weaken and the brain suffers. Martinez openly discusses her illness in interviews; she admitted that as a child it was difficult for her to feel part of the team. When she started working with comedians, she realized that you can look at life differently. With the help of humor, you can openly talk about yourself and your problems. It's no surprise that Martinez is considered one of the most... influential women V this issue. She inspires people to be themselves, to embrace their imperfections, and is a great role model for young people.

Singer Susan Boyle

Music sensation Susan Boyle was diagnosed with Asperger's when she was fifty-one. This disease is called a "hidden disability" because you cannot tell by sight that a person is suffering from it. Due to Asperger's syndrome, the singer always suffered while trying to communicate with others. Receiving a diagnosis was a major relief for her because she was finally able to understand what the root of her problems was. However, she does not succumb to her illness. She learns to cope with it. The singer has a net worth of twenty-two million pounds, fans all over the world, and her debut album became one of the best-selling in the UK.

Actor Warwick Davis

The famous English actor, comedian and TV presenter is very successful and has many fans. Him rare form dwarfism, his parents were told that he would die in childhood. Fortunately, the doctors were wrong and Davis built a successful career. He played Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter film series and the popular comedy series, and has his own acting agency that finds work for people who are too short or too tall. It is extremely successful and profitable business, many actors manage to find great roles thanks to Davis. He lives with his wife and two children and is worth an estimated £5 million.

TV presenter Adam Hills

Australian comedian and television presenter was born without right foot and wears a prosthesis. He does not consider himself disabled because there are no things he cannot do; the absence of a leg does not affect his life in any way. He became a comedian at the age of 19 and immediately realized that this was the career he had always dreamed of. He has an excellent and successful life, he is very famous in his homeland, where he hosts a television music show. His fans live all over the world. Among other things, Hills writes a column for the BBC website dedicated to disability. He speaks openly about what it's like to live with an artificial leg and tries to be an example for other people with disabilities. Great positive example!

Writer Serry Burnell

Serry became famous as the host of a children's show. She was born with her right arm ending at the elbow, but this did not stop her from becoming successful. She not only hosts the show, but also writes popular children's books in which there are characters with disabilities. She plays in the theater, and some of her books become stage plays. In addition, she also writes plays herself and also sings. In an interview, she admits that disability does not seem to her a negative mark; it should not make a person less significant, he just finds himself in the minority. She is sure that disability is not her main feature. She serves as an excellent example of how a talented person can develop in the most different areas without limiting yourself due to health problems.

Journalist Alex Brooker

The seasoned sports journalist, broadcaster and comedian is known for his work on television. He was born with deformed hands and his right leg had to be amputated when he was a child, so he now wears a prosthetic. Nevertheless, he built a successful career. He really loves the work of a journalist. Alex supports charities. He encourages people not to be afraid to interact with people with disabilities, because they are individuals just like everyone else. He even interviewed the Prime Minister during the London Paralympics!

Comedian Lawrence Clark

Laurence Clarke is one of the most successful British comedians. He became an actor, writer and political activist. Lawrence was born with paralysis, and through his work he helps the public perceive people with disabilities differently. He is considered an extremely influential representative of people with disabilities. Clark has a wife and two children. He promotes the rights of people with disabilities, trying to change the way others perceive such people. As part of his activities, he regularly travels to various major events and speaks to the public.

Everyone now knows about the Paralympic movement. Some Paralympic athletes are just as famous as their able-bodied counterparts. And some of these amazing people challenge ordinary athletes and not only compete on par with them, but also win. Below are 10 of the most striking examples of this in the history of world sports.

1. Markus Rehm. Germany. Athletics

As a child, Marcus was involved in wakeboarding. At the age of 14, as a result of a training accident, he lost his right leg below the knee. Despite this, Markus returned to the sport and in 2005 won the German youth wakeboarding championship.
After this, Rem switched to athletics and took up long jumping and sprinting using a special prosthesis like the one Oscar Pistorius has. In 2011-2014, Rehm won a lot of tournaments among athletes with disabilities, including the 2012 Paralympics in London (gold in the long jump and bronze in the 4x100 meter relay).
In 2014, Rehm won the long jump at the German Championship among ordinary athletes, ahead of former European champion Christian Reif. However, the German Athletics Union did not allow Rehm to participate in the 2014 European Championships: biomechanical measurements showed that due to the use of a prosthesis, the athlete had some advantages over ordinary athletes.

