Beyond Their Disabilities
Stories by Changemaker students
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Story by Aliah MedaryLoading...
Armed with his black leather jacket and beret, he was the best type of cool. Brad Lomax was a part of the Black Panther Party, a group that helped people of color across many communities. They had many connections as well as programs and services that gave people free food and aid. Brad was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 13th of September in the year 1950. He had a disease called multiple sclerosis (MS) that involves communication problems between the brain and the spine. MS can cause permanent damage or destroy nerves in the body.
When Brad was a boy, he played football, participated in drama clubs and did Boy Scouts. At the age of 13, he visited his mom’s family in Alabama. At the time, Alabama was a huge center for the civil rights movement. In that state, there were a lot of people who treated Black people in a negative way. Alabama is where Brad first experienced exclusion and discrimination because of his skin color.
Right after he got out of high school and started going to Howard University, he found that one day he was starting to fall a lot and his legs became unusable. This was when his disability started becoming a part of his life and he began to use a wheelchair. Brad had built relationships with the people in the city of Oakland, California, and he participated in the 504 Sit-in where many people who had disabilities were staying, to try and make the people in power give rights and access for people with disabilities. Brad told the Black Panther Party that the protesters and their goals were aligned, and so they brought supplies such as food for the protesters.
Brad helped create the groundwork for the ADA (The Americans With Disabilities Act). All of the things that are given to people with disabilities today are in part because of Brad Lomax. Without him, wheelchair access for places such as schools and stores would probably not have become a reality. He also helped the Black community in Oakland, California a lot.
Brad Lomax cared a lot about his community and he was an advocate of Black empowerment and disability rights. He observed the fact that people with disabilities were denied rights to jobs, housing, education, and programs and services, especially for people of color. He fought for the freedom & rights that we have today.
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Brad Lomax A Civil Rights and Disabilities Activist
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Armed with his black leather jacket and beret, he was the best type of cool. Brad Lomax was a part of the Black Panther Party, a group that helped people of color across many communities. They had many connections as well as programs and services that gave people free food and aid. Brad was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 13th of September in the year 1950. He had a disease called multiple sclerosis (MS) that involves communication problems between the brain and the spine. MS can cause permanent damage or destroy nerves in the body.
When Brad was a boy, he played football, participated in drama clubs and did Boy Scouts. At the age of 13, he visited his mom’s family in Alabama. At the time, Alabama was a huge center for the civil rights movement. In that state, there were a lot of people who treated Black people in a negative way. Alabama is where Brad first experienced exclusion and discrimination because of his skin color.
Right after he got out of high school and started going to Howard University, he found that one day he was starting to fall a lot and his legs became unusable. This was when his disability started becoming a part of his life and he began to use a wheelchair. Brad had built relationships with the people in the city of Oakland, California, and he participated in the 504 Sit-in where many people who had disabilities were staying, to try and make the people in power give rights and access for people with disabilities. Brad told the Black Panther Party that the protesters and their goals were aligned, and so they brought supplies such as food for the protesters.
Brad helped create the groundwork for the ADA (The Americans With Disabilities Act). All of the things that are given to people with disabilities today are in part because of Brad Lomax. Without him, wheelchair access for places such as schools and stores would probably not have become a reality. He also helped the Black community in Oakland, California a lot.
Brad Lomax cared a lot about his community and he was an advocate of Black empowerment and disability rights. He observed the fact that people with disabilities were denied rights to jobs, housing, education, and programs and services, especially for people of color. He fought for the freedom & rights that we have today.
Somewhere deep down there's a decent man in me, he just can't be found.
Story by Antonio Freitas
Marshall Burce Mathers III/Eminem
Rapper
Rapper
Eminem came into the world in quite a dramatic fashion, he and his mother almost died. Luckily for the music world, he survived. And thanks to his musical career he was able to change his life.
Eminem was born on October 17, 1972, in St Joseph Missouri. Back then he was known as Marshall Bruce Mathers III. Growing up he was poor and felt he could never keep up with his peers. He was also autistic and suffered from depression. These two things were also part of why he had trouble fitting in. His escape was comic books and language and sometimes he even read the dictionary for fun.
In high school, it didn’t get better he had to repeat 10th grade and eventually dropped out. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse, when he made bad decisions and had to spend some time in jail. In prison, his depression got worse, but rapping and music helped to cure him.
In 1999 his music career really took off. He met his wife and they had a complicated relationship. They also started a family together. He had many big hits in the 2000s. He was even a performer in the Super Bowl in 2022.
Eminem reminds us that anyone can change their life. It is easy to go down the wrong path, but even if you do, it is important that you always look for a way to find the light.
Eminem was born on October 17, 1972, in St Joseph Missouri. Back then he was known as Marshall Bruce Mathers III. Growing up he was poor and felt he could never keep up with his peers. He was also autistic and suffered from depression. These two things were also part of why he had trouble fitting in. His escape was comic books and language and sometimes he even read the dictionary for fun.
In high school, it didn’t get better he had to repeat 10th grade and eventually dropped out. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse, when he made bad decisions and had to spend some time in jail. In prison, his depression got worse, but rapping and music helped to cure him.
In 1999 his music career really took off. He met his wife and they had a complicated relationship. They also started a family together. He had many big hits in the 2000s. He was even a performer in the Super Bowl in 2022.
