At 15, Rick Allen (born November 1, 1963) started as the drummer for the hard rock group Def Leppard that enjoyed strong commercial success. In 1984, while driving his Corvette with his girlfriend in the UK, he slammed into a wall and lost his left arm. Through perseverance, the support of his band mates, and a custom drum kit, he remained with the band to enjoy continued success.
Source: Wikipedia
Historically, disabilities have often been cast in a negative light. An individual thus affected was seen as being a “patient” subject either to cure or to ongoing medical care. His condition is seen as disabling; the social reactions to it are justified, and the barriers unavoidable. This position is known as the medical model of disability.
Source: Wikipedia
Baskin and Harris (1984) found that characters with disabilities began to slightly increase in representation in youth literature. They noted 311 books published between 1940-1975 in the USA. Between 1976-1981, this increased to 348.
http://www.dsq-sds.org/_articles_html/2004/winter/dsq_w04_gervay.html
My Left Foot (1989): directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Plot Outline: The story of Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy. He learned to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
Source: IMDb
Blind Willie McTell by Bob Dylan
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Ninth Symphony (the "Choral") by Ludwig von Beethoven.
This symphony may be the best known of all works of classical music, and plays a prominent cultural role in modern society. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is that the composer was deaf by the time he composed it.
Source: Wikipedia
Longest wheelchair confinement: By 1998, Gladys Filman of Ontario, Canada, had been confined to a wheelchair for 76 years, after being paralyzed by polio in 1922.
Source: Guinness World Records
Deaf listener, blind eye and blind viewer are all listed as oxymorons ((two or more words used together which have, or seem to have, opposite meanings).
Source: http://www.oxymoronlist.com/
I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall
Landmark book in youth literature which impacted on the portrayal of disability and opened the way for disability to move from secondary to primary characterization.
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Blind eyes see better than blind hearts. (Arabian)
The eyes are of little use if the mind be blind. (Arabian)
A blind chicken will often find an ear of corn. (Austrian)
A light is still a light -- even though the blind man cannot see it. (Austrian)
The blind person never fears ghosts. (Burmese)Source: Creative Proverbs
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