Disability quotes: 60 real quotes, most by disabled people
Stella Young, Judith Heumann, Temple Grandin and 30 more, each with the talk or text it came from. Every one has a copy button.
KraftyLab TeamUpdated 11 min read
Most disability quote lists are motivational posters: a famous name, a line about attitude, and often no source. These 60 quotes are different in two ways. 56 of them are by disabled people talking about their own lives, and the other 4 are from people speaking as allies: George H. W. Bush, Steve Silberman, Faith Jegede Cole and Andrew Solomon. And each one was checked word for word against the talk's official transcript, the speaker's own writing, a published interview, or the sourced section of their Wikiquote page. Popular lines that failed that check are listed further down, with the reason.
Quotes about disability, access and the social model
The idea under most of these: people are disabled more by stairs, screens and assumptions than by their bodies.
1
I am not here to inspire you. I am here to tell you that we have been lied to about disability.
Stella Young, comedian and journalist · TEDxSydney talk, 2014
2
Smiling at a television screen isn't going to make closed captions appear for people who are deaf.
Stella Young, comedian and journalist · TEDxSydney talk, 2014
3
As a society, we can achieve these human rights, if we accept the proposition that humans are not disabled. A person can never be broken. Our built environment, our technologies, are broken and disabled.
Hugh Herr, engineer and double amputee · TED talk, 2014
4
There's an important difference and distinction between the objective medical fact of my being an amputee and the subjective societal opinion of whether or not I'm disabled.
Aimee Mullins, athlete and actor · TEDMED talk, 2009
5
It's impressions about blindness that are far more threatening to blind people than the blindness itself.
Daniel Kish, blind echolocation expert · TED talk, 2015
6
It was as if they couldn't see me anymore, as if an invisibility cloak had descended. They seemed to see me in terms of their assumptions of what it must be like to be in a wheelchair.
Sue Austin, artist and wheelchair user · TEDxWomen talk, 2012
7
Design is a way in which we can feel included in the world, but it is also a way in which we can uphold a person's dignity and their human rights.
Sinéad Burke, writer and accessibility advocate · TEDNYC talk, 2017
8
Who are we not designing for?
Sinéad Burke, writer and accessibility advocate · TEDNYC talk, 2017
9
When we design for disability first, we often stumble upon solutions that are not only inclusive, but also are often better than when we design for the norm.
Elise Roy, deaf designer and lawyer · TEDxMidAtlantic talk, 2015
10
Access intimacy is that elusive, hard to describe feeling when someone else “gets” your access needs.
Mia Mingus, disability justice writer · Leaving Evidence blog, 2011
Disability inclusion quotes for work
For NDEAM posts in October, hiring conversations and the all-hands slide.
11
If you design a city with the blind in mind, there'll be jobs, lots of jobs. Blind people want to work too.
Chris Downey, blind architect · TED City 2.0 talk, 2013
12
I am here today to challenge you to look at us as equals.
Matthew Williams, Special Olympics athlete · TEDxVancouver talk, 2015
13
The world is going to need all of the different kinds of minds to work together.
Schizophrenia presents itself across a wide array of socioeconomic status, and there are people with the illness who are full-time professionals with major responsibilities.
If you ask me today, if I would ever want to change my situation, I would have to say no. Because my legs haven't disabled me, if anything they've enabled me.
Feet, what do I need them for if I have wings to fly.
Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter · Diary, 1953
26
Although my physical capabilities have changed dramatically, who I am is unchanged.
Janine Shepherd, author and pilot · TEDxKC talk, 2012
27
My name is Matthew Williams, and I am a champion.
Matthew Williams, Special Olympics athlete · TEDxVancouver talk, 2015
28
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.
Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist · Interview in The Guardian, 2005
29
When I started using the wheelchair, it was a tremendous new freedom.
Sue Austin, artist and wheelchair user · TEDxWomen talk, 2012
30
Our language affects our thinking and how we view the world and how we view other people.
Aimee Mullins, athlete and actor · TEDMED talk, 2009
Quotes from Deaf, blind, autistic and neurodivergent voices
On listening, signing, seeing and thinking in more than one way.
31
Just because I don't use my literal voice to communicate, in society's eyes it's as if I don't have a voice at all.
Christine Sun Kim, Deaf sound artist · TED Fellows talk, 2015
32
In Deaf culture, movement is equivalent to sound.
Christine Sun Kim, Deaf sound artist · TED Fellows talk, 2015
33
Of course, my job is all about listening. And my aim, really, is to teach the world to listen.
Evelyn Glennie, solo percussionist · TED talk, 2003
34
Deafblindness is not my biggest barrier. My biggest barrier is ableism.
Haben Girma, Deafblind advocate and author · SHRM Linkage Institute keynote, 2025
35
What if we started designing for disability first, not the norm?
Elise Roy, deaf designer and lawyer · TEDxMidAtlantic talk, 2015
36
We differ, blind and seeing, one from another, not in our senses, but in the use we make of them, in the imagination and courage with which we seek wisdom beyond our senses.
Helen Keller, deafblind author and activist · The World I Live In, 1908
37
They believed that I should grow up to enjoy the same freedoms and responsibilities as everyone else.
