BADER, Douglas Sir, 1910-1982, (physical impairment),
Pilot-War Hero, was a fighter pilot and wing commander in Great Britain's Royal Air Force. He introduced fighting tactics that saved the lives of many British pilots. He lost both legs in a plane crash several years before World War II. He refused to be defeated by his disability. He was awarded both the Distinguished Services Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross for leadership and valor in action.
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BALAGUER Joaquin, 1907-present, (visual impairment),
President of Dominican Republic, politician and author who served in Madrid from 1932-1935, Under Secretary Foreign Affairs. Government of UN 1947. Founder of Reformist Party 1962, leader 1962-1985.
{24,28,82}

BALLARD Kaye, 1926-present, (hearing impairment),
Stage actor and TV comedienne who starred in television series The Mothers-in-Law 1967-1969.
{4}

BEATTY Ned, 1937-present, (bipolar disorder),
American Actor. Appeared in films Deliverance 1972, Superman 1978.
{4}

BEETHOVEN Ludwig Von, 1770-1827, (bipolar depression) (hearing impairment),
Brilliant composer who experienced bipolar depression and lost his hearing in 1800.
{35,85}

BELAFONTE Harry, 1927-present, (learning disability),
American singer and motion picture actor who became best known for his interpretation of West Indian Calypso music, popularized Asian and African songs as well as American ballads and spirituals.
{4,11}

BELL Alexander Graham, 1847-1922, (learning disability),
An American inventor and educator. Best known for his invention of the telephone.
{85}

BELL Buddy [David Gus Bell], 1951-present, (epilepsy),
Professional baseball player and manager of the Detroit Tigers. Five time All Star 1973, 1980-82 and 1984.
{85}

BERLIOZ Hector, 1803-1869, (epilepsy)
French composer, major work Symphonic Fantastique 1830, known for his orchestrating genius, his long, uninterrupted melodies, and his way of relating his musical compositions to stories, ideas known as program music.
{11,85}

BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON [Lemon Jefferson Couchman], 1897-1929, (vision impairment)
Blind from childhood he was the most popular male blues recording artist of the 1920s, making over 100 recordings in the last four years of his life with 43 records issued, all but one on the Paramount label.

BLIND WILLIE MCTELL [Willie Samuel McTear], 1901-1959, (vision impairment)
Musician. McTell learned guitar as a youngster from his mother, made his recording debut in 1927 after working as a street singer and medicine show minstrel. In the 1930s he recorded 48 sides for four companies under four different names. He was the only survivor of his era to make Library of Congress field recordings and postwar records for the R&B market as well.

BONAPARTE Napoleon [Napoleon I], 1769-1821, (epilepsy),
French Emperor who crowned himself as emperor of France. He was the greatest military genius of his time and perhaps the greatest general in history. He stood 5 foot 2 inches tall which is about average for Frenchman of his time.

BONERZ Peter, 1938-present, (speech impairment),
American actor and director of episodes of Bob Newhart Show 1972-1978, director of It's Your Move 1984.
{20}

BOOTH Edmund, 1810-1905, (visual impairment),
Edmund Booth was nearly 6 feet 3 inches tall over 200 pounds. He was blind in one eye and profoundly deaf. He edited an Iowa newspaper (Anamosa Eureka) from 1856 to 1895. Before settling on a career he was a teacher, farmer, postmaster, country recorder, enrollment clerk in Iowa territorial legislature and California gold miner. He helped organize the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) in 1880.
{43}

BORGES Jorge Luis, 1899-1986, (visual impairment)
He was an Argentine man of letters. He won international acclaim for his distinctive fictions and short stories. He was a librarian too.
{23,85}

BOVE Linda, 1945-present, (hearing impairment),
Bove who is deaf started on Sesame Street in 1971 and in 1976 she became a permanent member of the show. Also was the female lead in Spoon River Anthology. Her parents were also deaf. In college she majored in Library Science and took part in dramatics where she claimed her performances as Polly Peachum in Three Penny Opera. She has contributed greatly to children's theater and is one of the first five members who started Little Theater for the Deaf. She also is a member of the National Theaters of the Deaf. She has also appeared on Search for Tomorrow, Dick Cavett Show and Happy Days.
{43}

BRADY James, 1940-present, (traumatic brain injury)
Former White House Press Secretary who was shot in the head in an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981. He is also responsible for the Brady Bill.
{56}

BRAILLE Louis, 1809-1852, (visual impairment),
Blind Frenchman who developed Braille alphabet and reading system. He became blind at the age of 3 from an accident. In 1829 Braille published his dot system.
{56}

BRIDGMAN Laura, 1829-1889, (deaf and blind),
First deaf-blind student ever educated in the United States. She became deaf and blind due to scarlet fever. In 1837 she came to the attention of Samuel G. Howe - founder and director of Perkins School for the Blind. This is where she learned to read, write and do math. She became a good seamstress and learned to sew on a sewing machine. She could deftly thread a needle with her tongue.
{43,56}

BRODERSON Morris, 1928-present, (hearing impairment),
Artist who is known as a noted digressive painter. He gained national recognition with the painting of The Chicken Market (1960). Deaf at birth and educated in California. Many of his themes are from his travels.
{43}

BROWN Christy, 1932-1981, (physical impairment),
Author born in Dublin Ireland. At birth he lacked oxygen for a few minutes causing him to have a condition called athetoid cerebral palsy. Christy learned to read by age 7 and write by holding a chalk or pencil with his left foot. He wrote his autobiography My Left Foot.
{43}

BYRON Lord, 1788-1824, (epilepsy),
He was the most colorful of the English poets. He inherited the (George Gordon Byron) title Lord Byron at the age of 10 upon the death of his great uncle.
{85}

BUCHWALD Art, 1925-present, (bipolar disorder),
Writer and humorist American newspaper columnist who specializes in political and social satire. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1982.
{85}

BUDDHA [Siddhartha Gautama], 563BC-483BC, (epilepsy),
Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism c.528 BC. Renounced world at age 29 to search for solution to human suffering. The word Buddha means Enlightened One.
{12,27,85}

BURKE Chris, 1965-present, (developmental disability)
Actor. Chris was a gentle happy child who loved to meet people. He would watch TV and learn the lines. Chris enrolled in a theater class for disabled students held near his school in Pennsylvania. For two years he learned about costumes improvisation and set design. His work in theater also improved his speech and reading skills. At 21 he started looking for work. At a workshop he worked with no talking allowed. His mother came to meet him there and was appalled. He never worked there again. The director Michael Braverman was seeking young actors with Down Syndrome for a TV pilot. Would Chris like to try out for the part. The pilot Desperate aired on ABC in September 1987. In 1989 he had the main role in the series Life Goes On. The show ran until spring of 1993.
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BURTON Richard, 1925-1984, (epilepsy),
Welsh actor who won Tony Award in 1961 for Camelot. Nominated for seven Oscars. Known for his Shakespearean -stage performances and his collaborations with actress Elizabeth Taylor to whom he married twice.
{16,26,32}

BURTON Tim, 1958-present, (bipolar)
Artist and Movie Director -American director of off beat movies such as PeeWee's Big Adventure 1985, Beetlejuice 1988, Batman 1989.
{4}

BUTLER Beverly, 1932-present, (visual impairment),
Born with cataracts in both eyes and later developed glaucoma. Her first book was a young adult novel called Song of the Voyageurs 1955. In 1964 her most popular book was published and entitled Light a Single Candle. She continues to write historical novels for young adult fiction readers.
{43}