List of physically disabled politicians

The following is a list of politicians who hold or held office while having a physical disability.

Afghanistan

• Mohammed Omar, Taliban leader and former head of state (lost one eye due to a shrapnel injury)

Algeria

• Abdelaziz Bouteflika, former President of Algeria (wheelchair user)

Argentina

• Gabriela Michetti, former vice president (wheelchair user)
• Daniel Scioli, former vice president and former governor of Buenos Aires Province (lost his right arm in an accident in 1989)
• Jorge Triaca Jr., current Minister of Labour (wheelchair user)

Armenia

• Seyran Ohanyan, former Defence Minister of Armenia (one leg amputated after being wounded during the Nagorno-Karabakh War)
• Zaruhi Batoyan, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour (wheelchair user)
• Artak Zeynalyan, Minister of Justice of Armenia (leg amputee)
• Sipan Asatryan, Yerevan City Council member (blind)

Australia

Federal

• Graham Edwards, member of the House of Representatives (lost both legs during the Vietnam War)
• John Hyde, member of the House of Representatives (lost an arm in a farming accident)
• George Maxwell, member of the House of Representatives (deteriorating eyesight, eventually went blind)
• Gregor McGregor, senator for South Australia (deteriorating eyesight, eventually went blind)
• Alby Schultz, member of the House of Representatives (blind in one eye after an accident with hydrochloric acid)
• Jordon Steele-John, senator for Western Australia (cerebral palsy, wheelchair user)

State

• Denise Allen, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (muscular atrophy)
• Les Craig, member of the WA Legislative Council (lost a leg during World War I)
• Henry Curran, member of the WA Legislative Assembly (lost a leg in a traffic accident)
• Roberts Dunstan, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (lost a leg during World War II)
• Frank Guthrie, member of the WA Legislative Assembly (lost a leg during World War I)
• Cecil Hincks, member of the South Australian House of Assembly (lost a leg during World War I)
• David Hunter, member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (went blind as a child after contracting meningitis)
• Mathieson Jacoby, member of the WA Legislative Assembly (blind in one eye after dynamiting accident)
• Peter Lalor, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (lost an arm in the Eureka Rebellion)
• Iven Manning, member of the WA Legislative Assembly (lost an arm during World War II)
• Frank Marriott, member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly (lost sight during World War I)
• Hugh Mosman, member of the Queensland Legislative Council (lost arm in a dynamiting accident)
• Batong Pham, member of the WA Legislative Council (uses a wheelchair after experiencing a brain aneurysm)
• Rob Pyne, member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly (quadriplegic, wheelchair user)
• Liesl Tesch, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (paraplegic, wheelchair user)
• Kelly Vincent, member of the South Australian Legislative Council (cerebral palsy, wheelchair user)
• William Willmott, member of the WA Legislative Assembly (lost a leg during World War I)

Bohemia

• John of Bohemia, King of Bohemia and Poland (blind)

Brazil

• Mara Gabrilli, current member of the Brazilian National Congress (tetraplegic due to a car accident)
• Golbery do Couto e Silva, chief of staff of Geisel and Figueiredo administrations (blind in one eye)

Cambodia

• Ta Mok, Khmer Rouge leader (amputated lower leg)
• Hun Sen, Prime minister (blind in one eye due to a war wound)

Canada

• Lucien Bouchard, former Ambassador to France, leader of the Bloc Québécois and Premier of Quebec (amputee due to necrotizing fasciitis)
• Stephanie Cadieux, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (paraplegic)
• Conner Copeman, village councillor in Cumberland, British Columbia (quadriplegic with limited use of extremities after being beaten in a violent attack in Saskatoon)
• Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development (visually impaired due to Graves' disease)
• Steven Fletcher, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Assiniboia (first quadriplegic MP)
• Kent Hehr, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (quadriplegic after being shot as a bystander in a drive-by shooting)
• Marlene Jennings, Member of Parliament for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine (partially blind due to detached retinas and cataracts)
• Manon Perreault, Member of Parliament for Montcalm (paraplegic)
• Pierre Sévigny, former Member of Parliament and Associate Minister of National Defence (amputee)[1]
• Michelle Stilwell, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (quadriplegic)
• Sam Sullivan, former Mayor of Vancouver (quadriplegic with limited use of his extremities)
• Carla Qualtrough, Member of Parliament and Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility (visually impaired since birth)

