Disability Quotes: Inspiring Words from Persons with Disabilities

There are numerous quotable words about disability and its effect on our lives. These disability related quotes have been spoken or written both by persons with disabilities and persons who care about disability issues. In this article, we are publishing a select set of disability quotes from prominent people with disabilities.

Best Disability Quotes

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination” — Jimmy Dean

“When everyone else says you can’t, determination says, YES YOU CAN.” — Robert M. Hensel

“Disability cannot stop me from becoming a complete personality” — Samyak Lalit

“I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work and my God.” — Helen Keller

“Abled does not mean enabled. Disabled does not mean less abled” ― Khang Kijarro Nguyen

“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.” — Stevie Wonder

“I have had this desire my whole life to prove people wrong, to show them I could do things they didn’t think I could do.” — David A. Paterson

“Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny” — Stephen Hawking

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there” — Theodore Roosevelt

“The world worries about disability more than disabled people do” — Warwick Davis

“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” — Christopher Reeve

“I have a Disability yes that’s true, but all that really means is I may have to take a slightly different path than you.” — Robert M. Hensel

“We are put in situations to build our character… not destroy us.” — Nick Vujicic

“Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our courage and strength.” — Unknown

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” — Helen Keller

“The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.” — Helen Keller

“Being disabled should not mean being disqualified from having access to every aspect of life.” — Emma Thompson

“As a disabled man, let my life be a reflection of the endless amount of ability that exists in each and everyone of us.” — Robert M. Hensel

“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” — Helen Keller

“Every person with disability is an individual” — Itzhak Perlman

“I was slightly brain damaged at birth, and I want people like me to see that they shouldn’t let a disability get in the way. I want to raise awareness – I want to turn my disability into ability.” — Susan Boyle

“The challenges in our lives are there to STRENGTHEN our CONVICTIONS. They are NOT there to run us over.” — Nick Vujicic

“I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” — Christopher Reeve

“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” — Helen Keller

“To sit there and tell anybody they can’t do something because of a disability, I think that’s ridiculous.” — Pat McDonald, who uses a wheelchair and has a goal of playing on the PGA Tour

“The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision.” — Helen Keller

“Know me for my abilities, not my disability.” — Robert M. Hensel

“I never met a bitter person who was thankful. Or a thankful person who was bitter.” — Nick Vujicic

“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.” — Helen Keller

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” — Helen Keller

“Disability is natural. We must stop believing that disabilities keep a person from doing something. Because that’s not true… Having a disability doesn’t stop me from doing anything.” — Benjamin Snow

“If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I should be undone. I should seek in vain for the light that does not visit my eyes and the music that does not ring in my ears. I should beg night and day and never be satisfied. I should sit apart in awful solitude, a prey to fear and despair. But since I consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse than any physical deprivation.” — Helen Keller

“In life you have a choice: Bitter or Better? Choose better, forget bitter.” — Nick Vujicic

“Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.” — Bethany Hamilton

“If we are to achieve a richer culture, we must weave one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.” — Margaret Meade

“I choose not to place “DIS”, in my ability.” — Robert M. Hensel

“I don’t need easy. I just need possible.” — Bethany Hamilton

“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.” — Christopher Reeve

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.” — Helen Keller

“Keep your face to the Sunshine and you will not see the Shadows.” — Helen Keller

Hold my hand and walk with me.
We must break the back of social inequity;
We must empower every individual with a disability
To live with dignity in an inclusive society.
— William E. Lightbourne

“….What I learned was that these athletes were not disabled, they were super-abled. The Olympics is where heroes are made. The Paralympics is where heroes come.” — Joey Reiman

“I can’t change it, That was God’s plan for my life and I’m going to go with it.” — Bethany Hamilton

“It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven’t done badly. People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.” — Stephen Hawking

“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically” — Stephen Hawking

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” — Helen Keller

“We, the ones who are challenged, need to be heard. To be seen not as a disability, but as a person who has and will continue to bloom. To be seen not only as a handicap, but as a well intact human being.” — Robert M. Hensel

“As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind, so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.” — Helen Keller

Use the skills that I have got.
Do not focus on what I have not.
Of course, I am aware of my limitation.
Yet, I am a part of God’s wonderful creation.
— William E. Lightbourne

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible” — Francis of Assisi

“Disability doesn’t make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does” — Stella Young

“Life is all about balance. Since I have only one leg, I understand that well” ― Sandy Fussell (in ‘Shaolin Tiger’)

“For me, Paralympic sport isn’t about being the best human being. It’s about being the best human being with that particular level of disability” — Lee Pearson

“My disability has opened my eyes to see my true abilities.” — Robert M. Hensel

“If the world thinks you’re not good enough, it’s a lie, you know. Get a second opinion.” — Nick Vujicic

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” — Scott Hamilton

“Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.” — Simone Weil

“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” — Bethany Hamilton

“My disability exists not because I use a wheelchair, but because the broader environment isn’t accessible” — Stella Young

“There is a plan and a purpose, a value to every life, no matter what its location, age, gender or disability” — Sharron Angle

“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.” — Martina Navratilova

“Whether someone is useful only matters if you value people by their use” ― Corinne Duyvis (in ‘On the Edge of Gone’)

“I could never have embraced this many people with two arms.” — Bethany Hamilton

“Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that so it goes on flying anyway” — Mary Kay Ash

“If I fail, I try again, and again, and again. If YOU fail, are you going to try again? The human spirit can handle much worse than we realize. It matters HOW you are going to FINISH. Are you going to finish strong?” — Nick Vujicic

“I don’t have a dis-ability, I have a different-ability.” — Robert M. Hensel

So, these were some of the great quotes on disability. If you know more such quotable quotes, please let us know in the comments section. Thank you!