We started series on our Social Media outlets that run every Monday. This series features the amazing lives of people who are well-known who also happen to have (or had) a disability of some kind. The emphasis of this and our View From a Wheelchair series is to highlight that people live incredible lives with or without any disability. We all have things to cope with; some are just more apparent. Those things never define who we are. Rather it is what we do in life that matters. Much of what I post is from the internet, so I doubt that I have permission to post photos, but I will post the source when appropriate.
1/27/25
My first “mini-profile” is Dr. Stephen Hawking. Doctor Hawking was one of the most brilliant minds of all-time. He was a “theoretical physicist” whose work explored the universe, “black holes,” and time among many other things. He lived with ALS (AKA “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”) for decades and made many of his contributions typing one word at a time on the state of the art Assistive Technology of his era after he lost the ability to walk or speak without assistive devices. He wrote what he claimed was a book “for everyone” called A Brief History of Time. I made several attempts to read it—let me rephrase that—I made several attempts to UNDERSTAND what he wrote, but it was way beyond me. Dr. Hawking’s intellect was beyond genius. However, it was his refusal to give up on his life and his work even as his body continued to function less and less effectively. He was truly the embodiment of one of my favorite sayings: “NEVER give up!” He was portrayed in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything by Eddie Redmayne. Mr. Redmayne won an academy award for his performance, and I personally found the film enlightening.
2/3/25
It is Monday so it is time to feature someone who has lived incredibly well with a disability. Last week Bill Gates acknowledged that he would probably be diagnosed with autism if he was a child today.
2/10/25
MONDAY! Time to celebrate life even under difficult situations. Today we proudly feature Micheal J. Fox, one of my favorite actors. Mr. Fox rose to stardom playing Alex Keaton in the sitcom “Family Ties,” but took off as “Marty McFly,” playing opposite Christopher Lloyd in the outrageous “Back to the Future” series. Mr. Fox was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease at 29 years of age, but this did not slow him down. He went on to establish the Micheal J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which in turn has become “…the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s drug development…” (https://www.michaeljfox.org/michaels-story). The website continues: “After getting the Foundation on a steady course, Michael agreed to return to acting in supporting roles — as long as he could incorporate his PD symptoms into the characters he played.” Thank you, Mr. Fox, for the many years of wonderful characters and more importantly, your dedication and advocacy for those with Parkinson’s Disease and other disabilities.
2/17/25
We start our week this time with the truly amazing and inspirational life of world-renowned classical violinist Itzhak Perlman. Mr. Perlman’s career in classical music is legendary and I recall listening to his albums with my father as I write this. Mr. Perlman always played his masterpieces from a seated position because he had polio as a child. He moved with the aid of crutches but now uses a power scooter. He spoke openly about the challenges that he faces everyday as he travels the world in the article linked below. Thank you, Mr. Perlman, for your grit, determination and beautiful music!
https://www.jta.org/2017/02/15/ny/itzhak-perlman-on-accessibility-challenges-2
2/24/25
Many thanks to UCP for the inspiration for this week’s amazing person. We share UCP’s post about the one and only Ray Charles! Truly amazing. From UCP National:
United Cerebral PalsyUnited Cerebral Palsy 8,113 followers8,113 followers 4d •
4 days ago
Ray Charles: A Legendary Musician & Disability Advocate
Ray Charles (1930–2004) was a groundbreaking musician whose influence shaped soul, R&B, and jazz. Despite losing his sight at a young age due to glaucoma, Charles mastered the piano and developed a signature sound that blended gospel, blues, and country music.
His talent earned him 17 Grammy Awards and a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Beyond music, he was a strong advocate for accessibility and opportunity for people with disabilities, paving the way for future artists with disabilities.
His legacy lives on, proving that talent and perseverance know no limits.
