Louis Braille is, of course, best known for inventing braille<\/a>: a system of reading and writing for blind and visually impaired people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Braille was blind himself, following an accident in his father\u2019s harness-making workshop when he was three years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Braille attended a school for blind children founded by philanthropist Valentin Ha\u00fcy, and learned the Ha\u00fcy system for reading and writing. This involved feeling Roman letters (a, b and so on) that were embossed on heavy paper. It was a very slow method of reading, which lead Braille to come up with his own system instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Braille\u2019s system wasn\u2019t widely adopted until after his death. Today, braille is used by blind people all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out more about braille.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n \u201cWe do not need pity, nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable. We must be treated as equals \u2013 and communication is the way this can be brought about.\u201d<\/p>\nLouis Braille<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Helen Keller was an author and disability rights advocate. Born in Alabama in 1880, she lost her sight and hearing after an illness at 19 months old. She later became the first person who was deafblind to earn a bachelor of arts degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She spent her life writing and campaigning for the rights of disabled people. Without her tireless efforts, the world would be a different place for disabled people today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlthough the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.\u201d<\/p>Helen Keller<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n These two women, while not disabled themselves, made a huge difference to the disability community when they introduced guide dogs to the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosamund Bond was a German Shepherd breeder, and her friend Muriel Crooke was an enthusiastic owner of the breed. Both women had lots of experience in training German Shepherds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1931, Muriel read a letter from the RNIB in the local newspaper, asking if anyone could help with training a guide dog to assist a blind person. She and Rosamund then organised the training of the first four guide dogs in Britain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Their work formed the basis of the organisation today known as Guide Dogs UK<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter best known for her striking and surreal self-portraits, inspired by Mexican folk art. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the age of six, Kahlo had polio, which left her with one shorter and thinner leg. This meant that she walked with a limp. As a teenager, she was severely injured in a bus accident, leaving her in chronic pain for the rest of her life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of Kahlo\u2019s most famous paintings depict her experience of living with chronic pain and illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best.\u201d<\/p>Frida Kahlo<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ve probably heard of Harriet Tubman, who played a pivotal role in the abolition of slavery in the US. You might not know that she was also disabled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tubman was born into slavery in the South in around 1820. Her disability came from a traumatic brain injury she suffered from a slave master as a child. She had painful headaches and seizures for the rest of her life, which historians have described as epilepsy or narcolepsy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She went on to help an estimated more than 300 slaves escape from slavery as a \u201cconductor\u201d of the Underground Railroad. She also worked as a cook, nurse, scout and spy during the Civil War. <\/p>\n\n\n \u201cFor no man should take me alive; I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.\u201d<\/p>\nHarriet Tubman<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Astronaut Scott Kelly has been to space no fewer than four times. His first mission was as pilot of the Space Shuttle Discovery <\/em>in 1999. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He holds the record for the longest time spent in space by an American, after living aboard the International Space Station for nearly a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelly also believes that he has ADHD, saying in an interview<\/a> that he thinks he would be diagnosed if he was at school today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery year, I thought, \u2018This is the year I\u2019m going to start paying attention and doing my homework.\u2019 And that would last all of two days. But eventually when I got to college, I found something that motivated me, and that was a book called The Right Stuff. I just decided right then and there that this is what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>Scott Kelly<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Of course, we have to give a nod to Sense\u2019s own history. Sense was founded over 60 years ago<\/a> by Peggy Freeman and Margaret Brock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Louis.jpg\")
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2. Helen Keller<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Helen-2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3. Muriel Crooke and Rosamund Bond<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
4. Frida Kahlo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Frida.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n5. Harriet Tubman<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/harriet_tubman_portrait-350x322.jpg\")
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6. Scott Kelly<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Scott](\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ScottKelly.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n7. Peggy Freeman and Margaret Brock<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n