Famous Authors with Disabilities

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen

  • disability:    dyslexia (source)

    Famous Danish author and story-teller, whose works - especially popular with children - include The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Snow Queen, The Red Shoes, and The Little Mermaid.

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

  • disability: suspected autism (source)

Famous science fiction author, most famous for his Robot and Foundation series'.

Christy Brown

Christy Brown

  • disability: cerebral palsy (source)

Published numerous poetry collections, and his autobiography entitled "My Left Foot"
Lord Byron

Lord Byron

Famous anti-establishment poet and liberal social reformer

Despite the title of "Lord", Byron was a left-wing social reformer who sided with the Luddites against the capitalist establishment of the early 1800s. This was apparent in his poetry, which often had a radical political message.

Colin Dexter

  • disability:    diabetes (source)

    Author of Inspector Morse  (as later adapted for TV).

Charles Dickens
  • disability:    thought to have had epilepsy (source)

    Famous Victorian writer, whose books include Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, The Pickwick Papers

Sue Townsend

Sue Townsend disabilities:
Sue Townsend is most famous for her Adrian Mole series of books, aimed mostly at young people.

External links:

H.G. Wells
H G Wells
  • Disability:    diabetes (type 1, IDDM) (source)

   Science fiction writer, most famous for War Of The Worlds and The Time Machine

    Founder member of the British Diabetic Association (now named Diabetes UK).

    Known to have had left-wing politics, was also a founder member of the National Council for Civil Liberties (now named Liberty.)

His left-wing viewpoint is sometimes evident in his books
    - for example, in War Of The Worlds, he compares the Martians' treatment of the earthlings to the European invaders' treatment of the American Indians.

Martians attack with heat rays

There are, of course, many less-famous disabled authors, including some who have written at length about their disabilities.

In addition, some disabled people famous for other things have also written books.
Examples include Stuart Henry, the radio DJ, who wrote the book Pirate Radio - Then And Now in the late 1980's.
Also, the famous astronomical physicist Stephen Hawking has written many books, including A Brief History Of Time and Black Holes and Baby Universes. 

New group on Facebook ...

Celebrities with a disability

Join us to mention disabled celebrities not already listed, discuss those already listed, rave about your favourite celebrity, or just have fun :-)

Back arrow Back to Famous People with Disabilities