- Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorius (born November 22, 1986) is a South African Paralympic runner. Known as the "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs", Pistorius is the double amputee world record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 metres events and runs with the aid of carbon fibre transtibial artificial limbs. His artificial lower legs, while enabling him to compete, have also generated claims that he has an unfair advantage over other runners. - Heather Mills
Heather, Lady McCartney (born 12 January 1968 in Aldershot, Hampshire, England), usually known as Heather Mills or Heather Mills McCartney, is a campaigner on behalf of several causes, including amputees, the curtailment of land mines and animal rights. Her early career was as a glamour model. She is the former wife of musician and ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney; the couple announced their separation in May 2006, … - Max Cleland
Joseph Maxwell Cleland (born August 24, 1942) is an American politician from Georgia. Cleland, a Democrat, is a former U.S. Senator, disabled US Army veteran of the Vietnam War, and a critic of the Bush Administration. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, a presidentially appointed position. - Natalie du Toit
Natalie du Toit (born 29 January, 1984) is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games, being one of the most successful disabled athletes of all time, often competing alongside with able bodied athletes. - Mark Inglis
Mark Joseph Inglis (born September 27, 1959) is a mountaineer, researcher, winemaker and motivational speaker. He holds a degree in Human Biochemistry from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and has conducted research in leukemia. He won a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. He currently resides in Hanmer Springs, New Zealand with his wife Anne and their three children. In addition to being a goodwill ambassador for the Everest Rescue Trust, … - Jesse Sullivan
Jesse Sullivan is best-known for operating a fully robotic limb through a nerve-muscle graft, making him one of the first non-fictional cyborgs. His bionic arm, a prototype developed by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, differs from most other prostheses, in that it does not use pull cables or nub switches to function and instead uses micro-computers to perform a much wider range of complex motions. - Terry Fox
Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox, CC (July 28, 1958 - June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer treatment activist. He became famous for the Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run to raise money for cancer research, running with one prosthetic leg. He is considered one of Canada's greatest heroes of the 20th century and is celebrated internationally every September as people participate in the Terry Fox Run, … - Sarah Reinertsen
Sarah Reinertsen is the first female amputee to complete the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. She first attempted to finish the race in 2004, but was disqualified when she failed to meet the qualifying time for the bike leg by 15 minutes. She returned in 2005 and completed the race in just over 15 hours. Besides marathons and triathlons, Sarah has also competed in bicycle races. She was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, … - Bob Kerrey
Joseph Robert "Bob" Kerrey (born August 27, 1943) was the Democratic Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987, and a U.S. Senator from Nebraska (1989-2001). He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992. Since leaving the Senate he has served as president of The New School, a university in New York City. - Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Meilani Hamilton (born February 8, 1990) is an American surfer. She is known for surviving a shark attack in which she lost her left arm, and for overcoming the serious and debilitating injury to return to surfing. - Tammy Duckworth
Ladda "Tammy" Duckworth (born March 12 1968) is an Illinois National Guard Major and Iraq War veteran from the U.S. state of Illinois. She was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives seat for the sixth district of Illinois and lost by 2% of the vote in the highly competitive 2006 House election. On 21 November 2006, Duckworth was appointed the director of the Illinois Veterans' Affairs Department by governor Rod Blagojevich. - Carl Brashear
Carl Maxie Brashear was the first African American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver in the early 1950s. In 2000, Brashear's military service was portrayed by Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the film "Men of Honor". - Douglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, CBE, DSO and Bar, DFC and Bar, FRAeS, DL, RAF (21 February 1910-5 September 1982); surname pronounced) was a successful fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Bader is upheld as an inspirational leader and hero of the era, not least because he fought despite having lost both legs in a pre-war flying accident. - Alex Zanardi
Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi, (born October 23, 1966), is an Italian racing driver. He won two CART championship titles in North America during the late 1990s. He also had a less successful career as a Formula One driver. More recently he has attracted widespread praise for his racing comeback in the aftermath of a crash in 2001 which resulted in him losing both legs. As of 2007 he competes in the World Touring Car Championship. - Aimee Mullins
