List of people with visual disabilities

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIS : List of people with visual disabilities

Blind from birth

• Esref Armagan (born 1954), Turkish painter
• David Blunkett (born 1947), British ex-cabinet minister
• Sidney Bradford (1906–1960), British case study subject of psychologist Richard Gregory, went blind at 10 months of age, regained sight after a cornea transplant at the age of 52
• Frances Browne (1816–1887), Irish writer
• Tim Cordes, American physician
• Thomas Gore (1870–1949), American Senator, went blind from childhood accident
• Homer, (circa 8th century BC), reportedly blind from birth
• Dionne Quan, (born c. 1978) born legally blind, voice actress in Rugrats who reads scripts in Braille

People who became blind later in life

• Tilly Aston (1873–1947), Australian disability activist who founded Association for the Advancement of the Blind in 1895. Vision impaired from birth, blind at 7 years of age.
• Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), became blind in old age from a hereditary condition
• Louis Braille (1809–1852), became blind at the age of 3, after he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father's awl, and the lost the sight in the other eye from sympathetic ophthalmia.
• Dana Elcar (1927–2005), actor, glaucoma
• Enrico Dandolo (died 1205), doge of Venice, blind from trauma.
• Frederick Delius (1862–1934), became blind later in life after contracting syphilis
• Clemente Domínguez y Gómez (1946–2005), leader of the Palmarian Catholic Church, blinded in a car accident.
• Matthew A. Dunn (1886–1942), US Congressman from Pennsylvania, blind as a result of accidents by age 20
• Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), mathematician and physicist.
• Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), astronomer, philosopher, and physicist, blind by age 72 not from looking at the sun but from cataract and glaucoma
• George Greer (born 1942), the judge in the Terri Schiavo case
• Mary Ingalls (1865–1928), sister of writer Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Isaac, biblical patriarch
• Isaac the Blind (1160–1235), French cabbalist (possibly blind from birth)
• James Joyce (1882–1941), writer, at times blind, underwent several operations
• King John the Blind of Bohemia (1309–1346)
• John II of Aragon (1397–1479), able to see again after cataract surgery (couching) by Abiathar Crescas
• Helen Keller (1880–1968), deafblindness resulted from fever at age 19 months
• Esmond Knight (1906–1987), British actor
• Fritz Lang (1890–1976), nearly blind at the end of his life
• Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (1792–1856), mathematician.
• Mike May (born 1954), regained partial vision due to stem cell research.
• John Milton (1608–1674), became blind at the age of 42.
• Bernard Morin (born 1931), mathematician who made important contributions to topology, blind from the age of six
• Joseph Plateau (1801–1883), physicist, blind due to retinal exposure to sunlight.
• William Prescott (1796–1859), historian, from childhood blind in one eye, severe visual impairment in other eye
• Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911), publisher, blind at 43 from retinal detachement
• Omar Abdel-Rahman (born 1938) religious leader and terrorist
• Marla Runyan (born 1969), Olympic long-distance runner, diagnosed with Stargardt's disease at the age of nine
• Samson, Biblical character, blinded by the Philistines
• Zohar Sharon, blind pro golfer
• Amanda Swafford (born 1980), contestant on the third cycle of America's Next Top Model, retinitis pigmentosa
• Sabriye Tenberken (born 1970), co-founder of Braille Without Borders, became blind at the age of 7 due to retinal disease
• James Thurber (1894–1961), lost an eye as a child when his brother shot him with an arrow and as an adult lost the sight in the other eye.
• Sue Townsend (born 1946), registered blind in mid 2001 due to a diabetic condition she has suffered from for 20 years.
• Eamon de Valera (1882–1975), President of Ireland.
• Abdurrahman Wahid (born 1940), former President of Indonesia

