The Theory of Everything is a movie based on the true story of the theoretical physicist and cosmologist
Stephen Hawking and his life with ALS. It told the story about the
progression of the disease from the beginning when he is diagnosed until very recent years
He was first diagnosed at 21 and wasn't expected to live much longer than two years.
Though his mobility became much more limited as time went on, he was able to discover and develop his theory on black holes
which has made him very well known in the cosmology and physics fields.
These things weren't accomplished without a lot of determination on Stephen and his wife Jane's part.
There were many physical boundaries that Stephen had to face but those didn't stop him from communicating all the brilliance inside his head.
According to the ALS association, ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative
disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Over time, the degeneration of motor neurons causes the brain to have less and less control over motor movements muscles.
This often leads to full paralysis in the later stages of this disease. The average survival time is about three years for most people.
According to the Mayo Clinic, some symptoms of ALS that typically occur includes difficulty walking, weakness in hands, slurred speech,
muscle cramps or twitching, and difficulty keeping your head up. From my knowledge and research of ALS, the portrayal of ALS was very well done.
According to Jane's book, Traveling to Infinity,
She writes how "Steven's absolute rejection of any outside help with his care was a stumbling block" for a long time.
At a dinner in the movie, Jonathan overstepped boundaries by trying to feed Steven.
While the effort on Jonathan's part was with good intentions,
you cannot always assume that people who, even though they might benefit from help, might not always want it.
One main lesson from this movie that I learned is you can never judge a book by its cover.
While Stephen isn't able to maneuver and communicate in the same way as the majority of the population, he has
overcome so many obstacles to bring forth amazing scientific discoveries. The disease is not who Stephen Hawking is.
Steven Hawking is an amazing theoretical physicist and cosmologist that happens to also have ALS.