Differently abled Celebrities: National & International

 

Differently abled Celebrities: National & International

1.     Abhishek Bachchan

Nature of Disability: Dyslexia

Life and Achievement: Abhishek Bachchan is an Indian actor and film producer. He faced difficulties due to dyslexia since he was a child. He was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of nine. Abhishek got stardom when he began to work in Bollywood as an actor. His work in movies like Yuva (2004), Sarkar (2005), and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) was critically acclaimed.

Abhishek has, so far, won three Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actor. He also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for producing the movie Paa (2009).

2. Ira Singhal

Nature of Disability: Scoliosis

Life and Achievement: Ira Singhal is an IAS officer who topped the UPSC exam in 2014. Ira was born on 31 August 1983 in Meerut. She graduated in computer science and did dual MBA in Marketing & Finance from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

 

3. Lalit Kumar ‘Samyak Lalit’

Nature of Disability: Both legs affected with polio, walks with crutches.

Life and Achievement: Lalit Kumar, also known as Samyak Lalit, is a polio survivor who run Dashamlav YouTube channel. With more than 1,75,000 viewers, Lalit is highly recognized among persons with disabilities in India. He is a well-known disability rights activist and the Chairperson of Evara Foundation. Lalit is the author of Vitamin Zindagi, one of the best inspirational books ever written in Hindi, wherein he has described his life with polio in India. He is a National Award (Role Model) winner for Persons with Disabilities and has featured in numerous instances on national television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites.

4. Jyoti Amge

Nature of Disability: Dwarfism

Life and Achievements: Jyoti has a Guinness World Record for being the world’s smallest living woman. She has appeared in many TV shows. Her restricted height is due to a genetic disorder called achondroplasia.

5. Suresh H. Advani

Nature of Disability: Legs affected with polio, wheelchair user

Life and Achievements: Dr. Suresh H. Advani is a reputed oncologist who is credited to pioneer the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in India. A Padma Bhushan awardee, Dr. Advani became affected with Polio at the age of eight years. He went on to study at the Grant Medical College, Mumbai where he earned the degrees of MBBS and MD.

Dr. Advani is also a recipient of Dr. B. C. Roy National Award by Medical Council of India (2005).

6. Bharat Kumar

Nature of Disability: Born without left arm

Life and Achievements: Bharat is a para-swimmer who has won 2 international titles and more than 50 medals. He has participated in tournaments in countries around the world, including England, Ireland, Holland, Malaysia and China. Bharat is a son of a daily wager and despite challenged posed by poverty and disability, he has managed to etch his name through glorious achievements.

7. Preethi Srinivasan

Nature of Disability: Quadriplegic

Life and Achievements: Preethi was the captain of the under-19 Tamil Nadu women’s cricket team. She captained her team in the national championships in 1997. At that time she was only 17 years! What’s more, Preethi was also a champion swimmer. She had won a state-level gold in 50 meters breaststroke.

However, an accident at the age of 18 left Preethi quadriplegic — totally paralyzed below neck. But the champion in Preethi remained a champion. She founded Soulfree — an organization that restores, rehabilitates, and re-integrates people suffering lethal spinal cord injuries. Soulfree also works for spreading awareness on the prevention of such injuries in Indian youth.

8. H. Boniface Prabhu

Nature of Disability: Quadriplegic

Life and Achievements: H. Boniface Prabhu is a Padma Shree awardee wheelchair tennis player from India. He was born on 14 May 1972 in Bangalore. At the age of four, a blotched lumbar tumour made him quadriplegic. He began his sporting career with shot put and javelin throw. Prabhu went on to win gold medal in shot put and silver medal in discus throw at the 1996 World Wheelchair Games, UK. He is the first Indian to win a medal in the International Paralympic Games.

Then he shifted his focus to wheelchair tennis and he won a medal in 1998 World Championship. He has reached a career best world ranking of 17 in singles and 19 in doubles.

9. Sudha Chandran

Nature of Disability: Amputation in right leg.

Life and Achievements: Sudha is an Indian film and television actress and an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer. Sudha Chandran was born on 27 September 1965. At the age of 16 years she met a car accident in May 1981. As a consequence, her right leg had to be amputated. She is started her film career with a Telugu film ‘Mayuri‘, which was based on her own life. The film was later dubbed in Tamil and Malayalam.

