Stephen Hawking: Living and Thriving with ALS

Cody Broadfoot

ELA 3-5 Mrs. King

Research Paper

November 15, 2017

Stephen Hawking and ALS There are many people living in the world with severe disabilities. However, one of the most famous is Stephen Hawking who had Lou Gehrig’s Disease, also known as ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Even with this disease, he was able to discover interesting theories about black holes, facts about space, and much more. There are, however, many things that got in his way over the course of his lifetime.

Living with ALS is a hard thing to do as the symptoms get in the way of everyday life. First off, ALS was discovered in 1970, and it occurs most commonly in males, and even more common in Caucasians and Hispanics. Two of the most severe symptoms are

When he learned of his disability, it greatly affected him, since he was at Cambridge at the time, which greatly affected his studies. He noticed a change in his focus and concentration, and he was not able to do the things he was able to do before, and this doesn’t just go for his studies, it goes for everyday life as well. Furthermore, while he was there he started to notice some of the symptoms, such as his slurred speech and his constant tripping and falling. It also affects other people’s lives just as heavily, famous or not, just like Hawking. With ALS people will often have trouble understanding and communicating with someone with ALS, and it will be very hard to carry out everyday tasks, even as simple as getting dressed or going to bed or even just simply walking around the house. To make living with ALS easier, it is important to plan ahead (Biography.com

Luckily Hawking had technology to help him through his journey. One thing Hawking had to help him with his ALS was a speaking program. This device helped Hawking’s speech to be more clear so people could understand him better, And he also had an iBrain. This was a device that picked up brain signals and interpreted them so people could further understand Hawking and people with ALS (Biography.com Ed.).

Stephen Hawking was very famous for several reasons. One thing he did was write several books. His most famous book was definitely “A Brief History of Time,” Which succeeded heavily had people were begging for more, so Hawking came out with many other books and sequels. Hawking also did famous things in physics and cosmology, which were his main departments of study (Biography.com Ed.). He was even able to prove with quantum theory and general relativity was that black holes actually emit radiation