Published by Programme B
We all face challenges in our lives but that’s what makes us prouder of our own achievements. What we overcome is what makes victory taste sweeter and there is no sweeter victory than that of those who are suffering from mental or physical disabilities. Hearing their stories and learning about their lives and what they went through makes me respect them even more. It sheds a new light and a new perspective on what they had to defeat to reach their goals. Now, let me tell you about a few heroes who got recognized for their immense contributions to this world.
Polio
Polio basically is an infectious diseases caused by the polio virus and leads to the inability to move. Mark Esho was unlucky enough to contract Polio when he was 5 and ended up being paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life, but that didn’t stop him from achieving greatness. In his blog when he was talking about being an inspiring disabled entrepreneur, he said “being disabled presents many changes, so does being black. Combine both to be a pretty toxic mix of double discrimination.” He went on urging people to move on despite everything they are facing.
Esho also won the National Diversity Award in 2012 which is an award that honors positive role models and entrepreneurs that contributed to equality and diversity. He even wrote his own biography and published it in a book titled “I Can. I Will” which was one of the most inspiring pieces of art I have ever read. Overall, despite his disability and the many challenges and discrimination he faced, he still managed to achieve so much and became an inspiration to many.
Asperger syndrome
Before anything let me explain to you what Asperger syndrome (AS) is. Basically, those who suffer from it tend to have no social skills whatsoever; they understand you and even sometimes they are extremely smart, but their social interactions with people are a major challenge to them. They also seem to go through repetitive patterns of behaviors where they obsess over something and keep repeating it over and over again.
The person I am going to tell you about here is Bram Cohen. He is a brilliant computer programmer who started his own company that now caters to major clients like MAC, IOS, Android, Microsoft, Linux and so much more. He changed the industry significantly and even won the Time 100 award which is basically a list of the top 100 most influential people in the world hosted by the Times magazine.
Don’t let anything stop you
The story of those entrepreneurs and what they achieved is truly inspiring and it motivates you to work harder and defeat all that stands in your way. Those people suffered most of their lives from enemies that only they could see and despite everything they rose and didn’t let anything stop them from reaching their dreams and achieving their goals. It all makes you think that if they could do it, then so could you because essentially disabilities are considered as barriers only if we let them.