In medicine, a prosthesis, or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth. Prostheses are intended to restore the normal functions of the missing body part. A person who has undergone an amputation is sometimes referred to as an amputee, however, this term may be offensive. Rehabilitation for someone with an amputation is primarily coordinated by a physiatrist as part of an inter-disciplinary team consisting of physiatrists, prosthetists, nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. Prostheses can be created by hand or with computer-aided design (CAD), a software interface that helps creators design and analyze the creation with computer-generated 2-D and 3-D graphics as well as analysis and optimization tools.
Phocomelia is a congenital condition that involves malformations of human arms and legs which result in a flipper-like appendage. A prominent cause of phocomelia is the mother being prescribed the use of the drug thalidomide during pregnancy; however, the causes of most cases are to be determined.
Michael Ryan Flatley is an American dancer. He became known for creating and performing in Irish dance shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, Celtic Tiger Live and Michael Flatley's Christmas Dance Spectacular. Flatley's shows have played to more than 60 million people in 60 countries and have grossed more than $1 billion. He has also been an actor, writer, director, producer, musician, and philanthropist.
A pointe shoe, also referred to as a ballet shoe, is a type of shoe worn by ballet dancers when performing pointe work. Pointe shoes were conceived in response to the desire for dancers to appear weightless and sylph-like and have evolved to enable dancers to dance en pointe for extended periods of time. They are manufactured in a variety of colors, most commonly in shades of light pink.
Sarah Biffin, also known as Sarah Biffen, Sarah Beffin, or by her married name Mrs E. M. Wright, was an English painter born with no arms and only vestigial legs. She was born in 1784 in Somerset. Despite her disability she learned to read and write, and to paint using her mouth. She was apprenticed to a man named Emmanuel Dukes, who exhibited her as an attraction throughout England. In the St. Bartholomew's Fair of 1808, she came to the attention of George Douglas, the Earl of Morton, who went on to sponsor her to receive lessons from a Royal Academy of Arts painter, William Craig. The Society of Arts awarded her a medal in 1821 for a historical miniature and the Royal Academy accepted her paintings. The Royal Family commissioned her to paint miniature portraits of them. When the Earl of Morton died in 1827, Biffin was left without a noble sponsor and she ran into financial trouble. Queen Victoria awarded her a Civil List pension and she retired to a private life in Liverpool. She died on 2 October 1850 at the age of 66.
Alison Lapper MBE is a British artist. She is the subject of the sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant, which was displayed on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square from September 2005 until late 2007. She and her late son Parys featured in the BBC docuseries Child of Our Time.
Monica Stucchi, known by her stage name Valerie Dore, is an Italian singer.
Victorine-Louise Meurent was a French painter and a model for painters. Although she is best known as the favorite model of Édouard Manet, she was an artist in her own right who regularly exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon. In 1876, her paintings were selected for inclusion at the Salon's juried exhibition, when Manet's work was not.
The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of the World (AMFPA) is a for-profit international organization facilitating the sale of artwork produced by mouth and foot painting artists associated with the organization. None of the artists have proper use of their hands as a pre-condition to joining the association. It represents around 820 artists located in 76 countries, of whom 143 are full members, and receive a monthly fee from the organization from the date of their admission until their death. The other artists are students, who receive a monthly scholarship until such time as they are promoted.
The Jaipur foot, also known as the Jaipur leg, is a rubber-based prosthetic leg for people with below-knee amputations. Although inferior in many ways to the composite carbon fibre variants, its variable applicability and cost efficiency make it an acceptable choice for prosthesis. Ram Chandra Sharma and orthopedic surgeon P. K. Sethi designed and developed it in 1968.
Lisa Bufano was an American interdisciplinary performance artist whose work incorporated elements of doll-making, fabric work, animation, and dance.
Viktorija Moskaļova, better known as Viktoria Modesta, is a Latvian-born British singer-songwriter, performance artist, creative director, and model. Modesta's leg was injured during her birth. She had it voluntarily amputated in 2007. She was signed to IMG Models as a model, and as a musician she is also known as a "Bionic Pop Artist". Her music video "Prototype" received a Silver Lion Award at the Cannes Film Festival. She also performed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony and was a guest star at the Crazy Horse in Paris in 2019.
Amy Palmiero-Winters is a below-knee amputee, long-distance runner, and triathlete. She holds eleven world records in various events. In 2010, she was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States and the ESPN ESPY Award as the top female athlete with a disability in the world.
Jessica Cox is the world's first licensed armless pilot, as well as the first armless black-belt in the American Taekwondo Association. She was born without arms due to a rare birth defect.
Rebecca Jane Grosvenor Taylor, known professionally as Riva Taylor, is an English singer, songwriter and actress.
Simona Castricum is an Australian musician, DJ, broadcaster and architecture academic.
Mouth and foot painting is a technique to create drawings, paintings and other works of art by maneuvering brushes and other tools with the mouth or foot. The technique is mostly used by artists who through illness, accident or congenital disability have no use of their hands. The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (AMFPA) is a worldwide organization representing these artists.
Rosaleen (Rosie) Moriarty-Simmonds is a British businesswoman, artist and disability rights campaigner. She was born without arms or legs after her mother was prescribed thalidomide in pregnancy.
Tilly Lockey is a British social media personality and amputee known for her bionic arms developed by Open Bionics, which she has used since 2016. In 2021, she competed and went on to win the sixth series of the CBBC competition series Got What It Takes?.
Lorenza Böttner was a Chilean–German disabled transgender multidisciplinary visual artist.