2. Natalie du Toit. SOUTH AFRICA. Swimming

Natalie was born on January 29, 1984 in Cape Town. Since childhood, she has been swimming. At the age of 17, while returning from training, Natalie was hit by a car. Doctors had to amputate the girl left leg. However, Natalie continued to play sports, and competed not only with Paralympians, but also with able-bodied athletes. In 2003, she won the All-Africa Games in the 800 meters and took bronze in the Afro-Asian Games in the 400 meters freestyle.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, du Toit competed in the 10 km race. open water on a par with healthy athletes and took 16th place out of 25 participants. She became the first athlete in history to carry her country's flag at the opening ceremonies of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

3. Oscar Pistorius. SOUTH AFRICA. Athletics

Oscar Pistroius was born on November 22, 1986 in Johannesburg into a wealthy family. Oscar had a congenital physical disability - he was missing fibulas in both legs. So that the boy could use prosthetics, it was decided to amputate his legs below the knee.
Despite his disability, Oscar studied at a regular school and was actively involved in sports: rugby, tennis, water polo and wrestling, but later decided to concentrate on running. For Pistorius, special prostheses were designed from carbon fiber, a very durable and lightweight material.
Among athletes with disabilities, Pistorius had no equal in sprinting: from 2004 to 2012, he won 6 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals at the Paralympic Games. For a long time he sought the opportunity to compete with healthy athletes. Sports officials initially resisted this: first it was believed that the springy prosthetics would give Pistorius an advantage over other runners, then there were concerns that the prosthetics could cause injury to other athletes. In 2008, Oscar Pistorius finally won the right to participate in competitions for ordinary athletes. In 2011, he won a silver medal as a member of the South African team in the 4x100 meter relay.
Oscar Pistorius's career ended on February 14, 2013, when he murdered his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius claimed that he committed the murder by mistake, mistaking the girl for a robber, but the court considered the murder premeditated and sentenced the athlete to 5 years in prison.

4. Natalia Partyka. Poland. Table tennis

Natalya Partyka was born with a congenital disability - without her right hand and forearm. Despite this, Natalya played table tennis since childhood: she played holding the racket in her left hand.
In 2000, 11-year-old Partyka took part in the Paralympic Games in Sydney, becoming the youngest participant in the games. In total, she has 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze Paralympic medals.
At the same time, Partyka participates in competitions for healthy athletes. In 2004, she won two gold medals at the European Cadet Championships, in 2008 and 2014 at the adult European Championships she won bronze, and in 2009, silver.

5. Héctor Castro. Uruguay. Football

At the age of 13, Hector Castro lost his right hand as a result of careless handling of an electric saw. However, this did not stop him from playing great football. He was even nicknamed El manco - "The One-Armed One".
As a member of the Uruguay national team, Castro won the 1928 Olympics and the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 (Castro scored the last goal in the final), as well as two championships South America and three Uruguay championships.
After finishing his football career, Castro became a coach. Under his leadership, his home club Nacional won the national championship 5 times.

6. Murray Halberg New Zealand. Athletics

Murray Halberg was born on July 7, 1933 in New Zealand. In his youth he played rugby, but during one of the matches he received serious injury left hand. Despite all the doctors' efforts, the arm remained paralyzed.
Despite his disability, Halberg did not give up sports, but switched to long-distance running. Already in 1954 he won his first title at the national level. At the 1958 Commonwealth Games he won gold in the three mile race and was voted New Zealand Sportsman of the Year.
At the 1960 Rome Olympics, Halberg competed in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. At the first distance he won, and at the second he took 5th place.
In 1961, Halberg set three world records over 1 mile in 19 days. In 1962 he again competed in the Commonwealth Games, where he carried the New Zealand flag at the opening ceremony and defended his title over three miles. Murray Halberg ended his athletic career in 1964 after competing in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, finishing seventh in the 10,000 meters.
Leaving big sport, Halberg became involved in charity work. In 1963 he created the Halberg Trust for disabled children, which became the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation in 2012.
In 1988 Murray Halberg was awarded honorary title Knight Bachelor for service to sports and disabled children.

