41 Overcoming Disability Quotes and Sayings

Many people are confronted with the reality of living with a lifelong disability. Getting the encouragement you need is just one way to get the support and help to overcome life’s challenges. Here is a look at some of the best disability quotes and sayings.

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”

“Abled does not mean enabled. Disabled does not mean less abled.”

“Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that so it goes on flying anyway.”

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”

“Childhood vaccines are one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. Indeed, parents whose children are vaccinated no longer have to worry about their child’s death or disability from whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, hepatitis, or a host of other infections.”

“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.”

“Disability is natural. We must stop believing that disabilities keep a person from doing something. Because that’s not true . . . Having a disability doesn’t stop me from doing anything.”

“Employers have recognized for some time that it’s smart business to have a diverse workforce – one in which many views are represented and everyone’s talents are valued. Well, disability is part of diversity.”

“Every person with a disability is an individual.”

“For me, disability is a way of getting some extremity, some kind of very difficult situation, that throws an interesting light on people.”

“Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our courage and strength.”

“I actually think of being funny as an odd turn of mind, like a mild disability, some weird way of looking at the world that you can’t get rid of.”

“I can get motivated seeing a kid at my son’s school overcome a learning disability.”

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

“I choose not to place ‘DIS’, in my ability.”

“I do not have a disability, I have a gift! Others may see it as a disability, but I see it as a challenge. This challenge is a gift because I have to become stronger to get around it, and smarter to figure out how to use it; others should be so lucky.”

“I have a strong sense that I have to educate people about disability.”

“I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists. However, this is not entirely a matter of joy as if someone returned from physical disability to good physical health.”

“I was slightly brain damaged at birth, and I want people like me to see that they shouldn’t let a disability get in the way. I want to raise awareness – I want to turn my disability into ability.”

“I’m officially disabled, but I’m truly enabled because of my lack of limbs. My unique challenges have opened up unique opportunities to reach so many in need.”

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”

“I’ve had tons of bullies who would call me retarded, even on my Facebook page. It’s sad and it really hurts. I want to tell people not to use the word. Don’t say your friend’s retarded when they do something foolish.”

“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.”

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”

“Life is all about balance. Since I have only one leg, I understand that well.”

“Many people with dyslexia truly suffer, and their lives are worse off for having had that disability.”

“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically.”

“My disability exists not because I use a wheelchair, but because the broader environment isn’t accessible.”

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”

“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”

“Some would look at Emily’s life and think that a child born with Down’s syndrome has little hope for a meaningful life. Throw in the diagnosis of leukemia and that little hope turns into no hope whatsoever. I disagree.”

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

“The measure of a man, or woman, is not so much what they have accomplished, though that has weight. It often is much more though what that man or woman has overcome to accomplish what they have.”

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”

“The way my brain processes information is quite odd. I mean, I have Attention Deficit Disorder and another learning disability I can’t even spell. I don’t even have a high school diploma. I’m smart, but you can’t prove it on paper.”

“There is a plan and a purpose, a value to every life, no matter what its location, age, gender or disability.”

“Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices – today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.”

“When you focus on someone’s disability you’ll overlook their abilities, beauty and uniqueness. Once you learn to accept and love them for who they are, you subconsciously learn to love yourself unconditionally.”

“When you hear the word ‘disabled,’ people immediately think about people who can’t walk or talk or do everything that people take for granted. Now, I take nothing for granted. But I find the real disability is people who can’t find joy in life and are bitter.”

“Whether someone is useful only matters if you value people by their use.”

“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.”

Finding the right way to overcome the challenges of living with a disability is easily accomplished when you have a network of helping hands reaching out to you.