3/3/25
Special thanks to my sister for suggesting the person for this week’s Amazing Monday feature. Marlee Matlin is amazing for so many reasons: she made her film debut in Children of a Lesser God in 1986. She was 21 years old and became the youngest actress to with the Academy Award for Best Actress. She is also the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award! According to biography.com: “The youngest of three children, Marlee Matlin was only 18 months old when an illness permanently destroyed all hearing in her right ear, and 80 percent of the hearing in her left ear, making her legally deaf (https://www.biography.com/actors/marlee-matlin).” The article continues: “Matlin’s hard-working parents chose to educate Marlee in their community rather than sending her to a special school. Matlin began learning to use sign language around the age of 5, but her parents struggled. ‘[My parents] learned some sign language to communicate with me, but they raised me with a great deal of love and respect, and it wasn’t easy for them because of who I was—being a girl, being very stubborn, being very strong willed, being very outspoken, and very independent,” Matlin explained to Exceptional Parent magazine.’ People.com (https://people.com/why-marlee-matlin-will-always-advocate-for-the-deaf-community-exclusive-8600671) reports that: “For decades, Marlee Matlin has been using her platform as an Oscar-winning actress to help the deaf and hard of hearing — and she’s not about to stop any time soon.” Children of a Lesser God is now officially on my “watchlist.” Mahalo Ms. Matlin!
3/10/25
Today we turn the spotlight to RJ Mitte III for our Amazing Monday feature. According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RJ_Mitte), Mister Mitte was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 3. He is an actor and producer who is perhaps best known for his character Walter White, Jr, in the show Breaking Bad. His character in the also has cerebral palsy. Mr. Mitte has been a vocal advocate in Hollywood for actors with disabilities and was named a celebrity ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy. Mahalo Mr. Mitte!
3/17/25
It is “Amazing Monday” and today we celebrate none other than the incomparable Ludwig Van Beethoven. Beethoven was certainly one of, and arguably the best, composers of all time. He was reportedly born in 1770, although he claimed to be born in 1772 (https://www.biography.com/musicians/ludwig-van-beethoven). He was apparently raised by an abusive father: “Sometime between the births of his two younger brothers, Beethoven’s father began teaching him music with an extraordinary rigor and brutality that affected him for the rest of his life.
Neighbors provided accounts of the small boy weeping while he played the clavier, standing atop a footstool to reach the keys, his father beating him for each hesitation or mistake (Ibid, Biography). He began to experience issues with his hearing at about 26 year of age (https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/guides/deaf-hearing-loss-composing/). He was already an accomplished composer and performer when he began to lose his hearing in about 1796. “Around the age of 26, Beethoven began to hear that ringing and buzzing in his ears. In 1800, aged 30, he wrote from Vienna to a childhood friend – by then working as a doctor in Bonn – saying that he had been suffering for some time:
“For the last three years my hearing has grown steadily weaker. I can give you some idea of this peculiar deafness when I must tell you that in the theatre I have to get very close to the orchestra to understand the performers, and that from a distance I do not hear the high notes of the instruments and the singers’ voices… Sometimes too I hardly hear people who speak softly. The sound I can hear it is true, but not the words. And yet if anyone shouts I can’t bear it (Ibid, Classicfm.com).”
Yet, some of his most beautiful works were composed as his ability to hear declined. My personal favorites are “Moonlight Sonata,” composed in 1801 (https://www.popularbeethoven.com/9-facts-about-beethovens-moonlight-sonata/,) and “Fur Elise,” composed in 1810 (https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/fur-elise-meaning-who-is-elise/). However, his famous 9th Symphony, is considered by some to be his crowning masterpiece, yet “…Beethoven himself never actually heard it (https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/music/symphony-no-9-d-minor/).
Truly “Amazing.”
3/24/25
“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. (https://time.com/4593483/pearl-harbor-franklin-roosevelt-infamy-speech-attack https://time.com/4593483/pearl-harbor-franklin-roosevelt-infamy-speech-attack/)” Those immortal words were spoken of course by then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and acknowledged the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawai’i. The world knows that, but remains less known is that President Roosevelt was partially paralyzed in 1921 either by polio or Guillain-Barre syndrome (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt). He was president from 1933 until his death in 1945. He served almost four terms and was hardly ever photographed standing. He relied on a wheelchair for mobility, but this never stopped him from being one of our most important—even if controversial—Presidents in our history. His policies are now either championed or scorned by modern views, but like him or not, he was President during the end of the depression, end of prohibition, and the entrance of the United States into World War II. Many of his policies are now widely debated, but he did establish one program that millions of Americans rely on: Social Security. He did so with “A View From a Wheelchair.”