Inspirational tales of people who overcame their disabilities and reached the zenith

<![CDATA[The power of their mind and will made them diminish their disability and achieve success in their field. Read on to know about their iron-will and world-class achievements.

Marla Runyan

Image Source : VisionLossResources

You would be moved after reading the autobiography of this remarkable athlete, “No Finish Line: My Life As I See It”. She won the women’s national 5000-meter championship thrice. Legally blind Marla won four gold medals in the 1992 Paralympics. At the Paralympics held in 1996, she won gold in the pentathlon, and silver in shot put. She became the first legally blind athlete to participate in the Sydney Olympics and was ranked eighth in the 1500-meter race.

John Nash

Image Source : CtvNews

The biography of John Nash inspired the academy award-winning movie, ‘A Beautiful Mind.’ He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1959. He was admitted to the hospital a second time, stayed there for 9 years and even received shock treatment. He made a wonderful come back in 1970, bagged the John Von Neumann theory award in 1978. His remarkable recovery made him win the Nobel Memorial award in Economic Sciences in 1994.

Stephen Hawking

Image Source : resize.indiatvnews.com

His book, ‘A Brief History of Time’ has been a bestseller for 237 weeks on the Sunday Times’ list and it is just one of his remarkable works. The renowned theoretical physicist from Britain received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. This is the highest honor given to a civilian in the US.

Hawking is the Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, Cambridge University. Pontifical Academy of Sciences has him as a life member and the Royal Society of Arts has given him an Honorary Fellowship. Hawking suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and is paralyzed to the extent that he uses a speech-generating device attached to his cheek muscle.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Image Source : Impact89Fm

If somehow unfortunately you don’t know who Beethoven was, search for his famous pieces and you would have definitely heard it. There hasn’t been a composer like him in the history of music. At the age of 8, he gave his first public piano performance. Amongst his teachers were Christian Neefe, Johann van Beethoven (his father) and Mozart. In his late 20s, Ludwig’s hearing ability started diminishing and within a few years, he became completely deaf. Surprisingly, some of his best pieces were composed after that.

The success of these people reveals that the most important ingredient for success is passion. Their passion led them to attain heights despite of their disabilities.]]>