Inspiration

“I learned that you can learn to do things differently, but do them just as well. . . I’ve learned that we have an obligation to the abilities we do have, not the disability.”

“Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time; therefore never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”

In 1989, unaware that she even had the condition, the Oscar-winning actress was diagnosed with diabetes. She became the first spokesperson for Diabetes Aware, a public service campaign of the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

“I started breaking down in tears and screaming and I couldn’t even hear myself scream,” she told People magazine. “I questioned God: ‘Why me?’” She continued to record by having someone tap out the beat on her shoulder. After surgery in 2006, Brown began to recover her hearing.

“Experience is the teacher of all things.”

“There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we’re here to explore new possibilities.”

“I, myself, was always recognized. . . as the ‘slow one’ in the family. It was quite true, and I knew it and accepted it. Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. My letters were without originality. I was . . . an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day.”

“More than ever before, America’s greatness depends on the ability of its citizens to make the most of their lives. Americans with disabilities are an enormous, often untapped, reservoir of that potential.”

“I was a functional illiterate. I loved learning, I wanted to learn, but I knew I had failed in the system. Like a lot of people, though, I had figured out how to get through it.”

“Deafness probably drove me to reading,” he said later in life. In 1877, Edison patented the first phonograph, and followed that with the development of the incandescent light bulb, after trying 10,000 times. He developed the system that could deliver electricity at reasonable cost throughout a city, and created the first silent film. In all, Edison obtained 1,093 patents.

“Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are still greater.

“I figured, if people were going to say it about me, then I was going to say it first and I was going to say it better.”

“The kindest word to describe my performance,” he said later, “was ‘sloth.’ Work went undone, classes were ignored.” In his senior year at college he decided to try acting.

“The one choice I don’t have is whether or not I have [Parkinson’s]. But beyond that my choices are infinite.”

“I was a decent athlete, but once I was diagnosed with epilepsy I could no longer play sports … I worked little jobs when I was in high school . . . in some sense, I was building a little place for myself. . . I felt that I could accomplish something. Despite the fact that I had epilepsy, I felt that I could win — that I was winning on some level.”

“I knew I wasn’t stupid, and I knew I wasn’t dumb. My mother told me that. Everybody told me I wasn’t stupid or dumb. If you read to me, I could tell you everything that you read. They didn’t know what it was.”

“I focused on the things that were really important to me. . .”
Since her attack, Hamilton made numerous finals and won three contests. In August, at the first stop on the Hawaii NSSA circuit, she took first in the Open Women’s division placing ahead of the 2003-04 National Champion.

“I am quite often asked: How do you feel about having ALS? The answer is, not a lot. I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many.”

Hayek answered, “There was one day when I could not say the line right. I’m dyslexic and I was tired. That was the scene we had the most trouble with.”

In 2006, Hilfiger sold his company for $1.6 billion. He believes has an actual advantage over other designers because he thinks differently.

“I simply accepted the conventional wisdom of the day—I was a struggling student; therefore, I was stupid. . . It wasn’t until my younger son was diagnosed as slightly dyslexic that I realized how I had been given the shaft. [Dyslexia] has become an advantage. In writing a novel, it doesn’t hurt anybody to have to go slowly. . . One reason I have confidence in writing the kind of novels I write is that I have confidence in my stamina to go over something again and again.”

“Somebody will find out that they have HIV today. Nobody is immune. No kid. No grown up. Black, White, Latino, Asian. Nobody is immune from HIV and AIDS.”

Since his retirement, Johnson has been an advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and safe sex, as well as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, broadcaster and motivational speaker.

“Stuttering is painful. In Sunday school, I’d try to read my lessons and the children behind me were falling on the floor with laughter. Well, I knew I was funny. I still know why it is funny. . . [You] make people nervous. . . I’ve learned that sometimes the synapses in your brain trip up, like stumbling on a sidewalk.”

Known for her work in both independent films and blockbusters, in 2018 Knightley was appointed an OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to drama and charity.

“The admissions officer said I wasn’t what they wanted. But I sat outside his office 12 hours a day until he said he’d let me in if I went to summer school.”

Since leaving The Tonight Show in spring 2014, Leno has maintained an active schedule as a touring stand-up comedian, doing an average of 200 live performances a year in venues across the United States and Canada, and at charity events and USO tours.

“You cannot be mad at somebody who makes you laugh… it’s as simple as that.”

“The handicap of deafness is not in the ear; it is in the mind.”

“Often I’m talking to people through my speaker phone and after 10 minutes or so they say, ‘Wait a minute, Marlee, how can you hear me?’ They forget I have an interpreter there who is signing to me as they talk. So I say, ‘You know what? I can hear on Wednesdays.’”

Already a champion for better refugee care in Slovenia, she launched a nationwide appeal for unwanted prostheses and then recruited inmates at Brixton prison to dismantle them for transporting abroad.

As co-founder, patron and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Adopt-A-Minefield, Mills raised awareness about landmines and landmine survivors. From 2000 – 2006 her organization helped to raise $18.5 million, which was used to clear minefields from 21.5 million square meters, helped to fund landmine survivor projects, and has assisted more than 400,000 amputees.

Aimee Mullins is an American athlete, actress, and public speaker. She was born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her lower legs. She is famous for being the first amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in National Collegiate Athletic Association events, and competed in the Paralympics in 1996 in Atlanta. In 1999 she began modeling, and in 2002 she began an acting career. She speaks at conferences, and is well known for her TED Talks.

“At some point in every person’s life, you will need an assistive medical device – whether it’s your glasses, your contacts, or . . . a hip replacement or a knee replacement or a pacemaker. The prosthetic generation is all around us.”

“I am going to the Olympics to represent South Africa, but it’s so vitally important for me to go, to show that the deaf can do anything.”

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo recalled playing basketball against Paterson in a charity game ten years ago. “I said: ‘What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be blind.’ He said, ‘I’m guarding you.’ Just what I wanted: a blind guy to guard me. The second time down the court, he stole the ball.”

While playing with the Atlanta Braves, Pride was the first African American with a disability to play in a World Series. He is the first deaf baseball player in almost 50 years.

“I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don’t mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery.”

“I was one of the ‘puzzle children’ myself – a dyslexic . . . And I still have a hard time reading today. Accept the fact that you have a problem. Refuse to feel sorry for yourself. You have a challenge; Never quit!”

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”