Daniel Kish, blind echolocation expert · TED talk, 2015
38
My final takeaway for you is that not only is the city good for the blind, but the city needs us.
Chris Downey, blind architect · TED City 2.0 talk, 2013
39
My brain has the ability to hyper-focus on things that interest me.
In recent years, autistic people have come together on the Internet to reject the notion that they are puzzles to be solved by the next medical breakthrough, coining the term "neurodiversity" to celebrate the varieties of human cognition.
Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes · TED talk, 2015
Quotes on invisible disabilities, chronic illness and mental health
For the conditions coworkers can't see, and often don't know about.
41
All I had were my symptoms, which I could describe, but no one else can see.
Jennifer Brea, filmmaker living with ME · TEDSummit talk, 2016
42
Some could still work, but had to spend their evenings and weekends in bed, just so they could show up the next Monday.
Jennifer Brea, filmmaker living with ME · TEDSummit talk, 2016
43
We need to listen to patients' stories, and we need to be willing to say, "I don't know."
Jennifer Brea, filmmaker living with ME · TEDSummit talk, 2016
44
People think that I've forgotten their name when I hesitate before saying it.
Megan Washington, singer who stutters · TEDxSydney talk, 2014
45
Somehow, through some miraculous synaptic function of the human brain, it's impossible to stutter when you sing.
Megan Washington, singer who stutters · TEDxSydney talk, 2014
46
Many people have harmed me in my life, and I remember them all, but the memories grow pale and faint in comparison with the people who've helped me.
Eleanor Longden, psychologist who hears voices · TED talk, 2013
47
Together, we envisage and enact a society that understands and respects voice hearing, supports the needs of individuals who hear voices, and which values them as full citizens.
Eleanor Longden, psychologist who hears voices · TED talk, 2013
48
Everything about this illness says I shouldn't be here, but I am.
Elyn Saks, law professor · TEDGlobal talk, 2012
49
Learning to be creative within the confines of our limitations is the best hope we have to transform ourselves and, collectively, transform our world.
Phil Hansen, artist with nerve damage · TED talk, 2013
50
I no longer want anybody to be invisible. We all have to be included. And stop with the labels, the limiting. Losing of labels, because we are not jam jars. We are extraordinary, different, wonderful people.
Our mental health quotes are sourced the same way, if you need more for a wellbeing post.
Disability awareness quotes for allies and leaders
On what everyone else can do. Three of these ten are from allies; the rest are disabled people talking to them.
51
We know discrimination when we see it, and we need to be fighting it together.
Judith Heumann, disability rights activist · TEDxMidAtlantic talk, 2016
52
People with disabilities are the largest minority in the world, and we are the most underrepresented in entertainment.
Maysoon Zayid, comedian with cerebral palsy · TEDWomen talk, 2013
53
If a wheelchair user can't play Beyoncé, then Beyoncé can't play a wheelchair user.
Maysoon Zayid, comedian with cerebral palsy · TEDWomen talk, 2013
54
I hope that together, we can create more positive images of disability in the media and in everyday life.
Maysoon Zayid, comedian with cerebral palsy · TEDWomen talk, 2013
55
The next time you see someone with an intellectual disability, I hope you will see their ability.
Matthew Williams, Special Olympics athlete · TEDxVancouver talk, 2015
56
Let people with disabilities help you look sideways, and in the process, solve some of the greatest problems.
Elise Roy, deaf designer and lawyer · TEDxMidAtlantic talk, 2015
57
Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.
George H. W. Bush, 41st US president · Signing the ADA, 1990
58
Normality overlooks the beauty that differences give us, and the fact that we are different doesn't mean that one of us is wrong. It just means that there's a different kind of right.
Ironically, it turns out, that it's our differences and our negotiation of difference that unite us.
Andrew Solomon, author and lecturer · TEDMED talk, 2013
60
Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives, job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example.
Judith Heumann, disability rights activist · Interview with Joseph Shapiro, 1987
Our diversity and inclusion quotes have five more on disability, including Stella Young's line about smiling at a flight of stairs; we didn't repeat them here.
Popular disability quotes to skip
You'll find these near the top of most disability quote lists. We left all 5 off, and here is why.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” (credited to Albert Einstein)
There's no evidence he said it. Quote Investigator traces it to a long line of fables about animals asked to do impossible things.
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” (credited to Helen Keller)
It's everywhere, but no book, letter or speech of hers containing it has turned up. Even her Wikiquote page lists it with no source.
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless you fail to make the turn.” (credited to Helen Keller)
No source in her books or speeches, and it isn't on her Wikiquote page at all.
“Disability is not inability. / We are not defined by our disabilities.” (credited to no one in particular)
Slogans with no known author. If you use one, don't put a famous name under it.
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” (credited to figure skater Scott Hamilton)
Stella Young showed it in her 2014 TEDxSydney talk as an example of inspiration porn, and said it's “just not true, because of the social model of disability.”
Words and dates to get right
A short language note, and the three dates most disability posts are written for.
Person-first or identity-first language?
Person-first language puts the person first: “person with a disability”, “person who is deaf”. Identity-first language puts the disability first: “disabled person”, “deaf person”, “autistic person”.