Czech Republic

• Jan Žižka, Czech general and Hussite leader, follower of Jan Hus; took part in the civil wars in Bohemia in the reign of Wenceslaus IV (blind)[2]

Dominican Republic

• Joaquín Balaguer, former president (1960-1962, 1966-1978, and 1986-1996) (blind on his last term due to glaucoma)

Ecuador

• Lenín Moreno, President and former Vice President 2007–2013 (paraplegic)[3]

Estonia

• Edgar Savisaar, former Mayor of Tallinn and former acting Prime Minister (had a leg amputated due to necrotizing fasciitis)

Fiji

• Iliesa Delana, member of Parliament and Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports (since 2014); Paralympic gold medallist (leg amputee due to an accident as a child)

France

• Georges Couthon, one of the leaders of the French Revolution (paraplegic)
• Louis XVIII, King of France (paralysed by gout in his final years)
• Antoine Pinay, Prime Minister of France (paralyzed right arm due to a World War I injury)
• Jean-Marie Le Pen, Member of the European Parliament and three-time presidential candidate (blind in his left eye)

Germany

• Malu Dreyer, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate (has multiple sclerosis)[4]
• Otto Graf Lambsdorff, Member of Bundestag 1972–1998, minister of economy 1977–1984 (leg amputee) [5]
• Wilhelm II, last Kaiser and King of Prussia (Had a withered left arm about 15 cm shorter than his right as a result of Erb's palsy)
• Wolfgang Schäuble, President of the Bundestag (former minister of finance and the interior) and former CDU party chairman (wheelchair user since 1990 assassination attempt)
• Kurt Schumacher, Member of Bundestag 1949–1952, head of SPD (double amputee: right arm and left leg)[6]

Gibraltar

• Peter Caruana, Member of the Gibraltar Parliament 1991-2013, 5th Chief Minister of Gibraltar 1996-2011 (blind in one eye)

Hungary

• Béla II, King of Hungary (1131–1141) (blinded by his father's political opponents in 1113)
• Ferenc Hirt, Member of Parliament for Tamási (2006–2018) (wheelchair user since 1988 due to a car accident)
• Katalin Szili, Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary

India

• Jaipal Reddy (polio)

Indonesia

• Abdurrahman Wahid, famous cleric and the head of largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama, former parliament member, founder of National Awakening Party - Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa, President of the Republic of Indonesia (1999–2001) (blinded due to a car accident, suspected sabotage by a military regime)

Iran

• Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran (lost his right hand's function in an assassination attempt)

Ireland

• Brian Crowley, MEP for Ireland South (wheelchair-user since suffering an accident aged 16)
• Senator Martin Conway (blind)

Israel

• Moshe Dayan, Defense Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel (lost his left eye in World War II)
• Karin Elharar, member of the Knesset (has sarcopenia, which causes a degenerative loss in skeletal muscle mass; wheelchair user)
• Ilan Gilon, member of the Knesset (paralyzed leg due to polio)
• Ya'akov Katz, member of the Knesset (injury sustained in the Yom Kippur War)
• Moshe Matalon, member of the Knesset (paraplegic due to injury sustained in an accident before the Yom Kippur War)
• Zion Pinyan, member of the Knesset (polio)
• David Rotem, member of the Knesset (polio)

Jamaica

• Floyd Morris, President of the Senate (blind)[7]

Japan

• Masatoshi Takagi (高木正年), former member of the House of Representatives from 1890-1892 and 1898-1934 (blind due to glaucoma)
• Toshikazu Hori (堀利和), former member of the House of Councillors from 1989-1995 and 1998-2004 (legally blind)
• Eita Yashiro (八代英太), former Minister of Postal Services from 1999-2000, House of Councillors 1999-2000, and House of Representatives 1996-2005 (wheelchair user due to spinal cord injury)
• Eiko Kimura (木村英子), member of the House of Councillors from 2019 (a wheelchair user with tetraplegia and cerebral palsy due to falling with a baby walker as an infant)
• Yasuhiko Funago (舩後靖彦), member of the House of Councillors from 2019 (paralysed wheelchair user and lost ability to speak and write due to Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)

Kingdom of Jerusalem

• Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, King of Jerusalem (grave physical impairments as a result of his leprosy)

Malaysia

• Karpal Singh, member of parliament for Bukit Gelugor (a full-time wheelchair user, due to car accident, with neurological problems in his right arm)[8]