Aimee Mullins (born 1976 in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American athlete, actress, and fashion model best known for her extraordinary collegiate-level athletic accomplishments, despite a disability that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs. Mullins was born with fibular hemimelia (missing fibula bones) and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was just a year old. - Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo (July 61907 - July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter who depicted the indigenous culture of her country in a style combining Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism. An active communist supporter, she was married to Mexican muralist and cubist painter Diego Rivera. She is widely known for her self-portraits often expressing her physical pain and suffering through symbolism. In the last three decades she has gained admiration in Europe and the US. In 2002, … - Kyle Maynard
Kyle Maynard of Suwanee, Georgia, USA was born on March 24, 1986 with a rare disorder called congenital amputation. He has no elbows and no knees, yet he competed in the 2004 Georgia High School Wrestling Championships. He graduated from Collins Hill High School with a wrestling record of 35 wins, 16 losses and a 3.7 GPA. He is the recipient of a 2004 ESPN Espy Award for the Best Athlete With A Disability and has been featured on many radio interviews, talk shows, … - Harold Russell
Harold John Russell (b. January 14, 1914 in Sydney, Nova Scotia, d. January 29, 2002 in Needham, Massachusetts) was a Canadian-American World War II veteran who became one of only two non-professional actors to win an Academy Award for acting. Harold Russell was born in Canada and moved to Massachusetts with his family in 1933. He was so profoundly affected by the attack on Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the Army on 1941-12-08. - Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 - June 15, 1996), also known as "Lady Ella" and the "First Lady of Song", is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century. With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, near faultless phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. - Claudia Mitchell
Claudia Mitchell is the first woman to be outfitted with a bionic arm, making her one of the first non-fictional cyborgs. She was outfitted with the bionic arm to replace the arm she lost in a motorcycle accident. Her bionic arm, a prototype developed by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, is as of August 2006 the most advanced prosthetic arm, and differs from other prostheses in that it does not require any implants. - Tom Toles
Thomas Gregory Toles (born October 22, 1951) is a United States political cartoonist. He is the winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. Similar to Oliphant's use of his character Punk, Toles also tends to include a small doodle, usually a small caricature of himself at his desk, in the margin of his strip. Toles left "The Buffalo News" in 2002, accepting an offer from "The Washington Post" to replace Herblock, their late, … - Roberto Carlos
Roberto Carlos Braga is Grammy Award-winning MPB singer, that achieved a great deal of success and recognition for over 40 years. Most of his songs are written in partnership with his friend, the singer and songwriter Erasmo Carlos.100 million albums sold all around the world. Best disc seller in Latin America. - Aron Ralston
Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975) is an American mountain climber who became famous in May 2003 because he was forced to amputate his lower right arm with a low-quality multitool (a dull knife) in order to free himself after his arm became trapped by a boulder. Ralston documented his experience in a book titled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place", published by Atria Books on 7 September 2004. ISBN 0-7434-9281-1 - Totie Fields
Totie Fields (May 7, 1930 - August 2, 1978) was a zaftig American comedian who was not afraid to poke fun at her own weight problems. She was quoted as saying "I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is fourteen days." Born Sophie Feldman in Hartford, Connecticut. Fields started singing in Boston clubs while still in high school. She took the stage name of Totie Fields. The name "Totie" was a childhood nickname, a corruption of her first name. - Kenny Easterday
Kenny Easterday (b. 1974, West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania) is an American man born with a rare disability involving congenital amputation of the legs and hips. Easterday gained some notoriety following the 1988 release of the movie Kenny, in which he played a fictionalized version of himself. This popularity faded over the years since he hasn't been seen in the media. - Kellie Lim
Kellie Lim is a triple amputee due to bacterial meningitis at age 8, who went on to graduate near the top of her class at UCLA medical school in 2007. Lim was born in Michigan and raised by her blind mother, Sandy Lim, in Detroit. - Zach Gowen
