Christy Brown was born into a working-class Irish family at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin in June 1932. The son of Bridget ([1] Fagan 1901-1968) and Patrick Brown. He had 22 siblings. Out of these 22, 17 lived and 4 died in infancy leaving 13 of them.[2] After his birth, doctors discovered that he had severe cerebral palsy,[3] a neurological disorder which left him almost entirely spastic in his limbs. Though urged to commit him to a hospital,[4] Brown's parents were unswayed and subsequently d