People

Despite their handicaps, these notable Americans overcame adversity and went on to achieve great success in government, art, entertainment, education, civil rights and activism. The Library of Congress encourages the continued research into the history and future of persons with disabilities as great contributors to American collection of knowledge and creativity.

Find out more about these individuals (PDF, 2.54MB)

• Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)
  Learning Disability
• Harry Belafonte (b. 1927)
  Dyslexia
• Ray Charles (1930-2004)
  Blind from Glaucoma
• Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
  Almost Deaf, Possibly from Scarlet Fever
• Jerome Solon Felder “Doc Pomus” (1925 - 1991)
  Polio
• José Feliciano (b.1945)
  Blind since Birth
• William Ellsworth Hoy (1862-1961)
  Deaf from Meningitis
• Daniel Inouye (1924-2012)
  Lost Arm in World War II
• Barbara Jordan (1936-1996)
  Multiple Sclerosis
• Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)
  Childhood Polio, Street Car Accident
• Helen Keller (1880-1968)
  Deaf and Blind
• Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)
  Polio
• Audre Lorde (1934-1992)
  Low Vision, Cancer
• Anne Sullivan Macy (1866-1936), depicted with Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller
  Low Vision
• Wilma P. Mankiller (1945-2010)
  Myasthenia Gravis
• Art Tatum (1909 - 1956)
  Blind in one eye and nearly blind in the other
• Lennie Tristano (1919 - 1978)
  Blind
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)
  Adult Onset Polio
• Harriet Tubman (1820-1913)
  Symptoms Consistent with Epilepsy and Narcolepsy