The problem with the word ‘disability’ is that it immediately suggests an inability to see, walk or do other things that the average person can do and takes for granted.
But what of those who can’t feel, or talk about their feelings or manage their feelings in a constructive way? What about people who can’t form close relationships because of their physical state, and people who can’t find fulfilment in their lives, or those who have lost hope and live in disappointment, bitterness and find no joy in life?
Yet, we live in a world in which we have inspiring people with great achievements to their name notwithstanding physical or physiological disabilities that many presume should hold them back.
1. Stephen Hawking
He is an English theoretical physicist. He is a well known celebrity in academics and recipient of numerous appreciations despite the motor neuron disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) that has left him using only a cheek to communicate.
For the mainstream who still don’t know him, Hawking is the inspiration behind the award winning Hollywood movie, The Theory of Everything, with actor Eddie Redmayne earning – among other awards – an Oscar for playing Hawking.
2. Marla Runyan
She is a professional athlete. Marla developed Stargardt’s disease at age 9, which left her blind for the rest of her life.
However she has emerged as national champion three times in women’s 5000 meters race and has won five gold medals at the Paralympics, including four in the 1992 edition of the Games in Barcelona.
3. Stevie Wonder
Stevie is not just a musician but one of the greatest entertainers in the world who has achieved legendary status with more than 20 Grammy awards and just as many more awards elsewhere.
4. Ralph Braun
Ralph Braun is a great example of ability in disability. Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when he was only six years old, he began using a wheelchair at age 14.
This however led to what would become Braun Corporation, as he began creating mechanisms that would assist him get around initially.
At 15, he had made a motorised wagon with his father to help him get around. By age 20, he had made the Tri-Wheeler; a motorised scooter which he rode to and from his job as a Quality Control Manager. And when his work place moved to somewhere farther, he didn’t resign, rather he customised a vehicle to enable him get in and out of it in his Tri-Wheeler unassisted. Yes, he drove to work in the vehicle, seated in his Tri-Wheeler.
At age 26, he made the first wheelchair accessible vehicle by creating a wheelchair platform lift and hand controls that were added to an old postal van, and this led to the birth of Braun Corporation in his early 30s.
In 2012, he was named a ‘champion of change’ by Barack Obama. Braun died in 2013.
5. Cobhams Asuquo
Cobhams is a Nigerian music producer, singer and songwriter. Although he is visulally impaired, the talented man has won various awards and produced a countless number of hit songs for the likes of Banky W, Darey, Asa, Timi Dakolo, Omawumi, and, among others, Bez, who is the first artiste to release an album from his entertainment company, Cobhams Asuquo Music Production (CAMP).
6. Yinka Ayefele
Yinka survived a car crash in 1997 which damaged his spinal cord and confined him to a wheelchair. But only a year later, he began what has become a flourishing career as a gospel artiste.
7. Nicholas James Vujicic
Phocomelia is a rare congenital deformity in which the hands or feet are attached close to the trunk, the limbs being grossly underdeveloped or absent.
Nicholas was born with phocomelia, yet today, he is a world renowned motivational speaker who aims to instil hope in people helping them to fight their oddities.
8. Lucy Ogechukwu Ejike
Lucy Ogechukwu Ejike is a Nigerian powerlifter. Ejike uses a wheelchair due to polio. Nonetheless, she has represented Nigeria at the Paralympic Games five times, in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.
At the last Paralympics in Rio, Brazil, Lucy won gold by breaking the world record three times, the last being for a 142kg lift. She reportedly attempted to lift 145kg out of competition right winning gold and though the lift was not successful, the fact she attempted it only emphasises the spirit on winning in her.
If they can do it, who are we not to succeed?
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