The ADA National Network's writing guide defaults to person-first, then says to always ask: some people see their disability as an essential part of who they are and prefer identity-first.
Say “uses a wheelchair”, not “wheelchair-bound” or “confined to a wheelchair”. Say “accessible parking”, not “handicapped parking”: the guide calls handicapped outdated and unacceptable.
Skip “differently-abled”, “challenged”, “handi-capable” and “special”. The same guide says many people find them condescending.
A capital D in “Deaf”, as in Christine Sun Kim's quote, usually means Deaf culture and the Deaf community.
Disability awareness dates: NDEAM, IDPD and Disability Pride Month
National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM): Every October
Run by the US Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. It began in 1945 as a week. The 2026 theme is “Celebrating Value and Talent”.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD): December 3
A United Nations observance, proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1992 and marked each year with a theme.
Disability Pride Month: July
July is the month the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed, on July 26, 1990.
Five posts you can borrow, and five rules for sharing them without being performative.
The NDEAM kickoff post, October 1. One quote about work, the name and the talk, and one concrete thing your company does.“Chris Downey, a blind architect: ‘Blind people want to work too.’ It's National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Our accommodations page is on the intranet, and requests go to HR, no questions about diagnosis.”
The all-hands slide. One line, the speaker and a sentence on what it means for the next quarter.“Sinéad Burke asks, ‘Who are we not designing for?’ This quarter, every new feature gets a screen reader check before it ships.”
The ERG newsletter. Three quotes from three groups on this page, a member's own pick, and the next meeting date.“This month's picks: Stella Young on inspiration, Jennifer Brea on symptoms no one can see, and Rosie King on labels. Our next disability ERG meeting is the 14th.”
December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities. A quote on access, and one barrier the team removed this year.“Stella Young: ‘Smiling at a television screen isn't going to make closed captions appear for people who are deaf.’ Since June, every recorded all-hands has captions.”
A July post for Disability Pride Month. A pride quote in the speaker's words, with no “overcoming” caption.“Rosie King: ‘All in all, I wouldn't trade my autism and my imagination for the world.’ Happy Disability Pride Month.”
Five rules for sharing them respectfully
Quote disabled people about disability. A slide full of lines about disabled people, by people who aren't, says the wrong thing.
Let the quote stand. Don't caption it “inspiring” or “brave”, and don't frame a life as something to overcome.
Pair the quote with something real: where to ask for an accommodation, the disability ERG, captions on the next all-hands.
Don't ask a disabled coworker to explain their disability for the post. Invite people to pick a quote or speak if they want to; no is a fine answer.
Make the post accessible: alt text on images, captions on video, capital letters in hashtags (#DisabilityPride) and no text baked into images.
If your company has a disability group, give it the first say. Our guide to employee resource groups covers how to start one.
Pair NDEAM with a team session
To be clear up front: we don't run a disability-specific workshop. What we do have are two live, 60-minute inclusion sessions that work well alongside your own NDEAM or Disability Pride plans. DEI Foundations covers the core ideas of diversity, equity and inclusion at work, and Allyship in the Workplace is about supporting underrepresented colleagues day to day. Both run on Zoom by default (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request). Book about 2 weeks ahead. Compare them with the rest on our DEI workshops page.
Two inclusion sessions, with today's prices. Get a free quote with your date and headcount.
Sinéad Burke's “Who are we not designing for?” (TEDNYC, 2017) fits any team, and Elise Roy's “When we design for disability first, we often stumble upon solutions that are not only inclusive, but also are often better” makes the business case. Both are in the access section with their sources.
What did Stephen Hawking say about disability?
In a 2005 interview with The Guardian he said: “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.” It's in the pride section.
Did Einstein say “everybody is a genius” about a fish climbing a tree?
No. There's no evidence he said it, and Quote Investigator traces it to older fables about animals asked to do impossible things. The skip list has four more popular lines with problems.
Should I say “disabled person” or “person with a disability”?
Ask the person, because people differ. The ADA National Network's writing guide defaults to person-first, but says some people see their disability as an essential part of who they are and prefer identity-first (“deaf person”, “autistic person”).
When is National Disability Employment Awareness Month?
Every October. The US Department of Labor runs it, it began in 1945 as a week, and the 2026 theme is “Celebrating Value and Talent”. The work section has ten quotes for NDEAM posts.
When is Disability Pride Month?
July, the month the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed, on July 26, 1990. The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is December 3.
What quotes should I avoid for disability awareness?
Skip anything that treats disability as a tragedy or a test of attitude, like “The only disability in life is a bad attitude”, and anything with no source, like the Keller lines about vision and the bend in the road. Stella Young's TEDxSydney talk explains the first problem better than anyone.
How can I share disability quotes at work without being performative?
Quote disabled people, skip “inspiring” captions, and pair each post with something real, like captions on the next all-hands or a clear accommodations page. The five rules are in the section on using these at work.
Plan an inclusion session for your team
A live facilitator runs DEI Foundations or Allyship in the Workplace on your video call. Send your date and headcount for a plan within 24 hours.
