These remarkable people didn’t let disabilities break their spirits

Identity politics, which reduces people to group characteristics, is almost entirely based on the glorification of victim status. Proponents of identity politics want to see themselves — or those they claim to represent — first and foremost as members of a group, preferably a discriminated-against minority. They believe that the basis of an individual’s identity is membership in a “disadvantaged” group. No one’s personal circumstances, they assert, can be improved through individual achievement. All they can do is fight politically to secure rights, or even preferential treatment, for their own collective.

The supposedly discriminated-against “we” is placed front and center of thought and action: Politics is all about improving life for the group, which will, in turn, improve my own life, if I can be counted as a member of the group.

The successful people with disabilities I talked to or whose biographies I analyzed do not accuse or blame anyone else. Not even when they have faced massive problems.

I have researched and written a book about successful people with disabilities for whom exactly the opposite is true. None of the people I profile in “Unbreakable Spirit” have ever wanted to be seen primarily in terms of their disabilities.

After her sporting victories, the nearly completely blind runner and Olympic athlete Marla Runyan was disappointed because all of the journalists who interviewed her only wanted to talk about her blindness, rather than her successes on the track.

Felix Klieser, a young man from Germany, is widely regarded as one of the best hornists in the world. He was born without arms. Like all successful people, Klieser sees himself as a shaper of his own destiny rather than a victim of adverse circumstances. “Of course, I could have wasted my energy on feeling sorry for myself and telling the world how mean everything is,” he told me. “But anyone who has ever done that quickly realizes that it doesn’t achieve anything.”

I spoke with gallery owner Johann König, one of Germany’s most successful art dealers, who also has a superb international reputation. He was almost totally blind when he opened his first gallery. Today, after a total of about 30 surgeries, he can see between 30 and 40 percent again. König has understood how to turn a disadvantage — his visual impairment — into an advantage.

“Paradoxically, my disability was probably key to my success,” König wrote in his book “The Blind Gallerist.” His blindness, like a drug, intensified his inner concentration and heightened his perception, helping him to “develop a distinctly personal idea of what makes good art.”

Stephen Hawking was, according to a survey in the United States, the most famous “successful person with a disability.” In his autobiography, he wrote: “I haven’t had to lecture or teach undergraduates, and I haven’t had to sit in on tedious and time-consuming committees. So I have been able to devote myself completely to research.” In Hawking’s view, people with disabilities should “concentrate on things that their handicap doesn’t prevent them from doing and not regret those they can’t do.”

I was particularly impressed by the American mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer, who became the first blind person to climb Mount Everest 20 years ago. He is also one of the very few people to have climbed the “Seven Summits,” the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. When I spoke with him for my book, Weihenmayer confessed:

I spent like 15 minutes just every day, envisioning myself standing on the summit — to the point where I’d hear the snow crunching under my crampons. I’d hear the slacks, I’d feel the sky, just feel the cold, and I’d feel the hearts of my teammates. I’d feel the tears. I’d literally start tearing up because I was there. So, yeah ... I think that’s what you’re talking about. And, when I summitted Everest, I had summitted it 100 times in my mind already. So, I think that kind of belief system and that kind of programming it into your subconscious is hugely important so that you can truly be there.”

Weihenmayer campaigns for other people with disabilities. In doing so, his efforts are not primarily directed at political rights and quotas. He doesn’t fire off accusations against society as a whole. Rather, he focuses on empowering other people to take their fate into their own hands.

Weihenmayer founded No Barriers, an organization that helps people with disabilities push themselves to the limit and beyond. The organization’s motto is “What’s within you is stronger than what’s in your way.” Three years after conquering Everest, he climbed a mountain near the world’s highest peak with six children from a school for the blind in Lhasa. There is even a film, “Blindsight,” documenting this adventure that is well worth seeing.

In principle, your attitude is a question of individualism versus collectivism. Proponents of identity politics always speak of “we.” They accuse the majority in society of discriminating against minorities and robbing them of opportunities in life. The successful people with disabilities I talked to or whose biographies I analyzed do not accuse or blame anyone else. Not even when they have faced massive problems.

Contrast this with the philosophy of identity-obsessed politicians who tell people, “You are a victim of circumstances, and you have no chance to live a better life within these circumstances. So join us and fight against these structures.” Labeling people victims makes them helpless and powerless. In contrast, people who take control of their fate despite — and sometimes even because of — adverse external circumstances can be valuable models of encouragement. They represent strength, not helplessness.