Tubman was an American abolitionist and social activist who had epilepsy. Known as the ‘Moses of her people,’ Tubman was enslaved, escaped, and helped others gain their freedom as a ‘conductor’ of the Underground Railroad. Tubman also served as a scout, spy, guerrilla soldier, and nurse for the Union Army during the American Civil War. She is considered the first African American woman to serve in the military. In all her years Tubman was never caught and she never lost a passenger.

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo lived with polio which resulted in a limp. A later bus collision seriously injured Kahlo, causing chronic pain and infertility. Whilst in recovery she became interested in sketching, painting and photography. Throughout her life themes surrounding her body, injuries, infertility and relationships were prevalent in her paintings. Her tumultuous relationship with Diego Rivera featured heavily in her work, but she was arguably most famous for paintings depicting gender, class race and post-colonialism at the time.

Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author. At the time of his death he was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. He worked primarily in the field of general relativity and particularly on the physics of black holes. The contributions Hawking made to physics earned him exceptional honours. In 1974 the Royal Society elected him one of its youngest fellows. In 1977 he became a professor of gravitational physics at Cambridge University and in 1979 he was appointed to Cambridge’s Lucasian professorship of mathematics, a post once held by Isaac Newton.

Stevie Wonder is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, soul, gospel, funk and jazz. He was blind from birth and raised in inner-city Detroit. He was a child prodigy and skilled musician by age eight who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. He was also a multi-instrumentalist. He made his recording debut at age 13 in 1963 with the single ‘Fingertips.’ It was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and made him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. Wonder is on of the best-selling artists of all time, with sales over 100 million records worldwide. He has won 25 Grammy awards, the most ever by a solo artist.

Shaban is a Jordanian-British actor and writer. He was born with the brittle bone disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta. He was sent to England for medical care growing up in a series of hospitals and residential homes. He studied at the University of Surrey in the late 1970s. Shaban co-founded a theatre group titled Graeae which promotes disable performers. In 1997, the University awarded him an honorary doctorate for services in the promotion of Disability Arts. One of his most memorable television roles was that of the reptilian alien Sil in Doctor Who

Donald Rodney was born with sickle-cell anaemia, a debilitating disease that grew steadily worse during his life. He completed a degree in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University, graduating in the mid-1980s. At university he met the artist Keith Piper who influenced Rodney’s work towards more political themes. Rodney’s work amongst several other artists became recognised as a distinct movement within British art, known as the BLK Art Group, whose attachments were to social and political narratives. His frequent trips to the hospital sparked an interest in discarded X-rays and other medical themes which he incorporated into his work. Most famously he used X-rays as a metaphor to represent the disease of apartheid and racial discrimination in society.

Shonibare is a British-Nigerian artist, born in London he moved to Lagos, Nigeria, at age 3 and returned to England to study Fine Art at university. Weeks after starting University he came down with Transverse Myelitis, a disorder caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. The illness resulted in a long-term physical disability where one side of his body was paralysed. Shonibare is well-known for exploring colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation. He also focuses on the construction of cultural identity through incisive political commentary on the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe. A hallmark of his artwork is the brightly coloured Ankara fabric he uses.

Javed Abidi was an Indian activist who was born with Spina Bifida and required the use of a wheelchair from age 15. He served as the director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People in India, and the founder of the Disability Rights Group. He was also the Global Chair for Disabled Peoples’ International. He studied Journalism and Communication at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Abidi strongly believed that empowerment of persons with disabilities is connected to education, which in turn hinges on accessibility. He focused on the necessity of enabling laws and policies highlighting that awareness raising was crucial to create pressure and thus change.

Chandran is a famous Bollywood dancer and television actress. Her father enrolled her in a dance institute and she was performing on stage by age 8. She was already a rising star in the dance world at 15, with more than 75 stage performances under her belt. Following an accident that occurred 4 months before her 16th Birthday, Chandran her right leg below the knee. She was fitted with an artificial leg, determined to walk and dance again. She returned to the stage and continued to dance, eventually receiving greater appreciation from Indian and international media than prior to her injury. She continues to dance and runs dance schools under her name in Mumbai and Pune, with her husband as the official director.

Lois Curtis was one of the plaintiff’s in the landmark Supreme Court case Olmstead v. L.C. (1999) that established the right of individuals with disabilities to live in the least restrictive settings possible. Curtis was diagnosed with cognitive and developmental disabilities and schizophrenia. Beginning at the age of 11 Curtis was in and out of Georgia Regional Hospital’s child and adolescent units, her family were not given sufficient support to care for Curtis. At age 19 the state decided that the hospital as not suitable and that Curtis would be moved to an institutional setting. To combat this Curtis was assisted by the Atlanta Legal Aid Society in filing a lawsuit against the state of Georgia, claiming discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Curtis won the case in 1999, the ruling called for state and local governments to develop more services and opportunities for disabled individuals and to provide these services “in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities.” Now Curtis is a visual artist and is best known for her portraits.

