1. Frida Kahlo
During her childhood, Frida suffered from polio and, according to some accounts, even had spina bifida, which caused her right leg to suffer from dysmetria. Furthermore, her spinal issues were exacerbated by an accident in her childhood, which left her with physical problems throughout her life.
Frida spent a lot of her life suffering from intense pain in her bed. Even then, she became one of the twentieth century’s most popular artists of all time and an icon.
2. John Nash
Another example of a disabled celebrity who broke the mould is John Nash, an American mathematician whose life is recognisable to us thanks to the movie “A Beautiful Mind” characterised by acute paranoid schizophrenia.
Nash, conscious of his disease, worked around it and built a promising academic career that won him the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics.
3. Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking, a theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, cosmologist, and eminent scientist, was diagnosed with ALS at age 21: he had to live for 2 more years. He lived till he was 76 years of age.
For more than thirty years, he had been paralysed from head to toe and used a speech synthesiser to be able to speak and a wheelchair to work with minor head and eye movements.
None of this stopped him from establishing his work as an outstanding researcher and professor, as well as his intense personal life, which enabled him to make his illness known to the world.
His story was brought to the cinema in the film “The Theory of Everything” to become one of the most famous celebrities of our time.
4. Nick Vujicic
Another world-famous celebrity with a disability is Nick Vujicic, who created Life Without Limbs, an association for people with physical disabilities.
Vujicic was born with no limbs in 1982. He argues that he suffered ridicule and bigotry as a child and attempted to commit suicide, but he began to see his own potential over time.
He is currently giving worldwide motivational lectures, has written many books, and is a guest on talk shows and television programmes. He became really successful when he appeared in The Butterfly Circus, a touching short film.
5. Andrea Boccelli
Andrea Boccelli, a tenor, singer, writer and musical producer of Italian descent, has sold over 75 million albums.
He was born with congenital glaucoma which, until the age of six, left him partially blind, something which did not stop him from taking piano lessons.
However, at the age of 12, during a football game, he suffered a blow that left him totally blind. He chose, endowed with an inherent spirit of change, to concentrate entirely on music, especially on singing. He studied Law as well.
Boccelli has been given several foreign prestige awards and also has an Adriatic beach named after him.
6. Michael J. Fox
In 1991, when he was just 29 years old and his career was completely prosperous, the protagonist of ‘Back to the Future’ was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
He was told he was supposed to withdraw from the stage, but he did not quit being an actor. While his condition was not easy to embrace at first (he fell into depression and alcoholism), he has not stopped working in the last decade and his foundation has now raised $233 million for research into Parkinson’s.
Michael J. Fox continues to retain his spirit of change after more than 25 years and with the disease at a very advanced level.
7. Alex Zanardi
Alex Zanardi suffered an accident in 2001 after many years of competing in F1, in which both legs were amputated. Three years later, he was driving a BMW again on the track for which he had adapted some prostheses himself.
He claimed four victories in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). In 2007, however, he decided to concentrate his sporting activities on tailored cycling.
The tricycle he drives has also been built by himself, and three Paralympic golds have been won to date.
8. Preethi Srinivasan
The captain of the under-19 Tamil Nadu women’s cricket team was Preethi Srinivasan. Even after the tragic swimming accident that left her crippled below the waist, through her organisation Soulfree, she continues to inspire other lives.
She has begun to give women with serious disabilities hope and support them by offering a simple quality of life to fulfil their highest human potential.
9. H Ramakrishnan
At the young age of two and a half years, Ramakrishnan was afflicted by polio in both his legs. Ramakrishnan had to suffer at every point of his life, from being refused entry into venues to being rejected for a job due to his disability. Despite this, he has worked for 40 years as a journalist and is currently the CEO of the TV channel SS Music.
He’s also a musician and has shown his talent on different platforms. To support the specially-abled, he runs a charitable trust called Krupa.
10. Boniface Prabhu
At the age of four, Prabhu’s life changed when a botched lumbar puncture for the remainder of his life made him a quadriplegic. But he never let his life aspirations alter this disability and continued his education in a normal school. He has been a notable figure and a leading quadriplegic wheelchair tennis player through his tremendous hard work and commitment.
He was a 1998 World Championship medal winner and was also awarded the Padma Shri (highest civilian award) by India’s government in 2014.
At Aussie Youth Care our aim is to enable everyone with the chance of having a choice. This aim is strived for through strengthening every youth with a voice supported by many as this is what makes a difference in our everyday as a service provider.