Famous People on Wheelchair

HPS Ahluwalia

Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia is an Indian mountaineer . He climbed Mt Everest on 29 May 1965. In 1965 Indo Pak war he was injured and confined to the wheel chair. He set up Indian Spinal Injury Society in 1993. He was awarded Padma Bhushan award in 2002. Major Ahluwalia is also the chairman of Rehabilitation Council of India and is a recipient of several awards like Padma Sri, Arjuna award, National Award for the best work done in the field of Disability, order of the Khalsa (Nissan A Khalsa). He has written several books like ‘Higher than Everest’, ‘Beyond the Himalayas’, ‘Everest is within you’.

Christopher Reeve

Christopher Reeve, who glazed the screen playing the role of Superman, was born on September 25, 1952, in New York. Christopher was an average student in study during his school and high-school days but he was very much interested in acting (He even had opportunities to work in plays and dramas staged in his school and at the local theatre), he was a member of almost all the clubs in his school and also played in ice hockey team (Which became his favorite game). He studied at Cornell University, while at the same time working as a professional actor. Reeve appeared in many feature films, TV movies and some 150 plays. He also hosted many specials and documentaries. Christopher Reeve was best known for his portrayal of Superman in the 1978 film directed by Richard Donner.

In May, 1995, Reeve was thrown from his horse during a riding event, and, landing on his head, broke the top two vertebrae in his spine. Left paralyzed from the neck down, Reeve became an active advocate for bringing greater public awareness to the needs of those with spinal cord injuries. He and his wife created a fundraising foundation called the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to raise research money and provide grants to local agencies that focus on quality of life for the disabled. He was also an outspoken advocate for the need for stem cell research.

Despite his injury, Reeve continued to work, both as an actor and as a director, winning accolades for his role in a TV production of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, and acclaim for his directorial debut of the HBO-film In the Gloaming. His autobiography, Still Me, was a bestseller, and he won a Grammy for his spoken album, of the same title.

Reeve died of heart failure on October 10, 2004, after being treated for a systemic infection that resulted from a pressure sore, a common affliction for people living with paralysis.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)

He was the 32nd President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms of office. In August 1921, when he was 39, Roosevelt contracted an illness, at the time believed to be polio, which resulted in Roosevelt's total and permanent paralysis from the waist down. Roosevelt refused to accept that he was permanently paralyzed. He tried a wide range of therapies, including hydrotherapy. Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane and also used a wheelchair. In 2003, a peer-reviewed study found that it was more likely that Roosevelt's paralytic illness was actually Guillain-Barré syndrome, not poliomyelitis. Demonstrating indomitable courage, he fought to regain the use of his legs, particularly through swimming. Roosevelt won his first of four presidential elections in 1932, while the United States was in the depths of the Great Depression. FDR's combination of optimism and economic activism is often credited with keeping the country's economic crisis from developing into a political crisis. He led the United States through most of World War II. Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Roosevelt had pledged the United States to the "good neighbor" policy and also sought through neutrality legislation to keep the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. When France fell and England came under siege in 1940, he began to send Great Britain all possible aid short of actual military involvement. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt directed organization of the Nation's manpower and resources for global war. Feeling that the future peace of the world would depend upon relations between the United States and Russia, he devoted much thought to the planning of a United Nations, in which, he hoped, international difficulties could be settled.

Stephen Hawking

Professor Stephen Hawking is a well-known example of a person with MND, and has lived for more than 40 years with the disease. Stephen Hawking: The internationally renowned Physicist, has defied time and doctor’s pronouncements that he would not live 2-years beyond his 21 years of age when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) a type of motor neuron disease which would cost him almost all neuromuscular control. The symptoms are very similar to those of Cerebral Palasy, Hawking cannot walk, talk, breathe easy, swallow and has difficulty in holding up his head. Hawking, 51, was told 30 years ago, when he was a not-very-remarkable college student.

Hawking's achievements were made despite the increasing paralysis. By 1974, he was unable to feed himself or get out of bed. His speech became slurred so that he could only be understood by people who knew him well. In 1985, he caught pneumonia and had to have a tracheotomy, which made him unable to speak at all. A Cambridge scientist built a device that enables Hawking to write onto a computer with small movements of his body, and then have a voice synthesizer speak what he has typed.

In Hawking's many media appearances, he appears to speak fluently through his synthesizer, but in reality, it is a tedious drawn-out process. His speeches are prepared in advance, but having a live conversation with him provides insight as to the complexity and work involved. During a Technology, Entertainment, & Design Conference talk, it took him seven minutes to answer a question.

Stephen Hawking is considered the world's foremost living theoretical physicist. He's an expert on black holes whose stated intention is to unify quantum mechanics with Einstein's general theory of relativity, forming a single theory to explain the origin (and end) of the universe. Hawking, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, is the author of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time and something of a celebrity. At a George Washington University lecture in honour of NASA's 50th anniversary, Professor Hawking theorised on the existence of extraterrestrial life, believing that "primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare.

Itzhak Perlman

He is an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and pedagogue. He is one of the most distinguished violinists of the late 20th century. Perlman contracted polio at the age of four. He made a good recovery, learning to walk with the use of crutches. Today he uses a wheelchair or walks with the aid of crutches on his arms and plays the violin while seated. Despite of his problems, he was a prodigy, and he made his U.S. television debut at age 13. He studied with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard. Recognition of his gifts led to a highly successful career as orchestral soloist and chamber-music player, with scores of recordings. Blessed with a popular touch, he appeared on television, played jazz and klezmer music, and involved himself in educating young musicians. Critics say it is not the music alone that makes his playing so special. They say he is able to communicate the joy he feels in playing, and the emotions that great music can deliver.