Society and Culture
See also: Medical and mental health of Abraham LincolnContributors to public perception of Marfan syndrome include Flo Hyman, an Olympic silver medalist in Women's Volleyball (1984) who died suddenly at a match from an aortic dissection; Jonathan Larson, the author and composer of Rent, who died from an aortic dissection the day before the off-Broadway opening of Rent; and Vincent Schiavelli, an actor and spokesperson for the National Marfan Foundation.
Musicians and composers Niccolò Paganini, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Robert Johnson are thought to have had the disease. Bradford Cox of the indie rock band Deerhunter has openly discussed having Marfan syndrome and its effects on his self-perception and confidence. Abraham Lincoln was once thought to have had Marfan syndrome, but geneticists believe it unlikely, although he had some of the normal characteristic features.
Read more about this topic: Marfan Syndrome
Famous quotes containing the words society and/or culture:
“A society in which everyone works is not necessarily a free society and may indeed be a slave society; on the other hand, a society in which there is widespread economic insecurity can turn freedom into a barren and vapid right for the millions of people.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“Why is it so difficult to see the lesbian—even when she is there, quite plainly, in front of us? In part because she has been “ghosted”Mor made to seem invisible—by culture itself.... Once the lesbian has been defined as ghostly—the better to drain her of any sensual or moral authority—she can then be exorcised.”
—Terry Castle, U.S. lesbian author. The Apparitional Lesbian, ch. 1 (1993)