List of blind people

The following is a list of notable blind people.

Activists and organizers of the blind

*Tilly Aston - Founded the "Victorian Association of Braille Writers." [ [http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE2062b.htm Australian Women Biographical Entry] ]
*Louis Braille - Known for Braille. [ [http://www.afb.org/braillebug/louis_braille_bio.asp Louis Braille Biography - American Foundation for the Blind] ]
*Kenneth Jernigan - Long-time leader of the National Federation of the Blind. [ [http://www.nfb.org/nfb/About_the_Jernigan_Institute.asp?SnID=382141530 Jernigan Institute] ]
* Helen Keller - American deaf-blind writer, lecturer, and activist. [ [http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?Sectionid=1 Helen Keller - American Foundation for the Blind] ]
*Sabriye Tenberken - Braille Without Borders co-founder. [ [http://www.time.com/time/europe/hero2004/tenberken.html Time Europe] ]

Adventurers

*Miles Hilton-Barber - British traveler and climber. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/outlook/news/story/2007/03/070307_blindpilot_uk.shtml BBC] ]
*James Holman - British man known as the "Blind Traveler." [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5675082 NPR] ]
*Erik Weihenmayer - First blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. [ [http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20010618,00.html Time Magazine] ]

Artists

Acting and performing

*Dana Elcar - Played Peter Thornton (MacGyver). He lost his vision during this time and it was written into the character's story. [ [http://www.macgyveronline.org/pages/dana2.html Macgyver Online] ]
*S. Robert Morgan - A small role in The Wire. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/12/AR2005071201374.html The Washington Post] ]

Music

*The Blind Boys of Alabama - Gospel group. [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/21/60II/main526381.shtml 60 Minutes II] ]
*Andrea Bocelli - Operatic pop singer. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/27/1093518069667.html Sydney Morning Herald] ]
*Henry Caldera - Sri Lankan singer/songwriter, blind since age 14. [ [http://www.dailymirror.lk/2006/10/12/news/4.asp Daily Mirror] ]
*Turlough Carolan - Harper and composer blinded by smallpox. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11195a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia] ]
*Ray Charles - Pianist and singer inducted to varied halls of fame. [ [http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/ray-charles Rock & Roll Hall of Fame] ]
*Fanny Crosby - Christian hymn writer. [ [http://www.nyise.org/fanny/ The New York Institute for Special Education page on Fanny Crosby ] ]
*José Feliciano - Grammy Award-winner. [ [http://www.famousinterview.ca/interviews/jose_feliciano.htm Jose Feliciano ] ]
*Five Blind Boys of Mississippi - The original line-up of this gospel group was blind, some later members were not. [ [http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/five_blind_boys_of_mississippi.html Vocal Group Hall of Fame] ]
*Blind Boy Fuller - Blues guitarist and vocalist. [ [http://facstaff.unca.edu/sinclair/piedmontblues/fuller.html UNC Asheville] ]
*Ed Haley - Appalachian old-time fiddler. [ [http://www.oldtimemusic.com/FHOFHaley.html Old-Time Fiddlers Hall of Fame] ]
*Jeff Healey - Blues-rock guitarist and vocalist. [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080302/jeff_healey_080302/20080302?hub=TopStories CTV] ]
*Blind Willie Johnson - Slide guitarist who's been termed "influential" and "the apogee" for the instrument. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=y5iPO9n4qtQC&pg=RA1-PA68&lpg=RA1-PA68&dq=%22Blind+Willie+Johnson%22+sightless&source=web&ots=3qW-y5fgQU&sig=b0rowEpCXDSGFadC3OMO2QUNl9E&hl=en#PRA1-PA67,M1 "Blind Willie Johnson: The Soul of a Man" in All Over the
] ]
*Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Jazz multi-instrumentalist. [ [http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2004/04/13/2004-04-13_stopping_the_whitewash_rahsa.html New York Daily News] ]
*Francesco Landini - Fourteenth century Italian composer and organist. [ [http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/composers/landini.html Medieval.org] ]
*Blind Willie McTell - Blues guitarist. [ [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-875 New Georgia Encyclopedia] ]
*Raul Midón - Singer-songwriter. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/intouch_20070102.shtml BBC] ]
*Ronnie Milsap - Country and pop singer. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SAEC&p_theme=saec&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAFE7FD9AEA7EA1&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM San Antonio Express-News] ]
*Moondog - Outsider musician born "Louis Thomas Hardin." [ [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2235364,00.html The Guardian] ]
*Joaquín Rodrigo - Spanish composer and pianist. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B04E7DF173CF93BA35754C0A96F958260 Obituary in the New York Times] ]
*Diane Schuur - Grammy winning jazz singer. [ [http://www.jazzreview.com/articledetails.cfm?ID=547 Jazz Review] ]
*George Shearing - British jazz pianist. [ [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=1961 All About Jazz] ]
*Tom Sullivan - American musician, author and motivational speaker. The 1982 film "If You Could See What I Hear" is based on his autobiography. [ [http://www.sullivanspeaks.com/profile.asp Profile at Tom Sullivan's official website] ]
*Art Tatum - Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame, partial sight in one eye. [ [http://www.duke.edu/~njh3/biography.html Duke University] ]
*Lennie Tristano - Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame, critics choice. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=kuz4EHH05I4C&pg=PT264&dq=%22Lennie+Tristano%22+blind&sig=8TUsuxYSiLbZuUx1zpimIfGgL5s Jazz: The First 100 Years By Waters, Henry Martin, Martin, Keith Waters] ]
*Ostap Veresai - Noted kobzar. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=IzSEEqjp9vUC&pg=PA111&dq=%22Ostap+Veresai%22+blind&sig=lAR8zdGUmPY5qrdIg3IZHr_0mkM Stalin's Empire of Memory: Russian-Ukrainian Relations in the Soviet ... By Serhy Yekelchyk] ]
*Doc Watson - Guitarist in several genres. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2003-07-22-pickers_x.htm USA Today] ]
*Stevie Wonder - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee. [ [http://themadisontimes.com/entertainment/2007/09/17/stevie-wonder-rocks-chicago/ The Madison Times] ]

