Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological and/or neurological factors.  Complete blindness is the total lack of form and light perception and is clinically recorded as “No Light Perception” or “NPL”.  Eye injuries, mostly occurring in people under 30, are the leading cause of monocular blindness (vision loss in one eye).  People who are blind or visually impaired have devised a number of techniques that allow them to complete daily activities using their remaining senses and recently created accessible technology such as screen reading software enables visually impaired people to use mainstream computer applications including the Internet.  Listed below are historically famous people with visual impairments including total blindness, sight conditions, or blindness in one eye.

Harriet Tubman (c. “in approximately” 1820 – March 10, 1913):  Harriet Tubman was a slave throughout her youth, being treated as an animal until she eventually escaped captivity.  She was an abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War.  When she had reached Canada she did not stay to enjoy her freedom.  She returned to the lands and brought hundreds of black slaves back to safety, saving them from slavery by escaping in what was then called The Underground Railroad.  After a severe wound to the head, which was inflicted by a slave owner before her escape, she became a victim to vision impairment and seizures.  That did not keep her from tossing her fears aside and to keep fighting for the freedom of her people.

Ray Charles (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004):  Known by his stage name Ray Charles, he was an American pianist and musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues.  He brought a soulful sound to country music, pop standards, and a rendition of “America the Beautiful” that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the “definitive version of the song, an American anthem.”  In 1965, Charles was arrested for possession of heroin, a drug to which he had been addicted for nearly 20 years.  It was his third arrest for the offense, but he avoided jail time after kicking the habit in a clinic in Los Angeles.  He spent a year on parole in 1966.  Ray also appeared in the 1980 hit movie, The Blues Brothers and Frank Sinatra called him “the only true genius in the business.”  In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Charles number ten on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and also voted him number two on their list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Stevie Wonder (May 13, 1950 – Present):  Born Steveland Hardaway Judkins, he later changed his name to Steveland Hardaway Morris.  Wonder is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer.  Blind from infancy, Wonder signed with Motown Records as a pre-adolescent at the age of twelve, and continues to perform and record for the label to this day.  It is thought that he received excessive oxygen in his incubator which led to retinopathy of prematurity, a destructive ocular disorder affecting the retina.  It is characterized by abnormal growth of blood vessels, scarring, and sometimes retinal detachment.  A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards (the most ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award.  He has also won an Academy Award for Best Song, and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame.  He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize. American music magazine Rolling Stone named the ninth greatest singer of all time.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk (August 7, 1936 – December 5, 1977):  Rahsaan was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, playing tenor saxophone, flute and other reed instruments.  He was perhaps best known for his vitality on stage, where virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting and his famous ability to play a number of instruments simultaneously.  Kirk was also very political, using the stage to talk on black history, civil rights and other issues, which he was always capable of tipping over into high comedy.  He went blind at an early age due to poor medical treatment.

Al Hibbler (August 16, 1915 – April 24, 2001):  Hibber was an American vocalist with several pop hits. He is best known for his million selling recording of “Unchained Melody” (1955).  He achieved national prominence in the United States with the Ellington orchestra in the mid 1940s, and went on to build a substantial career, which included continuing involvement with jazz musicians.  Born Albert George Hibbler in Tyro, Mississippi, he was blind from birth. Hibbler attended a school for the blind in Little Rock, Arkansas where he joined the school choir.  He won an amateur talent contest in Memphis, Tennessee, where he first worked with local bands and started his own band.  He died in Chicago in 2001, at the age of 85.  He was survived by a sister and a brother.  Hibbler has a star at 1650 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

William Samuel McTell (May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959):  Better known as Blind Willie McTell, he was an influential American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist.  He was a twelve-string finger picking Piedmont blues guitarist, and recorded 149 songs between 1927 and 1956.  Born William Samuel McTier in Thomson, Georgia, blind in one eye, McTell had lost his remaining vision by late childhood, but became an adept reader of Braille.  He showed proficiency in music from an early age and learned to play the six-string guitar as soon as he could.  A blues festival in McTell’s honor is held annually in his birthplace, Thomson, Georgia.  He was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1981.

Clarence Carter (January 14, 1936 – Present):  Clarence is a blind American soul singer and musician.  Born in Montgomery, Alabama on 14 January, 1936, Carter attended the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega, Alabama, and Alabama State College in Montgomery, graduating in August 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in music.

David Alexander Paterson (May 20, 1954 – Present): American politician and the former Governor of New York. He is the first African American governor of New York and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Governor of Arkansas for eleven days in January 1975. At the age of three months, Paterson contracted an ear infection which spread to his optic nerve, leaving him with no sight in his left eye and severely limited vision in his right eye.