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Marla Runyan, 33, of Eugene, Oregon is the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Olympic games at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. There she proved to be the eighth fastest 1,500-meter female runner in the world! In February 2001, she broke the U.S. indoor track record for the 5,000-meter race by running that distance in 15 minutes and 7 seconds. In May 2001, Marla ran at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, OR, and came in first place in the 3,000 meter run. Marla says that she has always been a runner. Whether she was just running with her dog or running while playing soccer, she never really started running; she just never stopped running.
At the age of 9, Marla was diagnosed with Stargardt's disease, which is a type of Macular Degeneration and is legally blind in both eyes. Marla became an inspiration for others who have vision impairments and an inspiration for everyone to go for whatever they want in life. Marla says, "Get out there and enjoy life! Play hard but have fun. Don't allow others to discourage you. Don't listen to negative influences. Believe in yourself and show others what you can do. Only YOU can find your potential. Others are just spectators—you are the star of your life."
More Information:
The Official Web site of Marla Runyan
Harriet Tubman was a slave born on a plantation in Maryland. When she was thirteen years old she threw herself between a fellow slave and the
plantation overseer who was about to whip him. The overseer struck Harriet
on the head. For the rest of her life she had a form of epilepsy. When
she was 29, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery and dedicated the rest
of her life to rescuing other slaves and to civil rights, including women's
suffrage.
More Information:
New York History Net -The
Life of Harriet Tubman and
The Harriet Tubman Historical
Society
Harriet Tubman's photo available online at Harriet Tubman.
Dorothea Lange walked with a limp due to contracting polio at the age
of seven. She said of her disability - "I think it was perhaps the
most important thing that happened to me. It formed me, guided me, instructed
me, helped me, humiliated me, all those things at once. I've never gotten
over it, and I am aware of the force and power of it." Lange spent
her life traveling the world photographing mostly the disenfranchised.
More Information:
Library of Congress: Women Come to the Front - Journalists, Photographers,
and Broadcasters During World War II - Dorothea
Lange and
Oakland Museum of California - Dorothea
Lange Archive
Dorothea Lange's photo available online at Dorothea Lange: Photographer of the People.
In her early 20's, Judi Chamberlin was hospitalized in a state institution
due to depression. She was horrified by the prison-like atmosphere of
the hospital and soon discovered that, as a psychiatric patient, she had
no legal rights. Later, in the 1970's, Judi co-founded a group of psychiatric
survivors called the Mental Patients Liberation Front. In 1978 she published
a book, "On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System". Judi received the Distinguished Service Award of the President
of the United States from the President's Committee on Employment of People
with Disabilities in 1992.
More Information:
National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy - Judi
Chamberlin
From the American Foundation for the Blind. Over 1500 items, a panorama of the lives of Helen Keller, her teacher, and her companions. The photos depict Helen Keller's work for people who are blind or visually impaired in the United States and abroad, as well as her daily activities at home and her work on the vaudeville stage and in Hollywood.
In Helen’s own words: “The public must learn that the blind man is neither genius nor a freak nor an idiot. He has a mind that can be educated, a hand which can be trained, ambitions which it is right for him to strive to realise, and it is the duty of the public to help him make the best of himself so that he can win light through work.” Quote available online at The Life of Helen Keller.
Helen Keller's photo available online at Time 100.
National Women's History Museum
Women With Disabilities: Bibliography. Visit this site for a
list of reading materials about the lives and experiences
of women and girls with disabilities.
Women With Disabilities: How to Become a Boat Rocker in Life
by Sue Suter
Former U.S. Commissioner Of Rehabilitation/President
of World Institute On Disabilities Services
Women With Disabilities Trivia
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