Mexico

• Miguel Barbosa, current President of the Senate (lost his right foot due to diabetes)
• Antonio López de Santa Anna, former President of the United Mexican States (lost his left leg in combat)
• Alonso Lujambio, former Secretary of Public Education and Senator (wheelchair user due to multiple myeloma; died after 24 days in office due to cancer)
• Álvaro Obregón, former President of the United Mexican States (lost his right arm in combat)
• Gilberto Rincón Gallardo, former Predident of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (congenital physical anomaly)

New Zealand

• Adam Adamson, Mayor of Invercargill (born without right hand)
• Leon Götz, MP 1949–1963 (lost right arm and eye during the First World War)
• Norman Jones, MP 1975–1987 (leg amputee; war wound during Second World War)
• John A. Lee, MP 1922–1943 (arm amputee; war wound during the First World War)[9]
• Mojo Mathers, MP 2011–2017 (born deaf)
• Clutha McKenzie, MP 1921–1922 (blinded at Gallipoli during the First World War)
• Margaret Wilson, MP 1999–2008 (leg amputee)

Nigeria

• Dr. Samuel Ankeli, senior special assistant to the President on disability from 2016-2019, doctor of veterinary medicine (blind at 30)

Norway

• Tove Linnea Brandvik, former Member of the Parliament of Norway (uses a wheelchair due to a neuromuscular disease)[10]
• Guro Fjellanger, former Environment Minister (wheelchair user due to spina bifida)[11]

Poland

• Wojciech Jaruzelski, former Minister of Defence, Prime Minister, and President of Poland (snow blinded)
• Jan Filip Libicki, member of the Sejm and the Senate of Poland (wheelchair user)
• Malgorzata Olejnik, member of the Sejm (wheelchair user; quadraplegic)
• Sławomir Piechota, member of the Sejm (wheelchair user)
• Marek Plura, member of the Sejm and later Member of the European Parliament (wheelchair user due to spinal muscular atrophy)

Republic of Venice

• Enrico Dandolo (1107?–1205), 42nd Doge of Venice (blind)

Roman Empire

• Claudius, 4th Roman emperor (had problems walking)[12]

Russia

• Said Amirov, former mayor of Makhachkala (paralysed as a result of one of many assassination attempts)
• Vasily II, the Grand Prince of Moscow (was blinded by his captors in 1446); regained power and reigned until his death in 1462

San Marino

• Mirko Tomassoni, former Captain-Regent (paraplegic)

Solomon Islands

• Martin Magga, Minister for Health (became ill and needed to use a wheelchair in 2009 while serving); resigned from the Cabinet but retained his seat in Parliament in the 2010 general election; served as MP, in a wheelchair, until his death in 2014

Soviet Union

• Vladimir Lenin, 1st Head of Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (mute and bed-ridden after a series of strokes)

Spain

• Pablo Echenique, member of the Congress of Deputies (wheelchair user due to spinal muscular atrophy)

Sri Lanka

• Senarath Attanayake, Member of Uva Provincial Council; first elected representative with a disability in Sri Lanka; first person with a disability to hold ministerial portfolios (Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, Land and Forestry) and to become an Acting Chief Minister of a Province; first person with a disability to become a lawyer in Sri Lanka (full-time wheelchair user due to polio infection at the age of two)

Thailand

• Rama IX, King of Thailand (blind in one eye for most of his reign following a road accident)

Ukraine

• Hennadiy Kernes, Mayor of Kharkiv (wheelchair user since 2014 assassination attempt)
• Oleksandr Pabat, Kyiv City Council member and former presidential candidate (blind since 2013 because of an accident)
• Yuriy Shukhevych, MP since 2014 (blind since imprisonment in the 1970s)
• Valeriy Sushkevich, MP from 1998 to 2014 (wheelchair user since childhood)

