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Famous people with sight problems

Summary: Famous people, some real, some imaginary, who have lost their sight.

This is a list of famous people, both real and imaginary, who have lost their sight. The people on this list have been included because they are well-known in their own right rather than because they are, or were, blind or partially sighted.

The portrayal of some blind characters in literature or the arts is very negative. Blind characters are often seen as frightening or pathetic, or as being punished for some moral lapse.

It is important to realise that sight loss is a natural phenomenon which can affect anyone, irrespective of moral behaviour or religious belief. While it may cause very real problems it does not turn ordinary people into monsters or victims.

• Thomas Rhodes Armitage - founder of RNIB
• Sue Arnold - journalist
• Johann Sebastian Bach - composer 18th century
• Rt Hon David Blunkett MP - politician
• Andrea Bocelli - opera singer
• Louis Braille - inventor of braille
• Ray Charles - American singer and composer
• Cupid/Eros - Greek/Roman god of love
• Daredevil - comic book superhero
• Eduard Degas - French painter
• Henry Fawcett - UK Postmaster General, 19th Century
• Ian Fraser - MP and author, 20th century
• George Frideric Handel - composer 18th century
• Homer - Greek poet
• Horus - Egyptian god
• Mikey Hughes - Big Brother 2008 contestant
• Helen Keller - American author and philanthropist
• Denise Leigh - opera singer and winner of Channel 4's Operatunity
• John Milton - English poet
• Claude Monet - French painter
• Dr William Moon - inventor of Moon system of reading
• Horatio Nelson - British admiral
• Odin - Norse god
• Oedipus - mythological Greek King
• Samson - Biblical hero
• St. Paul - Apostle
• Tiresias - mythological, Greek seer
• Sue Townsend - author
• Peter White - BBC radio presenter
• Stevie Wonder - American singer and composer

Content author: webeditor@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 14/05/2009 11:46