Eminem reminds us that anyone can change their life. It is easy to go down the wrong path, but even if you do, it is important that you always look for a way to find the light.
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.”
Story by Brent Nelson
Helen Keller
author and political activist
Helen was just a normal kid until she was around 7 months old when everything went horribly wrong. She had caught what could now be identified as Scarlet Fever. As a result of her high fever, she lost both her hearing and her sight. Despite her challenges, she grew up writing books and giving speeches in front of a lot of people.
Helen was born in Alabama and grew up blind and deaf. At the age of 7, she went to a school and met a teacher Annie Sullivan. She taught her how to use sign language to communicate with other people, which was a big deal because she couldn’t see. She graduated from the school and became the first person with deafness and blindness to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. And after that, she was the first woman to be awarded an honorary degree from Harvard University.
Helen did a lot to work for the blind and for women’s right to vote. She wrote books about ways to help children with blindness. Throughout her life, Keller remained committed to improving the quality of life for people who are blind and deafblind. As a student at Perkins School for the Blind, she initiated and ran fundraisers to make a kindergarten for the blind and to pay for the education of Tommy Stringer, a poor boy from Pennsylvania who was deafblind.
As an adult, she convinced politicians for programs for the prevention of blindness, laws for the education and protection of the blind and deafblind, and state-assisted programs to help people with disabilities with job training and placement. In her later years, she traveled to 39 different countries in an effort to persuade other countries to establish schools for people who were blind and deaf. And convinced by her message, many did just that.
author and political activist
Helen was just a normal kid until she was around 7 months old when everything went horribly wrong. She had caught what could now be identified as Scarlet Fever. As a result of her high fever, she lost both her hearing and her sight. Despite her challenges, she grew up writing books and giving speeches in front of a lot of people.
Helen was born in Alabama and grew up blind and deaf. At the age of 7, she went to a school and met a teacher Annie Sullivan. She taught her how to use sign language to communicate with other people, which was a big deal because she couldn’t see. She graduated from the school and became the first person with deafness and blindness to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. And after that, she was the first woman to be awarded an honorary degree from Harvard University.
Helen did a lot to work for the blind and for women’s right to vote. She wrote books about ways to help children with blindness. Throughout her life, Keller remained committed to improving the quality of life for people who are blind and deafblind. As a student at Perkins School for the Blind, she initiated and ran fundraisers to make a kindergarten for the blind and to pay for the education of Tommy Stringer, a poor boy from Pennsylvania who was deafblind.
As an adult, she convinced politicians for programs for the prevention of blindness, laws for the education and protection of the blind and deafblind, and state-assisted programs to help people with disabilities with job training and placement. In her later years, she traveled to 39 different countries in an effort to persuade other countries to establish schools for people who were blind and deaf. And convinced by her message, many did just that.
"Once you stop wanting to know where you are, you're dead. You're walking, but you're dead."
Story by Cole Benoit
Across the sea and past, the rough weather lived a young welder named William Connolly, also known in his homeland of Scotland as “Big Yin”.
Billy Connolly has played a very important role for a lot of other people. People would come from miles around just to see him play some songs on his banjo or do stand-up comedy in front of a live audience. Behind his comedic personality though, lives a thoughtful person who turns comedy into pearls of wisdom. One such pearl is “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? He's a mile away and you've got his shoes!” Besides his wisdom he has also brought joy into many people’s lives, from the small shows at the beginning of his career to the large ones at the end, Billy could always make people laugh.
William Connolly was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father was in the army and was away from home for long periods of time, his mother also abandoned him at the age of four so he was looked after by his aunts. Billy was sent to school at 14 years old and graduated a year later with an engineering qualification at the age of 15, when he was 17 he worked at a shipyard as a delivery boy, eventually, he would become an apprentice welder.
Billy was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which severely limited his hand movements in 2013. He played his music and did his comedy acts for another 5 years before his disease forced him to retire. He was in a lot of pain as he continued to perform with the disease, but he loved making people happy so much that he couldn’t stop.
Billy Connolly should be remembered as a comedic legend and wicked smart guy, because of his perseverance through pain and his undying will to make people smile with the acts that he performed.
Billy Connolly has played a very important role for a lot of other people. People would come from miles around just to see him play some songs on his banjo or do stand-up comedy in front of a live audience. Behind his comedic personality though, lives a thoughtful person who turns comedy into pearls of wisdom. One such pearl is “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? He's a mile away and you've got his shoes!” Besides his wisdom he has also brought joy into many people’s lives, from the small shows at the beginning of his career to the large ones at the end, Billy could always make people laugh.
William Connolly was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father was in the army and was away from home for long periods of time, his mother also abandoned him at the age of four so he was looked after by his aunts. Billy was sent to school at 14 years old and graduated a year later with an engineering qualification at the age of 15, when he was 17 he worked at a shipyard as a delivery boy, eventually, he would become an apprentice welder.
Billy was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which severely limited his hand movements in 2013. He played his music and did his comedy acts for another 5 years before his disease forced him to retire. He was in a lot of pain as he continued to perform with the disease, but he loved making people happy so much that he couldn’t stop.
Billy Connolly should be remembered as a comedic legend and wicked smart guy, because of his perseverance through pain and his undying will to make people smile with the acts that he performed.