Diseases and Health Problems… a GOOD thing?
No, I do not wish anybody to catch a disease or fall in a heap of health related problems but in building our section called “Famous People with Everyday Problems” for myfoodcount.com, I came to the conclusion that diseases and health problems are a GOOD thing for our society… let me explain 
Are you nuts?
Well, actually I think the historical way of looking at people who have mental or physical challenges as sub-human or crazy is just plain wrong. Challenges no matter where they come from does hurt a lot of people who are not able to cope but for those who overcome their conditions… great benefits arise! Here are a few examples…
Alexander Graham Bell
Started his life with a few problems, he was known to suffer from dyslexia and had a deaf mother that he spent most of his life trying to ameliorate her hearing by concentrating all his energies into acoustics. His invention of what later became known as the telephone grew out of trying to improve his mothers hearing and try to solve the problems associated with deafness for people around the world. Although the extent of his dyslexia will never be known, people with dyslexia are known to have great memories to compensate for verbal, audible or visual distortions.
Albert Einstein
He essentially revolutionized the field of physics, astronomy and his influences are still felt in our daily lives. He was suspected to suffer from dyslexia, mild autism (Asperger’s Syndrome which leads to great intellect but poor social skills), was a slow to develop child and on top of all these problems, was missing a critical region in his brain called the parietal operculum. To say that he had issues would be an understatement, but all these “problems” are what also lead to his great genius. His brain compensated for a mission region by over developing his parietal lobe which when mixed with his syndrome gave him the ability to calculate and perceive the world in a completely different light then others around him. He had an amazing ability to visualize what to a lay person might as well be the alien language of the universe.
Michael J. Fox
Brilliant actor throughout the 80s and 90s… I practically grew up loving his movies and shows he would appear on - from Back to the Future to Family Ties. Unluckily, he was struck with Parkinson’s Disease. What did he do? He founded and became an outspoken spokesperson for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research which has raised over 76 million dollars towards finding a cure. He turned his condition into a strength to help not only himself but others who are also battling the effects of this debilitating disease.
http://www.michaeljfox.org/
Christopher Reeve
Incredible actor/director, athlete and dedicated humanitarian who seemed to be in competition with his own mortality to get as much experiences out of life as humanly possible met his fate on May of 1995. The person everybody thought of as Superman had a tragic horse riding accident that left him paralyzed from a spinal cord injury. What did he do? He founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation which helps give hope to those who suffer from paralysis and promote research into finding a cure or treatment for paralysis.
http://www.christopherreeve.org
Ludwig von Beethoven
Beethoven, one of history’s greatest composers was struck with deafness at an early age yet produced some of the most well known and loved music in this world… even after his deafness became absolute! He gave a gift to the world that is cherished by people around the world regardless of background or culture even though he could not hear the fruits of his labor.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Jr.
Incredible athlete who reached and stayed at the pinnacle of basketball until retiring after letting the world know that he had acquired HIV Disease (AIDS). He then immediately diverted all the energy he had for basketball into the development of the Magic Johnson Foundation whose goal is to help elevate under-privileged communities and the promotion of AIDS awareness.
http://www.magicjohnson.org/
… I could easily go on but I hope you get the point.
Why do health problems benefit society?
I think the reason why health benefits our society overall is because it helps all of us realize that nobody is immune to anything, sure our medical advances have “cured” many diseases but as soon as one problem is solved, a new one pops up. No, I think the real reason why health problems benefit our society is because it makes all of us realize how precious what we often treat as a comodity… health… really is. If I had to choose between a life of health or a life of wealth, I would ask if I could have both but if that wasn’t possible… health wins every time.
The Bottom Line
I hope you realize that no matter what you may have, you are not alone and don’t let your condition impose barriers on any goals you may have. I think life would be very boring if everybody was perfect without our individual kinks.
