Inspirational People of the Past with Disabilities

A Vintage Nerd, Living Disabled, Disability Inspiration, Inspirational People with Disabilities, Retro Lifestyle Blog

These five well known people aren't your average run-in-the-mill inspirational folks but rather people who were faced with great mental and physical adversities and despite it all accomplished great feats.

The way the western world handles disabilities is a lot better than the way they used to handle it especially when it came to mental illness. We have come a long way in understanding various challenges, providing help, and showing compassion but I do believe that we still have a long way to go.

The average everyday person has all sorts of challenges from financial to educational to family problems. Everyone has challenges. Everyone.

With that said, take a peak at five inspirational figures that I chose who despite their challenges they never let anyone stop them from being the person they were intended to be.

A Vintage Nerd, Living Disabled, Disability Inspiration, Inspirational People with Disabilities, Retro Lifestyle Blog, Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein has a learning disability and proved to be one of the greatest minds of the 20th Century.
A Vintage Nerd, Living Disabled, Disability Inspiration, Inspirational People with Disabilities, Retro Lifestyle Blog, Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo suffered from polio as a child which left her with a misshapen leg. Then when she was was a teenager she survived a horrific accident that left her with a broken back that never fully healed. She would often paint in bed, create while in pain, and never allowed it to devour her.
A Vintage Nerd, Living Disabled, Disability Inspiration, Inspirational People with Disabilities, Retro Lifestyle Blog, Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and film actress who lost her leg after an accident in 1915 and continued to act despite often using a wheelchair while on stage. She has become a world renowned stage icon.
A Vintage Nerd, Living Disabled, Disability Inspiration, Inspirational People with Disabilities, Retro Lifestyle Blog, Helen Keller

Helen Keller who after suffering from an illness at 19 months old became deaf and blind. With the support of her family and Anne Sullivan she would grow up to be a champion of the deaf and blind, a prolific writer, a suffragette, and a political champion.
A Vintage Nerd, Living Disabled, Disability Inspiration, Inspirational People with Disabilities, Retro Lifestyle Blog, Franklin D. Roosevelt Wheelchair

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only President of the United States of America to be elected into office for four consecutive terms (he passed on during the 4th term). He did all of this from the viewpoint of a wheelchair. Roosevelt contracted polio in 1921 as an adult which left him paralyzed from the waist down. He didn't let that stop him!

He tried all sorts of therapies and wore iron leg braces to enable him to walk short distances. He wanted people to believe he was okay because although his body was weak, his mind was not. He helped the country through the Great Depression and through most of WWII. He truly was a person who didn't let anything stop him!

I think personally I can relate to FDR and Frida the most. The desire to keep your mind active and your creativity flowing despite the pain, discomfort, or weaknesses your body may be going through. I commend these individuals because they somehow found the strength and courage to go beyond what people saw and thought of them and accomplished what the world deemed impossible.


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4 comments :

  1. these are all great inspirations

    retro rover

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  2. Splendid post! These are some wonderful choices, and it's important to remember folks like these when we're facing some of our comparatively smaller challenges throughout every day life and the bigger challenges, too! There's so much to learn from them. :)

    Cheers,
    Jenny

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  3. Thank you ladies! I hoped to inspire!! xox

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  4. Inspiring, absolutely wonderful post that, as you might guess, struck a definite chord with me, dear Daffny. Thank you very much for shining the spotlight on these five amazing individuals (another person who is akin to them for me is Florence Nightingale, who shared one of my conditions, fibromyalgia).

    ♥ Jessica

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