7. Takács Károly. Hungary. Pistol shooting

Already in the 1930s, the Hungarian soldier Károly Takács was considered a world-class marksman. However, he was unable to take part in the 1936 Olympics, since he only had the rank of sergeant, and only officers were accepted into the shooting team. In 1938, Takács's right arm was blown off as a result of a faulty grenade explosion. In secret from his colleagues, he began to train, holding a pistol in his left hand, and the very next year he was able to win the Hungarian Championship and the European Championship.
At the 1948 London Olympics, Takács won the pistol shooting competition, breaking the world record. Four years later, at the Helsinki Olympics, Károly Takács successfully defended his title and became the first ever two-time Olympic champion in rapid-fire pistol shooting.
After finishing his career as an athlete, Takács worked as a coach. His student Szilard Kuhn became a silver medalist at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

8. Lim Dong Hyun. South Korea. Archery

Lim Dong Hyun suffers from severe myopia: his left eye has only 10% vision and his right eye has 20%. Despite this, the Korean athlete is engaged in archery.
For Lim, targets are simply colored spots, but the athlete fundamentally does not use glasses or contact lenses, and also refuses laser correction vision. Through extensive training, Lim has developed phenomenal muscle memory, allowing him to achieve amazing results: he is a two-time Olympic champion and a four-time world champion in archery.

9. Oliver Halassy (Halassy Olivér). Hungary. Water polo and swimming

At the age of 8, Oliver was hit by a tram and lost part of his left leg below the knee. Despite his disability, he was actively involved in sports - swimming and water polo. Halassi was a member of the Hungarian water floor team, the world leader in the sport in the 1920s and 1930s. As a member of the national team, he won three European Championships (in 1931, 1934 and 1938) and two Olympics (in 1932 and 1936), and also became a silver medalist at the 1928 Olympics.
In addition, Halassi showed good results in freestyle swimming, but only at the national level. He won about 30 gold medals at the Hungarian championships, but at the international level his results were weaker: only in 1931 he won the European Championship in the 1500 meters freestyle, and did not compete in swimming at all at the Olympic Games.
At the end sports career Oliver Halassi worked as an auditor.
Oliver Halassi died under very vague circumstances: on September 10, 1946, he was shot dead by a Soviet soldier of the Central Group of Forces in his own car. For obvious reasons, this fact was not advertised in socialist Hungary, and the details of the incident remained unclear.

10. George Eyser. USA. Gymnastics

Georg Eiser was born in 1870 in the German city of Kiel. In 1885, his family emigrated to the United States, and therefore the athlete became known by the English form of his name - George Acer.
In his youth, Eiser was hit by a train and almost completely lost his left leg. He was forced to use a wooden prosthesis. Despite this, Eiser did a lot of sports - in particular, gymnastics. He took part in the 1904 Olympics, where he won 6 medals in various gymnastic disciplines (exercises on the uneven bars, vault, rope climbing - gold; exercises on the pommel horse and exercises on 7 apparatus - silver; exercises on the horizontal bar - bronze). Thus, George Acer is the most decorated amputee athlete in Olympic history.
At the same Olympics, Eiser participated in triathlon (long jump, shot put and 100-meter dash), but took last, 118th place.
After the Olympic triumph, Eiser continued to perform as a member of the Concordia gymnastics team. In 1909, he won the National Gymnastics Festival in Cincinnati.

December 3 is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1992.

Miguel Cervantes(1547 - 1616) - Spanish writer. Cervantes is best known as the author of one of the greatest works of world literature - the novel "The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha." In 1571, Cervantes, being military service in the fleet, took part in the battle of Lepanto, where he was seriously wounded by a shot from an arquebus, as a result of which he lost his left arm. He later wrote that “by depriving me of my left hand, God made my right hand work harder and harder.”

Ludwig van Beethoven(1770 - 1827) - German composer, representative of the Viennese classical school. In 1796, already a famous composer, Beethoven began to lose his hearing: he developed tinitis, an inflammation of the inner ear. By 1802, Beethoven was completely deaf, but it was from this time that the composer created his most famous works. In 1803-1804 Beethoven wrote the Eroic Symphony, and in 1803-1805 - the opera Fidelio. In addition, at this time Beethoven wrote piano sonatas from the Twenty-eighth to the last - the Thirty-second; two cello sonatas, quartets, vocal cycle “To a Distant Beloved”. Being completely deaf, Beethoven created two of his most monumental works - the Solemn Mass and the Ninth Symphony with choir (1824).

