Sometimes we can be blinded by the behaviour of someone with mental illness, autism or delayed development.

A Beautiful Mind






After you have made out your list, look at this one and imagine what life would have been like if these people had not been encouraged to reach their potential?

• Albert Einstein - didn't talk till 3, had a learning disorder
• Alexander Graham Bell - learning disability
• Cher - dyslexia
• Christopher Reeves (played Superman) - quadraplegic, unable to breath on his own.  Continued to direct movies after his riding accident made him quadraplegic.
• David Blunket - British member of parliament - blind
• Goya - deaf, famous Spanish painter
• Vincent Van Gogh - Bipolar disorder, famous Dutch painter.
• John Milton - blind, wrote Paradise Lost
• Beethoven - deaf
• Michael Bolton - deaf
• Marlee Matlin - deaf, comedian
• Big Daddy Taz - Bipolar disorder, comedian
• Stephan Hawking - has ALS, working on string theory, and developed big bang theory and black hole theory.
• Dan Akroyd - Asperger's syndrome, actor in films like Ghostbusters and Blues Brothers
• Daryl Hannah - autistic, actress in films like Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2
• Satoshi Tajiri - autistic, designed and developed Pokemon

The list goes on and on.

Read this article together - 

UN adopts landmark bill for disabled rights

Discuss these issues in class.