Disability in Stephen Hawking

Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of twenty-one and given approximately two-and-a-half years to live, Stephen Hawking wasn't presented the choice to live a normal life. Basically, while his college classmates were out having fun partying and growing as people, his muscle-controlling nerves were shutting down. With his life expectancy cut dangerously short, Hawking "poured himself into his work and research," going on to, among other things, write fifteen books, start a family, and make enormous contributions to the field of cosmology.
Biography.com

 Clearly, ALS has not become Hawking's entire life; when we think of him, crippling health problems take the shape of an almost trivial setback that he continues to overcome every day. It's hard to imagine that, at one point, he had only two years to live. Though it does influence his day-to-day life, ALS is definitely not an all-consuming disease: unlike Soyster, whose inability to walk translates into loss of manhood, Hawking has found other ways to prove his worth. With the ability to focus his attention on science, ALS has practically become a secondary concern for Hawking. Luckily for us, this sort of prioritizing has provided the world with more knowledge. Furthermore, though society and disability have affected Hawking differently from Mairs, it is clear that neither is "wholly devoured" by his or her setbacks (Mairs). In fact, Stephen Hawking represents disability in the media in a way that Mairs would be proud of: his accomplishments come first.