Louis Braille(1809 - 1852) - French typhlopedagogue. At the age of 3, Braille injured his eye with a saddlery knife, causing sympathetic inflammation of the eyes and making him blind. In 1829, Louis Braille developed the embossed dotted font for the blind, Braille, which is still used throughout the world. In addition to letters and numbers, based on the same principles, he developed notation and taught music to the blind.

Sarah Bernard(1844‑1923) - French actress. Many prominent theater figures, such as Konstantin Stanislavsky, considered Bernard's art a model of technical excellence. In 1914, after an accident, her leg was amputated, but the actress continued to perform. In 1922, Sarah Bernhardt appeared on stage for the last time. She was already approaching 80 years old, and she played “The Lady of the Camellias” while sitting in a chair.

Joseph Pulitzer(1847 - 1911) - American publisher, journalist, founder of the "yellow press" genre. Blind at 40 years old. Upon his death, he left $2 million to Columbia University. Three quarters of these funds went to the creation of the Graduate School of Journalism, and the remaining amount was used to establish an award for American journalists, which has been awarded since 1917.

Helen Keller(1880‑1968) - American writer, teacher and public figure. After an illness suffered at the age of one and a half years, she remained deaf-blind and mute. Since 1887, a young teacher at the Perkins Institute, Anne Sullivan, studied with her. Over the course of many months of hard work, the girl mastered the sign language, and then began to learn to speak, mastering the correct movements of the lips and larynx. In 1900, Helen Keller entered Radcliffe College and graduated with honors in 1904. She wrote and published more than a dozen books about herself, her feelings, studies, worldview and understanding of religion, including “The World I Live in,” “The Diary of Helen Keller,” etc., and advocated the inclusion of deaf-blind people in active life society. Helen's story formed the basis of Gibson's famous play "The Miracle Worker" (1959), filmed in 1962.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt(1882‑1945) - 32nd President of the United States (1933‑1945). In 1921, Roosevelt became seriously ill with polio. Despite years of efforts to overcome the disease, Roosevelt remained paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Some of the most significant pages in the history of US foreign policy and diplomacy are associated with his name, in particular, the establishment and normalization of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and US participation in the anti-Hitler coalition.

Lina Po- a pseudonym taken by Polina Mikhailovna Gorenshtein (1899-1948), when in 1918 she began performing as a ballerina and dancer. In 1934, Lina Po fell ill with encephalitis, became paralyzed, and completely lost her sight. After the tragedy, Lina Po began sculpting, and already in 1937 her works appeared at an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin. In 1939, Lina Poe was accepted into the Moscow Union of Soviet Artists. Currently, individual works by Lina Po are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery and other museums in the country. But the main collection of sculptures is in the memorial hall of Lina Poe, opened in the museum of the All-Russian Society of the Blind.

Alexey Maresyev(1916 - 2001) - legendary pilot, Hero Soviet Union. On April 4, 1942, in the area of ​​the so-called “Demyansk Cauldron” (Novgorod Region), in a battle with the Germans, Alexey Maresyev’s plane was shot down, and Alexey himself was seriously wounded. For eighteen days, the pilot, wounded in the legs, crawled his way to the front line. At the hospital, both legs were amputated. But after being discharged from the hospital, he sat at the controls of the plane again. In total, during the war he made 86 combat missions and shot down 11 enemy aircraft: four before being wounded and seven after being wounded. Maresyev became the prototype of the hero of Boris Polevoy's story "The Tale of a Real Man."

Mikhail Suvorov(1930 - 1998) - author of sixteen poetry collections. At the age of 13, he lost his sight from a mine explosion. Many of the poet’s poems were set to music and received wide recognition: “Red Carnation”, “Girls Sing About Love”, “Don’t Be Sad” and others. For more than thirty years, Mikhail Suvorov taught at a specialized part-time school for working youth for the blind. He was awarded the title of Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation.

