Rebecca Alexander
Rebecca Alexander is an author, psychotherapist, group fitness instructor, advocate, and extreme athlete who is almost completely blind and deaf. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she currently lives in New York City.
Born with a rare genetic disorder called Usher syndrome type III, Rebecca has been simultaneously losing both her sight and hearing since she was a teenager. She was told that by age 30, she’d be completely blind. Then, at 19, one year after a fall from a second-story window left her athletic body completely shattered, she discovered she would lose her hearing as well. Despite these difficulties, Rebecca refused to lose her drive and zest for life and rose above and beyond every challenge she faced.
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Rebecca Alexander
Rebecca Alexander is an author, psychotherapist, group fitness instructor, advocate, and extreme athlete who is almost completely blind and deaf. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she currently lives in New York City.
Born with a rare genetic disorder called Usher syndrome type III, …
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Matthew Whitaker
Matthew Whitaker taught himself to play piano at age 3, the Hammond B3 organ at age 9, and four years later he became the youngest artist to be endorsed by Hammond in its more than 80-year history. He was also named a Yamaha Artist at 15, becoming the youngest musician to join the stellar group of j …
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Haben Girma
The first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change. She received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and TIME100 Talks. Pr …
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Russell Shaffer
Russell Shaffer is serving as emcee for our "Dinner and Music for a Historic Celebration" event. He is the senior director of Global Culture, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for Walmart Inc. and AFB’s former board chair. Russell has worked at Walmart for over a decade and has held roles managing globa …
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Marcus Roberts
Marcus Roberts, hailed as the “the genius of the modern piano,” taught himself to play piano at age five after losing his sight, and stated taking lessons at 12. At 18, he went on to study classical piano at Florida State University. Roberts has won numerous competitions and awards, including a Gram …
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Hoby Wedler, Ph D
Hoby Wedler, Ph.D., is a scientist, sensory expert, and entrepreneur. In 2011, Wedler founded Accessible Science, a nonprofit organization that leads annual chemistry camps for blind or visually impaired students throughout North America. That same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine a …
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Christine Ha
Christine Ha is the first-ever blind contestant and season 3 winner of TV’s MasterChef. Ha holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin. Her first cookbook, Recipes from My Home Kitchen: Asian and American …
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