Liz Carr was born with Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, (she frequently refers to her condition in her stand-up as “meus thronus kaputus”) she started using a wheelchair at age 7. Carr is an actress, comedian, broadcaster and international disability rights activist. Carr became involved in politics, disabled rights, and activism whilst studying at the University of Nottingham. After graduating she switched paths from Law to becoming a disability equality trainer. She has spoken at many UK rallies in support of disability rights and has also been part of several comedy groups. In 2010 Carr entered into a civil partnership with her long-time partner Jo Church in what Carr called “ A Wheelie Special Wedding.”

Wong is a disability rights activist who was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a neuromuscular disorder. She attended Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 1997 to study English and Sociology and received her master’s degree in 2004 in Medical Sociology from the University of California. Wong founded and is the project coordinator of the Disability Visibility Project, a project collecting the oral histories of people with disabilities (a published copy is available). She also works the Disabled Writers project which is a resource to help editors connect with disabled writers and journalists. She has written an autobiography and served as an advisor on the Asians and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California; as well as being a presidential appointee to the National Council on Disability.

Stevens, also known as Simon Walsh in Second Life, was born with Cerebral Palsy and is an English activist, Huffington Post blogger and disability consultant known for his discussions on disability issues in the UK and on social media. Stevens formed Wheelies, a disability-friendly virtual nightclub within the 3D online community of Second Life. Stevens has received numerous awards and recognitions for his disability advocacy, one being the Revolutionary Award presented by then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He has also written extensively about efforts in UK schools to integrate persons with disabilities into the mainstream education system.

Emmanuel Yeboah is Ghanaian athlete and disability rights activist. Yeboah was born with a severely deformed right leg. In 2001 he rode 400 miles across Ghana to bring attention to the plight of disabled people in Ghana. During this period, he applied for a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). In 2002 CAF invited him to participate in the 2002 Triathlon challenge in San Diego. During the course of his visit doctors from Loma Linda University Medical Centre deemed him an excellent candidate for a prosthetic leg. Following the surgery and recovery period, Yeboah entered the CAF Triathlon reducing his time by 3 hours. He was thus awarded the CAF Most Inspirational Athlete of the Year Award and Nike’s Casey Martin award. With the money he received form the awards Yeboah founded the Emmanuel Education Fund for promising students with disabilities. Currently, Yeboah is working on building schools for children in Ghana with or without disabilities.

Pineda is a Venezuelan-born social development scholar, serial social impact entrepreneur and disability rights expert. Additionally, he is an International speaker and consultant on accessibility related issues. As a toddler Pineda struggled with high fevers and gradually weakening muscles, he was misdiagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, but it was later identified that collagenopathy VI (an extremely rare genetic mutation) caused his condition. Early in his career he served as the youngest government delegate to participate in the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He founded the Pineda Foundation through which he has helped direct 2.5 million dollars towards programs that support youths with disabilities.

Shani Dhanda was diagnosed with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bone Disease) at age 2, by age 16 she had broken her legs 14 times. Dhanda worked for three years whilst studying to attain a degree in events management. She was named the Future Face of Greater Birmingham at the sixth Future Faces Chamber of Commerce annual awards in 2020, receiving a fully funded place at Aston University to achieve her Master of Business. Dhanda founded her own events management company and has organised events for Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. She also worked for Virgin Media as a disability program manager. She also co-founded the Asian Disability Network and hosted the first Asian Women’s Festival in Birmingham. Dhanda is also a Trustee of the charity, Leonard Cheshire Disability.

Girma is American disability rights advocate and the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School in 2013. As a child Girma gradually lost her vision and sight as a result of an unknown progressive condition, she retains only 1% of her sight. At the age of 15 Girma travelled to Mali to do volunteer work, building schools with buildOn. She attended Lewis & Clark College, where she successfully advocated for her legal rights to accommodations in the school cafeteria; she graduated from the college in 2010. In 2013 she joined Disability Rights Advocates as a Skadden Fellow. Her priorities as a lawyer have been increasing access to books and digital information for persons with disabilities. She works worldwide to change attitudes about disability, including the accessibility to digital services.

Ellie Simmonds is British former Paralympian swimmer who competed in S6 events. She was born with Achondroplasia and became interested in swimming at age 5. She came to national attention when she competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing – she won 2 gold medals for Great Britain as the youngest member of the team (aged 13). In 2012 she was re-selected for the Great Britain squad. She won another two gold medals and set a world record in the 400m freestyle. She won another gold medal in 2016 and set another world record this time in the 200m medley. Simmonds has won 10 gold World Championship titles.