People blind in one eye

• Louise Ashby (born 1971), American actress and model, lost an eye in a car accident at the age of 21
• Tex Avery (1908–1980), blind in his left eye
• Gordon Banks, English Goalkeeper, lost sight in one eye in a car accident
• Jón Þor Birgisson (born 1975), lead singer of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós
• Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910)
• Bohemund IV of Antioch (died 1231), the One-Eyed
• Gordon Brown (born 1951), lost the use of his left eye as a boy during a game of rugby.
• Bushwick Bill (born 1966), American rapper, member of the Geto Boys, lost an eye during an argument with a girlfriend
• Dale Chihuly (born 1941)
• Ry Cooder (born 1947), blind in one eye
• Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925–1990), lost his left eye in a car accident in 1954
• Moshe Dayan (1915–1981)
• Jack Elam, stabbed in left eye with a pencil at a Boy Scout meeting
• André De Toth (1912–2002), film director known for his work on House of Wax, a film notable for its 3D effects. Ironically, since he was blind in one eye, De Toth was not himself able to perceive the effects.
• Sandy Duncan, lost vision in one eye following surgery.
• Peter Falk (born 1927), lost his right eye at age three as a result of a tumor.
• Leo Fender
• Nick Griffin
• Hannibal (247 BC–183/182 BC), lost one of his eyes during the crossing of the Apennines.
• Rex Harrison (1908–1990), blind in one eye as the result of a childhood illness.
• Eric Hosking, bird photographer
• Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) compiler of the first English dictionary, blind in one eye from childhood
• Johnny Jordaan (1924–1989), Dutch singer, lost one eye in a friendly fight during childhood
• Patrick Leahy (born 1940), blind in one eye from birth
• Jim McMahon (born 1959), legally blind in one eye due to a childhood accident
• Alan Moore
• Horatio Nelson (1758–1805), lost an eye in battle and later took advantage of his disability.
• Kirby Puckett (1960–2006), Baseball Hall of Famer; baseball career ended when he lost the sight in his right eye due to glaucoma
• Claude Rains, blind in one eye
• Theodore Roosevelt, blinded in left eye in White House boxing match
• Cordwainer Smith (pen name of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger), blinded in left eye as a child, vision impaired in right eye by infection
• Art Tatum
• James Grover Thurber
• Robert Thurman (born 1941), scholar and author, lost his left eye after a tire iron slipped[link].
• Mo Udall (1922–1998), lost an eye in a childhood accident. It was mistreated by a drunken doctor.
• Dick Vitale (born 1939), basketball sportscaster; blind in one eye from a childhood accident
• Wesley Walker, Wide Receiver, New York Jets
• Rich Williams
• E.O. Wilson (born 1929), blind in his right eye from a childhood fishing accident
• Xiahou Dun, blinded by arrow during a battle. According to legend, is said to have immediately eaten it.
• Yagyu Jubei Mitsuyoshi (1607–1650), most legends state he lost it in a sword sparring session with his father; however, the truth is unknown.