United Kingdom

• Jack Ashley, MP from 1966 to 1992 (profoundly deaf from 1967)
• Anne Begg, MP from 1997 to 2015 (wheelchair user)
• David Blunkett, former Home Secretary (blind since birth)
• Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister (blind in one eye)
• Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, disabled rights activist and member of the House of Lords (born with spinal muscular atrophy)
• Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Countess of Swinton and Baroness Masham of Ilton, politician (had several parts of her body paralysed following a car accident)
• Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Lonsdale, MP several times between 1924 and 1958, then first life peer appointed to the House of Lords in 1958 (blinded in action during the First World War)
• George III, King of the United Kingdom (blind and deaf in his last ten years)
• Tanni Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson, disabled athlete and Member of the house of Lords (born with spina bifida)
• Davina Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth, member of the House of Lords (paralyzed from the neck down following a car accident)
• Colin Low, Baron Low of Dalston (born blind)
• David Maclean, Baron Blencathra, MP (1983–2010) currently sitting to the house of Lords (since 1996 has multiple sclerosis)
• George May, 1st Baron May, civil servant and member of the House of Lords from 1935 until his death in 1946 (blind in one eye)[13]
• Kevin Shinkwin, Baron Shinkwin, Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords (osteogenesis imperfecta, or "brittle bone syndrome")[14]
• Jared O'Mara, MP from 2017 to 2019 (cerebral palsy, hemiparesis, and autism spectrum disorder)
• Marsha de Cordova, MP since 2017 (blind from nystagmus)
• Stephen Lloyd, MP from 2010 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019 (deaf from age six)
• Robert Halfon, Education Select Committee Chair since 2017 (cerebral palsy and osteoarthritis)
• Paul Maynard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Department for Transport since 2019 (cerebral palsy)

United States

• Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas; former Texas Attorney General (paraplegic due to a 1984 freak accident when a falling oak tree hit him in the back)[15]
• Roswell P. Bishop, former United States Representative for the 9th Congressional District of Michigan (amputee, lost right arm in American Civil War)
• Max Cleland, former U.S. Senator from Georgia (triple amputee, both legs and one arm, due to a grenade blast in the Vietnam War)[16]
• Tony Coelho, former U.S. Congressman from California (epilepsy)[17]
• Kristen Cox, 2006 Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Maryland (blind from Stargardt disease)[18]
• Dan Crenshaw, current U.S. Representative from Texas (lost eye due to an IED attack in Afghanistan)[19]
• Bob Dole, former U.S. Senator from Kansas; 1996 presidential candidate (withered, useless arm due to World War II injury)[20]
• Tammy Duckworth, former U.S. Congresswoman from Illinois; Senator (lost both of her legs and damaged her right arm due to a rocket propelled grenade attack in the Iraq War)[21]
• John Porter East, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina (paraplegic due to polio contracted in 1955)[22]
• Oramel B. Fuller, former Michigan Legislator (paraplegic due to accidental fall)[23]
• Thomas Gore, former U.S. Senator from Oklahoma (blind from childhood accidents)[24]
• Cyrus Habib, Lieutenant Governor of Washington (blind due to childhood cancer)[25]
• Daniel Inouye, former U.S. Senator from Hawaii (lost his right arm due to grenade shrapnel in World War II)[20]
• Harry Kelly, former Governor of Michigan (lost his right leg in World War I)
• Bob Kerrey, former Governor of Nebraska; former U.S. Senator from Nebraska (lost one leg below the knee due to combat injury in the Vietnam War)[26]
• Mark Kirk, former U.S. Senator from Illinois (suffered a stroke in 2012)[27]
• James Langevin, current U.S. Representative from Rhode Island (quadriplegic; injured in an accidental shooting when 16)[28]
• Robert Mahoney, former member of the Michigan House of Representatives (blind)
• Charles H. Manly, former mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan (amputee, lost his left arm in American Civil War)
• Brian Mast, current U.S. Representative from Florida (lost both his legs and one of his fingers when he stepped on an IED in Kandahar)[29][30]
• John McCain, former U.S. Senator from Arizona (limited use of arms and "off-kilter gait" due to torture as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War)[31][32]
• Allen B. Morse, former Michigan state senator (amputee, lost his left arm in American Civil War)
• David Paterson, former Governor of New York (legally blind from birth)[33]
• Charles E. Potter, former United States Senator from Michigan (amputee, lost legs in World War II)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, former President of the United States (paraplegic due to either polio or Guillain–Barré syndrome)[34]
• Doug Spade, former member of the Michigan House of Representatives (blind)
• Nicholas Sposato, Alderman (38th Ward) Chicago City Council (wheelchair user with multiple sclerosis)[35]
• John Swainson, former Governor of Michigan (lost both legs due to a land mine in World War II)[36]
• Jon Tester, US Senator from Montana (lost three fingers in a meat grinding accident)[37]
• F. B. Teter, Member of the Washington House of Representatives (1919–1923) (blind)[38]
• Mo Udall, former U.S. Representative from Arizona (lost his right eye in a childhood accident)[39]
• George Wallace, former Governor of Alabama (paraplegic due to a bullet wound sustained in a 1972 assassination attempt)[40]
• Jumaane Williams, NYC Council Member (Tourettes Syndrome)
• Woodrow Wilson, former President of the United States (partially paralyzed due to a stroke)[41]