Zach Gowen, (born: March 30, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. Gowen has competed for both of the top US promotions: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on their "SmackDown!" brand, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Gowen was diagnosed with cancer as a child. Because of that, he lost his leg at the age of 8. It was a necessary move: according to his doctors and parents, had the amputation not been done, Zach would have died. - Tom Whittaker
Tom Whittaker (born 1949) is the first disabled person to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. Whittaker's right foot needed to be amputated following a car accident in 1979. Following this serious accident, he regained his strength and continued climbing. Through training, his prosthetic foot became an advantage to climbing rather than a disadvantage. In 1981 he founded the Cooperative Wilderness Handicapped Outdoor Group (C.W.HOG) in Pocatello, Idaho. - Robert David Hall
Robert David Hall (born November 9, 1947) is an American actor, best known for his role as coroner Dr. Albert Robbins M.D. on the television show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". Born in East Orange, New Jersey, Hall attended Tustin (CA) High School and went on to college at UCLA, graduating in 1971 with a degree in English Literature. Mr. Hall is an accomplished guitarist and former professional musician. - Cameron Clapp
Cameron Clapp is an American disabled athlete and actor. On September 15, 2001, at the age of 15, Cameron passed out drunk on a train track on his way home from a party and was hit by a freight train travelling at high speed, causing the amputation of both legs above the knee and his right arm just below the shoulder. - Lisa Bufano
Lisa Bufano (born 1972) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work incorporates elements of doll-making, animation, and dance. Bufano is a graduate of both Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA). Though she is based in Boston, Massachusetts, Bufano was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After surviving a staphylococcus bacterial infection at the age of 21 her fingers and lower legs were amputated. - Michael Milton
Michael Milton is an Australian Winter Paralympic skier. He lost a leg to bone cancer when he was nine years old. He grew up into a skiing family, and after losing his leg he was determined to be able to ski again. At the age of 14, he competed in the 1988 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria. There he achieved a 12th in the slalom, an 11th in the Giant Slalom and an 18th in the downhill. In the 1992 Winter Paralympics in Albertville, France, … - Jerry White
Jerry White is co-founder with Ken Rutherford of the Landmine Survivors Network (LSN). While hiking with friends from Hebrew University, Jerusalem in April 1984, he stepped on a land mine. He learnt to walk with a prosthesis following five operations at a Tel Aviv hospital. Before he began the LSN, White had been an activist campaigning against weapons of mass destruction and had been interviewed or published in newspapers and journals such as "The New York Times", … - Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt (October 23, 1844 - March 26, 1923) was a stage actress born in Paris. Often referred to as "the most famous actress in the history of the world," she made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the United States. She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the nickname "The Divine Sarah." - Amy Purdy
Amy Purdy was born in Las Vegas. She is a double amputee, competitive snowboarder and spokesperson for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. At the age of 19, she contracted Neisseria meningitis, a form of bacterial meningitis. Due to the disease, which affected her circulatory system, both of her legs had to be amputated below the knee. Her spleen and a kidney had to be removed. Two years later, she received a kidney transplant from her father. - Rick Allen
Richard John Cyril Allen (born November 1, 1963, Dronfield, Derbyshire, England) is the drummer for the British rock band Def Leppard. He is famous for being a prominent professional drummer who continued his musical career despite the amputation of his left arm. - Ronan Tynan
Ronan Tynan, MB, BCh, BAO (born 1960 in Dublin, Ireland) is a popular tenor, singing in the classical Irish style. He is most famous for his renditions of God Bless America performed at Yankee Stadium during important New York Yankee games, such as Opening Day, nationally-televised games, and playoff games. Additionally he has sung for Buffalo Sabres during their hockey games. He is also known for participating in the 1984 Olympics. - Jim MacLaren
Jim MacLaren is a motivational speaker and author, noted for his record-breaking performances in the marathon and ironman triathlon after having his left leg amputated below the knee. - Gianni Agnelli
Giovanni Agnelli, better known as Gianni Agnelli, was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GNP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce, and 16.5% of its industrial investment in research. - Ian Gregson
Ian Gregson is a disabled activist and author in British Columbia, Canada. He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, England on September 2, 1962. As a young boy his promising athletic career in track and field seemed to end on May 18, 1978 during his school lunch hour, Ian was involved in a terrible accident that resulted in the loss of his right leg above the knee.
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