Marla Runyan is an American Paralympian who competed in track and field events despite being legally blind from Stargardt's disease. She won four gold medals at the 1992 Paralympics and medals in later Paralympics. She also became the first legally blind Paralympian to compete in the Olympics in 2000. Runyan holds several American records in distance running and multi-event competitions. Ludwig van Beethoven was a famous German composer who began losing his hearing in his mid-20s but produced some of the greatest works in classical music, including his 9th Symphony, despite being completely deaf for the last 25 years of his life. Nick Vujicic is an Australian Christian evang

1. Marla Runyan (Blindness)
Jan 4, 1969
• At the age of nine, Runyan developed
Stargardt’s Disease, which is a form of
macular degeneration that left her legally
blind.
• Marla Runyan is a three time national
champion in the women’s 5000 meters.
She won four gold medals in the 1992
summer Paralympics.
• In the 1996 Paralympics she won silver in
the shot put and gold in the Pentathlon.
In 2000 she became the first legally blind
paralympian to compete in the Olympic
games in Sydney, Australia.
• She holds various American records such
as 20,000 Road (2003), All-female
Marathon (2002), 500m (2001)
, Heptathlon (1996).
• In 2001, she co-wrote and published her
autobiography ‘No Finish Line: My Life As
I See It’

2. Ludwig van Beethoven (Deafness)
1770-1827
• Beethoven is widely regarded as one of
the greatest composers in history. He
gave his first public performance as a
pianist when he was only 8 years old.
• He studied in Vienna under the guidance
of Mozart. By his mid-twenties he had
earned a name for himself as a great
pianist known for unpredictable and
brilliant improvisations. In the year 1796
Beethoven began losing his hearing.
• In spite of his illness he immersed
himself in his work and created some of
the greatest works of music.
• Beethoven’s finest works are also the
finest works of their kind in music
history: the 9th Symphony, the 5th Piano
Concerto, the Violin Concerto, the Late
Quartets, and his Missa Solemnis.
• He achieved all this despite being
completely deaf for the last 25 years of
his life.

3. Nick Vujicic