References

1. http://www.answers.com/topic/pierre-s-vigny
2. Legal records from 1378 mention Jan Žižka z Trocnova hinting that if the nickname žižka meant one-eye, early chronologer Aeneus Sylvius Piccolomini, Pius II was correct in stating the loss of the eye was the result of a childhood fight.
3. John Otis (11 February 2013) Ecuador's Paraplegic Vice President Lenin Moreno a Major Force for Disability Rights Pri.org. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
4. https://www.rhein-zeitung.de/nachrichten/tagesthema_artikel,-malu-dreyer-und-ihr-leben-mit-multiple-sklerose-chronisch-krank-und-doch-stark-_arid,1490185.html
5. https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2009-12/nachruf-lambsdorff
6. https://www.hdg.de/lemo/biografie/kurt-schumacher.html
7. Luton, Daraine (May 23, 2013). "All Eyes On Newly Appointed Senate President Floyd Morris". The Gleaner. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
8. "Karpal Singh dies in car accident - Nation | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 2017-08-07.
9. "Lee, John Alfred Alexander", Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
10. Terje Valestrand (6 September 2012) Tove på topp når hun går under Bergens Tidende. Retrieved 22 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
11. Gjesvik, Anders (10 June 2006). "Hemmetfronten". Dagens Næringsliv (in Norwegian). Retrieved 16 January 2009.
12. Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars: The Life of Claudius, Chapter 30
13. Bell, Colin, ed. (1975). National Government 1931. Times Books. p. 203.
14. Lindy McDowell, Northern Ireland is the safest place to be if you are an unborn baby who has a disability, Belfast Telegraph, 5 November 2018 (accessed on 18 July 2019)
15. Theodore Kim (31 May 2010). "Accident set Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on a path toward politics". dallasnews.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
16. Rudi Williams (27 January 2000). "Amputee War Hero U.S. Senator Still Fights for Survival". defense.gov. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
17. "A Congressman Makes His Own Epilepsy a Campaign Issue to Break the Old Taboos". Retrieved 18 September 2015.
18. "Maryland Governor's Running Mate Raises Awareness about Stargardt Disease". blindness.org. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
19. "SEAL veteran Dan Crenshaw's mission: Make the GOP 'cool again'". Washington Examiner. 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
20. David M. Shribman (19 December 2012). "The Inouye, Bob Dole connection". jsonline.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
21. Bill Briggs (25 November 2012). "Battle-hardened double amputee to prospective congressional foes: 'Bring it'". usnews.nbcnews.com. nbcnews.com. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
22. Garry Clifford (2 March 1981). "It's Still An Uphill Struggle but Senator John East Persisted to Become 'Helms on Wheels'". people.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
23. "Legislator Details - Oramel Baum Fuller". Library of Michigan. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
24. "GORE, THOMAS PRYOR (1870-1949)". digital.library.okstate.edu. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
25. "Washington Set to Swear in First Blind Lieutenant Governor". Fortune.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
26. Lisa Mascaro (6 November 2012). "Bob Kerrey's comeback falls short in Nebraska". latimes.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
27. Camia, Catalina (3 January 2013). "Sen. Kirk makes dramatic return after stroke". USA Today. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
28. John R. Parkinson (26 July 2010). "Historic Lift: Wheelchair-Bound Member Presides Over House". abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
29. "A Combat Veteran Runs for Congress, and the Scrutiny Intensifies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
30. "Rangers receive awards for recent deployments". Army.mil. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
31. Marc Santora (16 November 2007). "McCain's Stance on Torture Becomes Riveting Issue in Campaign". nytimes.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
32. Joanne Kenen (1 July 2008). "Senators Don't Lead Such Charmed Lives". washingtonian.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
33. Stephanie Salmon (11 March 2008). "10 Things You Didn't Know About David Paterson". usnews.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
34. http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/fdrbio.html
35. {{cit web\url=https://www.newmobility.com/2016/10/wheeling-into-politics/ |title=Wheeling into Politics |accessdate=April 21, 2020
36. "Poliomyelitis and the Salk Vaccine". Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
37. "The Democrats' New Populism". Time. 2 July 2006.
39. The Carter Years by Burton Ira Kaufman. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
40. Richard Pearson (14 September 1998). "Former Ala. Gov. George C. Wallace Dies". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
41. "Woodrow Wilson-Strokes and Denial". Retrieved 29 December 2012.

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