Alex Wong/Getty Images Violinist Itzhak Perlman, seen here receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2015, was among those participating in a kickoff event for Jewish Disability Advocacy Month on Feb. 3, 2021. When Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman debuted at Carnegie Hall in 1963, he performed while seated - a consequence of the polio that left him unable to walk without leg braces or crutches since age 4. "I got a standing ovation, but The New York Times reviewer wasn't sure if that was because of the way I played or because of the fact I was sitting down while playing," recalled Perlman, now 75. "That thing followed me for two or three years. Then people got used to me and they stopped talking about it."