If you or a family member have a diagnosis that makes you one of the millions of Americans that is considered “disabled” from a medical standpoint, it can be very easy to allow that diagnosis to become a life sentence. Adjusting to the challenges of a disability can make it easy to focus on the things that someone cannot do or does differently from other people. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that early intervention programs and teaching to a child’s abilities, rather than expecting children to fit into some type of educational mold, can help children with disabilities soar far beyond the limits that others might place on them.
Some of the world’s most successful people are considered disabled
Some of the most famous people in the world struggled with disabilities that, at one point in time, could have resulted in them being labeled unteachable. These disabilities include dyslexia, autism, Down syndrome, and a wide variety of other intellectual or physical challenges that put them outside of the cookie-cutter educational establishment. However, because many of them had determined parents who tailored learning to their child’s own need set, they were able to soar, not only above the limitations people assume apply to the disabled, but beyond the limitations many of us put on the “normally” abled.
For example, both Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, two of the most recognizable names in modern science and mathematics, are believed by many experts to have been somewhere on the Autism spectrum, though they lived prior to a time of diagnosis. A historic genius who did have diagnosed disabilities that would seem to have made his success impossible? Beethoven, one of the world’s best known composers, gradually became deaf over his lifetime. Steven Hawking not only defied a death sentence, but became his most productive after a 1963 diagnosis of motor neuron disease, at which time he was given two years to live.
What these successes mean for those struggling with a physical or intellectual disability
While we are not suggesting that the fact that some of the world’s most successful people struggled with disabilities means that every person with a disability will go one to reach the same heights, what it should do is remind people that learning differently or at a different pace does not mean that people cannot still accomplish many things. All people should be given the opportunity to grow and thrive and maximize their own individual potential.
At Mt. Bethel Village, we are proud to offer communities for people with special needs and are experienced in recognizing that people are more than a diagnosis. Contact us today with any questions you may have about a differently-abled family member.