Visual arts

*Esref Armagan - Turkish painter. [ [http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18524841.700 New Scientist] ]

Writers

*Jorge Luis Borges - Argentine writer blind in later part of his career. [ [http://www.themodernword.com/borges/borges_biography.html The Modern Word] ]
*Didymus the Blind - Ecclesiastical writer of Alexandria. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04784a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia] ]
*Ed Lucas - Sports writer. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/18NJCol.html?_r=2&ex=1175140800&en=16a1c76f6d2e2a58&ei=5070&oref=slogin&oref=slogin The New York Times] ]
*John Milton - Poet who was blind for the last 22 years of life. [ [http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/milton400/life.htm Christ's College, Cambridge] ]

Athletes and Sportspersons

*Anthony Clarke (athlete) - World class Judoka. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s37138.htm Australian Broadcasting Corporation] ]
*Henry Wanyoike - Long-distance runner with 95% vision loss. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/content/articles/2006/09/22/marathon06_henry_wanyoike_feature.shtml BBC] ]

Mathematicians and scientists

*Gustaf Dalén - Swedish inventor and Nobel Prize winner, who continued to make inventions and lead his company despite being blinded in an accident.
*Bernard Morin - topologist from France. [ [http://www.ams.org/notices/200210/comm-morin.pdf American Mathematical Society] ]
*Abraham Nemeth - Developed Nemeth Braille for blind students in science and math. [ [http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm06/bm0608/bm060805.htm National Federation of the Blind] ]
*Joseph Plateau - Physicist who went blind at forty-two when he gazed too long at the sun. After his blindness his scientific work diminished, but did not entirely end. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16067b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia] ]
*Nicholas Saunderson - English mathematician who went blind at the age of twelve months, held in high esteem by Isaac Newton. [ [http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/visugate/public_histedbl.hcsp History of the Education of the Blind] , 1910.]

Politicians

*David Blunkett - Labour Party (UK) politician, former cabinet minister, and Member of Parliament. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/oct/07/comment.politics4 The Guardian] ]
*Kristen Cox - Cabinet secretary in Utah and Maryland. [ [http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,640193209,00.html Deseret News] ]
*Matthew A. Dunn - Member of the United States House of Representatives. [ [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000551 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress] ]
*Henry Fawcett - Member of Parliament and Postmaster General of the United Kingdom. [ [http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH1038&type=P University of Glasgow,Biography of Henry Fawcett.] ]
*Thomas Gore - US Senator. [ [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000323 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress] ]
*David Paterson - Governor of New York. [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/first-legally-blind-governor-not-quite/index.html The New York Times blog] ]
*Bob C. Riley - An acting governor of Arkansas.

Saints

*Surdas - Hindu saint, devotional poet and singer who lived during reign of king Akbar (1542-1606).

References