Disability Facts

Approximately 70,000 people in the U.S. are both blind and deaf!

A blind American man taught himself to navigate using echolocation. His hobbies include hiking and mountain-biking, and he has now trained over 500 students in his ‘tongue-click’ technique.

A woman with Down syndrome worked at Walmart for 16 years with glowing reviews. When a new scheduling system changed her shift, she asked to keep her old hours because eating dinner at irregular times made her sick. Walmart refused and fired her for "absenteeism." A jury took three hours to award her $125 million.

A teenager was drowning in a rip current at Pensacola Beach. Andrew Smith, a fisherman with a seizure disorder who can't swim, was the only person nearby who could help. He strapped a flotation device to his shark-fishing drone and flew it out. First drop missed. A bystander handed him a second float. Second drop - she grabbed it and held on.

Victor Robinson graduated Werner Enterprises' own truck driving school, earned his CDL, and obtained a federal exemption allowing him to drive commercially. When he applied to Werner for a job, their VP of Safety told him flat out they wouldn't hire him because he was deaf. A jury awarded him $36 million.

Rick Hoyt had cerebral palsy, unable to speak or move. Doctors said he belonged in an institution. His parents refused. At 12, engineers built him a computer. In 1977 he asked his father Dick to push him through a 5 mile race. That night he typed: Dad, when I'm running, it feels like I'm not handicapped. Dick kept pushing him for 1,000 more races. 32 Boston Marathons. Six Ironmans.