Later in 1986, ‘Mayuri’ was remade in Hindi with title ‘Nache Mayuri‘. The story of Nache Mayuri depicts how Mayuri, the protagonist, received a Jaipur Foot and eventually learned to dance again.

10. Arunima Sinha

Nature of Disability: Below knee amputation in left leg.

Life and Achievements: Arunima Sinha is the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest. She was born on 20 July 1988. She was interested in sports and became a national level volleyball player. On 12 April 2011, Arunima took a train. But she was pushed out of a general coach of the train by robbers wanting to snatch her bag and gold chain. As a result, her left leg had to be amputated below the knee.

Arunima reached the summit of Mount Everest at 10:55 am on 21 May 2013. She has been awarded with Padma Shri and Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award (2016) and the First Lady award (2018).

11. Ravindra Jain

Nature of Disability: Blind since birth

Life and Achievements: Ravindra Jain (28 February 1944 – 9 October 2015) was a veteran Indian music composer, lyricist and singer. He gave music in hundreds of Hindi films and TV serials. His music in films like Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Chitchor, Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se, Henna, Geet Gata Chal; and TV serials like Ramayana is still very popular.

Ravindra Jain received basic training under Pandit G.L. Jain, Pandit Janardhan Sharma, and Pandit Nathu Ram. He was awarded with Padma Shri and Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

12. Ajit Jogi

Nature of Disability: All four limbs paralyzed due to whiplash injury to the neck and serious damage to the spinal cord.

Life and Achievements: Ajit Jogi (29 April 1946 – 29 May 2020) got selected in the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) in 1971 batch. In 1986, he joined the Congress party and became the first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh in the year 2000. In April 2004, Jogi met with a road accident and became paralyzed. This severely hampered his political career but he still became the Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2008 from Mahasamund seat in Chhattisgarh.

In 2013, on his 68th birthday, Jogi received the Rex Bionic “e-legs” — a robotic apparatus which helps paralyzed people to walk.

13. S Jaipal Reddy

Nature of Disability: Polio since the age of 18 months.

Life and Achievements: S Jaipal Reddy (16 January 1942 – 28 July 2019) was an Indian politician who became India’s Union Minister. At various points of time he held the Ministries of Information and Broadcasting; Urban Development; Petroleum and Natural Gas; Earth Sciences; and Ministry of Science and Technology.

Jaipal Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha five times in the following years:

• 08th Lok Sabha in 1984
• 12th Lok Sabha in 1998
• 13th Lok Sabha in 1999
• 14th Lok Sabha in 2004
• 15th Lok Sabha in 2009

He was also an MLA of Kalwakurthy between 1969 and 1984, a constituency in Andhra Pradesh for four terms.

Jaipal Reddy was awarded the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 1998. He was the first from South India and the youngest parliamentarian to get this award.

 

 

14. Javed Abidi

Nature of Disability: Spina bifida

Life and Achievements: Javed Abidi (11 June 1965 – 04 March 2018) was a noted disability activist in India. He served as the director of National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) and set up the disability wing of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

In his early days, Abidi’s family moved to the United States and he received care at the Boston Children’s Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. At the age of fifteen, he became a wheelchair-user. Abidi, despite difficulties, studied at Wright State University, and in 1989, moved to India seeking a career in journalism.

 

 

15. Dr. Stephen Hawking

Nature of Disability: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),

Dr. Stephen Hawking was born in England in 1942 and lived a good portion of his life without a disability. He studied math and physics and earned a Ph.D in physics. While in graduate school, at age 21, Dr. Hawking was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to in the U.S. as Lou Gehrig’s disease. As ALS progresses, the degeneration of motor neurons in the brain interfere with messages to muscles in the body. Eventually, muscles atrophy and voluntary control of muscles is lost. People with ALS typically maintain intelligence, memory, and personality, even in late stages of the disease. Dr. Hawking became a professor at the University of Cambridge in England. Although his life was expected by some physicians to be short, he died at the age of 76 after living for more than 50 years with ALS. He published many articles and several books on theoretical physics and the Big Bang theory. His most popular book, A Brief History of Time, was published in 1988.