HIT: Famous people -- learning disabilities, part 1

[Elizabeth Hart <ehart@supreme.cde.ca.gov>]

Thanks to everyone who sent me information on famous people with learning
disabilites.  Some people requested a hit, so here it is.

Cunningham, olympic medalist
FDR, president

********

Several years ago we had in our library, a book by Eileen Simpson,
Reversals.  It was  basically her autobiography.  She became a child
psychiatrist, married to poet John Merriman. As a child she knew she had a
problem because she couldn't read. One of the things that has always stuck
is how happy she was when her condition was given a name. She wrote
Merriman a letter when they were courting, and when he saw her the next
time, he said, "you're dyslexic."

Didn't Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Hubert Humphrey also have learning
problems?

********
Recommended book by Deborah Kent        EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
                New York, Children's Press 1996
        OCLC 34410105
        isbn 0516200216
        LC      96-11895

********
 Famous People with Learning Disabilities

> Albert Einstein
He did not speak until age 3. Even as an adult Einstein found that
searching for words was laborious. He found school work, especially math,
difficult and was unable to express himself in written language. He was
thought to be simple minded, until it was realized that he was able to
achieve by visualizing rather than by the use of language. His work on
relativity, which revolutionized modern physics, was created in his spare
time.

Thomas Alva Edison
He was unable to read until he was twelve years old and his writing skills
were poor throughout his life.

George Washington

He was unable to spell throughout his life and his grammar usage was very
poor. His brother suggested that perhaps surveying in the backwoods might
be an appropriate career for young George.

Woodrow Wilson
President of the USA and Nelson Rockefeller, Vice President of USA, were
both severely dyslexic, while Werner Von Braun regularly failed
his high school math examinations.

Tom Cruise

Is unable to read due to severe dyslexia. He is able to memorize lines and
perform on the stage and screen.
>
> More famous learning disabled people
>
>    * Alexander Graham Bell
>    * Walt Disney
>    * General George Patton
>    * Winston Churchill
>    * Cher
>    * Whoopi Goldberg
>    * Danny Glover
>    * Greg Louganis
>    * Bruce Jenner

********

>                  Politicians With Disabilities Answer
>
> g. Alexander the Great - Epilepsy
> h. Julius Caesar - Epilepsy
> e. Winston Churchill - Learning Disability
> i. James Brady - Traumatic Brain Injury
> a. Daniel Inouye - Amputation (WWII)
> b. Ronald Reagan - Hearing, Alzheimer's
> f. Franklin D. Roosevelt - Polio
> d. Teddy Roosevelt - Asthma, Vision
> j. Bob Dole - Injury to Right Arm (WWII)
> c. Woodrow Wilson - Learning Disability

********
Heather Whitestone -- 1994 Miss America

********
Oprah Whinfrey--childhood sexual abuse
Tom Cruise and Cher?--dyslexia

********

George S. Patton (dysgraphia)
Albert Einstein (dysgraphia and dyslexia; flunked math in HS)
Winston Churchill (multiple learning disabilities)
Thomas Edison (dyslexia; mother took him out of school because teachers
        thought he was retarded)
Ludwig van Beethoven (dyslexia and ADD)
Woodrow Wilson
Hans Christian Anderson (dyscalculia)
Leonardo da Vinci
Louis Pasteur (dyslexia and dysgraphia)
Steven Spielberg
Tom Cruise (dyslexia)
Bruce Jenner (dyslexia)
Dexter Manley
Cher (dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADD)
Henry Winkler (dyslexia and dysgraphia)
Whoopi Goldberg (ADD)
Paul Orfalea - founder of Kinko's Copy Centers (reading & mechanical
        difficulties)
Thomas H. Kean (former governor of NJ, businessman)

Most of this info came from the book "Coping with a Learning
Disability," by Lawrence Clayton and Jaydene Morrison, published by
Rosen Pub Group.

********

Elizabeth Hart
Library Technical Assistant
California School for the Blind
Fremont, CA  94536
ehart@csb.cde.ca.gov

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