Blind musicians

• See also the article Blind musicians

British jazz pianist George Shearing

• Amadou and Mariam
• Frankie Armstrong, English folk singer and voice teacher, sight degraded in late teens onwards from glaucoma
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), became blind in later life.
• Blind Blake
• Andrea Bocelli (born 1958), barely sighted at birth became completely blind at 12.
• Archie Brownlee (of The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi)
• Henry Butler
• Jessica Callahan (born 1986), singer, blind from retinopathy of prematurity
• Clarence Carter (born 1936), American singer and musician
• Ray Charles, (1930–2004), blind from glaucoma after age 7.
• Arizona Dranes
• Blind Gary Davis
• Blind John Davis (1913–1985) (also known as John Henry Davis)[link]
• Blind Willie Davis
• Jose Feliciano (born 1945), blind from birth due to congenital glaucoma
• Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996), jazz singer, went blind as a result of diabetes in her old age.
• Blind Mamie Forehand
• Clarence Fountain (of The Blind Boys of Alabama)
• Blind Boy Fuller
• G.B. Grayson, old timey fiddler from Ashe County, North Carolina, recorded in 1920s
• W.C. Handy, (1873–1958), Blues composer, went blind in middle age
• Jeff Healey
• Al Hibbler (1950–2001), American singer
• Heather Hutchison (born 1988), teenage pop-singer, blind from birth
• Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929), Blues musician & singer
• Blind Willie Johnson
• John Kay (born 1944) Singer/songwriter and guitarist from Steppenwolf
• Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935–1977), blind jazz saxophonist, perhaps best known for his ability to play more than one saxophone at once.
• Kuzuhara Koto (1813–1882)
• Stalebread Lacombe, Jazz musician, went blind in middle age
• Francesco Landini, 14th century Italian composer; blind from childhood, from smallpox
• Corinna May (born 1970), German jazz singer, blind from childhood
• Blind Willie McTell (1901–1959)
• Ronnie Milsap (born 1946), American country music singer and musician, blind from birth due to congenital glaucoma or congenital cataracts
• Moondog (1916–1999), musician and composer, blinded as a young adult
• Gilbert Montagné French singer and musician
• Turlough O'Carolan (1670–1738), Irish composer
• Ginny Owens, Contemporary Christian singer, totally blind from age 2
• Paderevski, Polish pianist
• Maria Theresia Paradis (1759–1824) [link]
• Conrad Paumann
• Lennie Peters, one half of the Peters and Lee singing suo
• Bob Ringwald, Jazz pianist, father of Molly Ringwald [link]
• Marcus Roberts
• Joaquin Rodrigo, composer, blind from meningitis at age three
• Gerlinde Sämann (born 1969), German soprano, blind from childhood
• Arnolt Schlick blind as an adult, no records of his childhood survive
• Diane Schuur (born 1953), American jazz singer, blind since birth due to retinopathy of prematurity.
• George Shearing (born 1919), jazz pianist.
• John Stanley, composer, became partially blind as the result of a domestic accident at age 2
• Surdas, a Hindu poet, saint and musician of India
• Joel Taggart (also known as Blind Joe Taggart, Blind Joe Amos, Blind Jeremiah Taylor, Blind Tim Russell, and Blind Joe Donnel[link]
• Alec Templeton (1909–1963), jazz musician
• Lennie Tristano
• Kelvin Tan Wei Lian Singaporean singer, became almost totally blind after late-teens
• Art Tatum
• Sonny Terry
• Doc Watson, folk guitarist, blinded by a childhood eye infection at the age of one.
• Stevie Wonder, blindness from retrolental fibroplasia caused by high oxygen concentrations in the incubator in which he was placed because of his premature birth.
• Joana Zimmer (German singer and marathon runner, blind from birth)

Blind painters

• Esref Armagan realistic painter, blind since birth
• Honoré Daumier (1808–1879), French caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, blind later in life
• Francisco Goya (1746–1828), painter, became blind and deaf in late life, painted blind(ed) subjects
• Claude Monet (1840–1926), lost sight through cataracts in later life, improved after surgery
• Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), British painter, blind later in life

Fictional and mythological characters

• Albino from Alejandro Jodorowsky's Technopriests (impaired vision due to albinism)
• Paul Atreides, from the Dune universe
• Elle Driver, played by Daryl Hannah, in Kill Bill 2 had one eye plucked out by Pai Mei during her tutelage and then the other by Beatrix Kiddo, played by Uma Thurman, during a duel.
• G'Kar (Babylon 5) (blind in one eye)
• Maharet from Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles
• Mr. Leonides, on Bliss, episode, "The Piano Tuner"
• Geordi La Forge (Star Trek)
• Suzy Hendrix from Frederick Knott's Wait Until Dark, played by Lee Remick in the 1966 Broadyway play and Audrey Hepburn in the 1967 film.
• Jorge de Burgos, in The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
• Phineas, king and seer, from Salmydessus in Thrace, in Jason and the Argonauts
• Polyphemus, a cyclops, blinded by Odysseus
• Odin (Norse mythology) (gave up one eye in exchange for wisdom)
• Oedipus, blinded himself
• Tiresias, the Blind Seer (Greek mythology)
• Jamesir Bensonmum, blind butler from the film Murder by Death
• Daredevil, comic book superhero
• Doctor Mid-Nite Another comic book superhero.
• Toph, and Earthbending master from .
• Peter Griffin Lost his sight in one episode of Family Guy, after setting a world record of the most nickels eaten. He gets the eyes of a dead homeless man at the end of the episode.
• Zatōichi
• Con Smith, teenage assassin from the video-game Killer7. He is voiced by Jun Hee Lee.
• Tommy Walker, the deaf, dumb, and blind kid who sure played a mean pinball, from The Who's rock opera, Tommy

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