Although Hawking had difficulty walking unsupported, and his speech was almost unintelligible, an initial diagnosis that he had only two years to live proved unfounded. With Sciama's encouragement, he returned to his work.

Was Stephen Hawking always in a wheelchair?

The red wheelchair was used by Dr. Hawking during the late 1980s and early '90s; he stopped using it when he could no longer steer it with his hands. The physicist spent most of his life steadily losing control over his muscles because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Was Stephen Hawking born handicapped?

Dr. Stephen Hawking was born in England in 1942 and lived a good portion of his life without a disability. ... While in graduate school, at age 21, Dr. Hawking was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to in the U.S. as Lou Gehrig's disease.