Ray Charles(1930 - 2004) - American musician, legend, author of more than 70 studio albums, one of the world's most famous performers of music in the styles of soul, jazz and rhythm and blues. Blind at the age of seven, presumably due to glaucoma. Ray Charles is the most famous blind musician of our time; He was awarded 12 Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Rock and Roll, Jazz, Country and Blues Halls of Fame, the Georgia Hall of Fame, and his recordings were included in the Library of Congress. Frank Sinatra called Charles "the only true genius in show business." In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Ray Charles number 10 on its "Immortal List" of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

Stephen Hawking(1942) - famous English theoretical physicist and astrophysicist, author of the theory of primordial black holes and many others. In 1962 he graduated from Oxford University and began studying theoretical physics. At the same time, Hawking began to show signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which led to paralysis. After throat surgery in 1985, Stephen Hawking lost the ability to speak. Only the fingers of his right hand move, with which he controls his chair and a special computer that speaks for him.

Stephen Hawking currently holds the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a position held by Isaac Newton three centuries ago. Despite serious illness Hawking leads an active life. In 2007, he flew in zero gravity on a special plane and announced that he intended to make a suborbital flight in a spaceplane in 2009.

Valery Fefelov(1949) - participant in the dissident movement in the USSR, fighter for the rights of the disabled. While working as an electrician, in 1966 he received an industrial injury - he fell from a power line support and broke his spine - after which he remained disabled for the rest of his life, he could only move in a wheelchair. In May 1978, together with Yuri Kiselev (Moscow) and Faizulla Khusainov (Chistopol, Tatarstan), he created the Initiative Group for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the USSR. His main goal the group called the creation of the All-Union Society of Disabled People. The activities of the Initiative Group were considered anti-Soviet by the authorities. In May 1982, a criminal case was opened against Valery Fefelov under the article “resistance to authorities.” Under threat of arrest, Fefelov agreed to the KGB's demand to travel abroad and in October 1982 he went to Germany, where in 1983 he and his family received political asylum. Author of the book “There are no disabled people in the USSR!”, published in Russian, English and Dutch.

Stevie Wonder(1950) - American musician, singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. Lost his sight in infancy. Too much oxygen was supplied to the oxygen box where the child was placed. The result is pigmentary degeneration of the retina and blindness. He is called one of the greatest musicians of our time: he received a Grammy Award 22 times; became one of the musicians who actually defined the popular styles of “black” music - rhythm and blues and soul of the mid-20th century. Wonder's name is immortalized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Composers Hall of Fame in the USA. During his career, he recorded more than 30 albums.

Christopher Reeve(1952‑2004) - American theater and film actor, director, screenwriter, public figure. In 1978, he gained worldwide fame for his role as Superman in the American film of the same name and its sequels. In 1995, during a race, he fell from his horse, was seriously injured and was left completely paralyzed. Since then, he has devoted his life to rehabilitation therapy and, together with his wife, opened a center to teach paralyzed people how to live independently. Despite the injury, Christopher Reeve last days continued to work on television, in films and participate in social activities.

Marlee Matlin(1965) - American actress. She lost her hearing at the age of one and a half years, and despite this, at the age of seven she began acting in a children's theater. At age 21, she won an Oscar for her debut film, Children of a Lesser God, becoming the youngest Oscar winner in history for Best Actress.

Eric Weihenmayer(1968) - the world's first rock climber to reach the top of Everest while blind. Eric Weihenmayer lost his sight when he was 13 years old. He completed his studies and then became a high school teacher, then a wrestling coach and a world-class athlete. Director Peter Winter made a live-action television film about Weihenmayer's journey, "Touch the Top of the World." In addition to Everest, Weihenmayer has conquered the seven highest mountain peaks in the world, including Kilimanjaro and Elbrus.

Esther Vergeer(1981) - Dutch tennis player. Considered one of the greatest wheelchair tennis players in history. She has been bedridden since the age of nine, when, as a result of an operation on spinal cord her legs were paralyzed. Esther Vergeer is a multiple winner of Grand Slam tournaments, seven-time world champion, and four-time Olympic champion. In Sydney and Athens she excelled both independently and in pairs. Since January 2003, Vergeer has not suffered a single defeat, winning 240 sets in a row. In 2002 and 2008 she became a laureate of the " Best Athlete with disabilities”, awarded by the Laureus World Sports Academy.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources