Thomas Edison Empathizes With a Courageous Disabled Person, Displaying His Work in His Lab

As a child, Edison was hyperactive and had a learning disability. His mother was offended with the treatment he was receiving at school as a result, and she decided pulled him out. So much for his formal education. Then at age 14 he contracted scarlet fever, which caused the loss of hearing in one ear and a severe diminishment in the other; he was almost deaf. These problems sensitized him to the disabilities of others, and gave him empathy.

I accept the violin with much pleasure, and am gratified to be the recipient of the compliment you have paid me in presenting me therewith.

Typed Letter Signed on his laboratory letterhead, Orange, N.J., December 20, 1927, to John E. Hale, a disabled person who had sent him a violin. “I trust you will kindly pardon the delay that has taken place in thanking you for your very courteous letter and the violin which accompanied it. Allow me to express appreciation of the compliment you have paid me in presenting me with a violin made by your own self. It’s construction bears evidence of the scale and patience which have been expended upon, and I cannot help wondering how such a fine piece of work could have been executed by a person laboring under the physical disability which you described in your letter. I accept the violin with much pleasure, and am gratified to be the recipient of the compliment you have paid me in presenting me therewith. I’m going to give the violin an exhibition place in my library here, with a suitable inscription.” This letter goes beyond offering mere encouragement. By putting the violin in “an exhibition place in my library” at Menlo Park, he was showing his deepest feelings on the subject of disabilities, and even admiration for Hale’s courage.