Influential VI people through history | Blindness Awareness Month

VICTA Changemakers
Blindness Awareness Month

Hi everybody, I’m Rhiana and I’m partially sighted, with a number of different causes and variables. I am 20 and live in South West Wales. I have always had a love of history. I have enjoyed writing this article for you. It was so much fun to research new people, as I am a massive history fan. How many historical figures do you know with vision difficulties?

Galileo Galilei was born on 15th February 1564 in Pisa. He was an astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. He was seen to be greatly responsible for the scientific revolution. His accomplishments include improvements to the telescope, accelerated motion, and astronomical observations. Galileo was the first to discover the four largest satellites, moons, of Jupiter. These were named the Galilean moons in his honour. Galileo had also improved compass design and eventually opposed the geocentric view. His sight started to deteriorate at the age of 68 years old and it eventually led to him going completely blind. He died on the 8th of January 1642.

Horatio Nelson was born on 29th September 1758. Nelson was famous for his service in the Royal Navy, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. He was born into a moderately prosperous Norfolk family, joining the navy with the help of his uncle, Maurice Suckling. His rise through the ranks was rapid and he served with the leading naval commanders of the period before getting his own command in 1778. He a reputation in the service for personal valour and good tactics. After the end of the American War of Independence he had some illness and unemployment, but the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars allowed Nelson to return to service, spending time in the Mediterranean. Nelson was wounded several times in battles. He lost the sight in one eye and most of one arm. He had several victories, including the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during which he was killed. His death at Trafalgar made him one of England’s most heroic figures. He was killed on 21st October 1805.

Louis Braille was born on 4th of January 1809 in Coupvray, France. He was blinded at the age of three from an accident with a stitching awl in his father’s shop. Later in life he got a scholarship to France Royal instate for blind youth. He invented Braille from Barbier’s system by simplifying it and maximizing its efficiency. He died on 6th of January 1852 in Paris, France.

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Rose in March 1822 she was an American abolitionist and social activist and became visually impaired after suffering a wound to her head. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known collectively as the Underground Railroad.  She died on March 10, 1913 Auburn, New York, U.S.

Claude Monet was born in 1840 in France. He was the founder of French impressionist painting. The term ‘Impressionism’ came from the title of his painting ‘Impression, Sunrise’. He had painted lots of well-known paintings by 1907, but then had his first problem with his eyesight and started to go blind. He carried on painting, only stopping when nearly blind. In the last decade of his life, he painted a group of large water lily murals whilst nearly blind which were for a museum in Paris. He died in 1926.

Matilda Ann Aston was born 1873. A blind Australian writer and teacher, known as Tilly Aston. She founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers and started the Association for the Advancement of the Blind. She is best remembered for her achievements in promoting the rights of vision impaired people. She died in 1947.

Helen Adams Keller was born on 27 June 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, USA. She was an American activist and author. She lost her sight and her hearing after an illness when she was 19 months old. She wrote 14 books and also campaigned for disabled people, woman suffrage, Labour rights and world peace. She became a world famous speaker and author. She died on 1st of June in 1968.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was born on January 30th, 1882, at Hyde Park, New York. He was the 32nd President of the United States of America from 1933-1945
and was the longest serving president. Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation and directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression. He played a big role during World War 2. It was said he had several disabilities including a visual impairment. He died on the 2nd of April 1945 in Warm Springs, Georgia, U.S.A.

Dr Abraham Nemeth was born in 1918. He was a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Detroit Mercy in Detroit, Michigan. In 1952 he developed the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation. He was an active member of the National Federation of the Blind. He was also a Hebrew Scholar and a musician whilst also having written several short stories. He made many speeches for the NFB about his life as a blind mathematician. He died in 2013 at the age of 94.

Judith E. Heumann was born on 18th December 1947. She was an American disability rights activist. She was an internationally recognised leader in the community and a lifelong civil rights advocate for disadvantaged people. Her commitment to disability rights came from her personal experiences. She had polio at the age of 18 months and used a wheelchair most of her life. In 1970 she founded Disabled in Action with several friends with disabilities. This is an organization that focused on securing the protection for people with disabilities under civil rights laws. In 1974, while she was serving as a legislative assistant to the chairperson of the U.S. Senate Committee on Labour and Public Welfare, she helped develop legislation that became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. She was an early leader in the Independent Living Movement. She then moved to Berkeley where she served as deputy director of the Censer for Independent Living. She died on the 4th March 2023.

Stevie Wonder was born on 13th May 1950. He was born Stevland Hardaway Judkins, but he later changed his name to Stevland Hardaway Morris. He is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and plays multiple instruments. He has been blind since he was an infant due to Retinopathy of Prematurity. He was signed with Motown Records at the age of 12. He has had many hits and won numerous awards and has been named the ninth greatest singer of all time by the Rolling Stone American music magazine.

Andrea Angel Bocelli was born in 1958. He is an Italian tenor singer who has recorded many classical and pop albums. He has sold 65 million albums worldwide. He was diagnosed with glaucoma from a young age. He lost his sight completely at 12 years old after an accident playing football. From a young age he had a passion for music. He learned the piano at age six and also learned to play the flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar, harp and drums.

Erik Weihenmayer was born in September 1968. On 25th of May 2001 he became the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In 2002, he also completed the Seven Summits. He is also an activist, author, and public speaker, as well as doing many very active sports like skydiving, skiing, running marathons, and rock climbing.

Marla Runyan was born on 4th January 1969. Marla Runyan is a marathon runner who is legally blind. She is a three-time champion women’s 5,000 meters. Her career as a world-class runner began at the Pan American Games in 1999, where she won the 1,500 meter race. The following year at the Sydney Olympics, she finished eighth in the 1,500m race. This made her the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Games and she also had the highest finish by an American woman in that event. In 2002 she finished as the top American at the New York Marathon in a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 10 seconds. This was to the second fastest debut time ever by an American woman.

Acknowledgements:-
– BrailleWorks – Famous People with Visual Impairments
– Wikipedia – online encyclopaedia

Now you’ve read this, I’d love to know, how many of these people were you aware of?

Who do you think was the most influential person on the list? Mine was the US President Franklin Roosevelt as he was the longest serving president in a really difficult time. Which historical person do you find inspiring?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

By Rhiana Ralls