Simon Fitzmaurice’s Determination

Simon Fitzmaurice was a filmmaker who was going about living his life making his films when he was suddenly diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).

This disease caused Simon to become compeltely paralyzed and unable to talk, ultimately meaning his only form of communication came through the use of an eye-tracking computer on his electric wheelchair.

Yet, with this disease, Simon wrote and directed the feature film My Name is Emily (starring Evanna Lynch, Michael Smiley and George Webster). The film was nominated for eight Irish Film and Television Awards.

The sheer effort needed to make a feature film, in and of itself, is impressive enough. But doing it whilst completely paralyzed and only being able to communicate through an eye-tracking computer means Simon more than deserves to be on this list of inspirational people.