Farewell Professor Stephen Hawking
Youmanity is deeply saddened by the passing of Professor Stephen Hawking. He was a great, and much loved, scientist whose extraordinary work and legacy will live on alongside the giants of modern science such as Albert Einstein. The physicist’s courage, persistence and brilliant sense of humour inspired many people across the world.
Yet as much loved as he was, some of his outspoken comments offended religious commentators. In his 2010 Grand Design book, he stated that God was ‘not needed to set the universe going’.
“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail,” he declared. “There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
He also spoke of death as a far away eventuality, much further in the future than his doctors thought.
“I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die,” he said. “I have so much I want to do first.”
But the way in which many people responded to Professor Hawking’s demise does perhaps suggest that there are many misconceptions about disability.
"The Tributes to Stephen Hawking Show What’s Wrong With How We Talk About Disability". This is the title of a powerful and most informative article by journalist Robyn Powell for Rewire News.
As a disabled person, Robyn opens our eyes to the presumption that precedes our observations; the American journalist is troubled by rhetoric that has encompassed the narrative following Stephen Hawking’s death. Some commemorative tweets suggested that he was not ‘free’ prior to his death - implying that disability constrains people. Hawking saw himself as free. Society’s message implies that Hawking accomplished much in spite of his disability, but to honour him it is important to recognise that although being disabled was not his only identity, it was part of him and should not be invalidated. Indeed he said that his disability benefitted his work.
Society’s assumption that disabled people want to overcome their disability fails to recognise disability as an identity and tends to overlook the strengths that come with it.
Read Robyn Powell’s article HERE
Connect with The Stephen Hawking Foundation HERE
