I knew an individual with severe chronic asthma that was told as a fifteen year old by the AME that he would never hold a medical certificate, or fly. The AME took his money up front, made him fill out the paperwork, then slowly tore it up in front of him and told him not to waste his time. The kid insisted, and fought for the medical. He got it and ended up with a career in aviation.
I know another pilot missing a leg who flies a leadplane for the US Forest Service.
Another missing his legs who flies aerobatic routines at airshows.
My hero as a kid was Douglas Bader...an English pilot who lost his legs in an aerobatic accident. He'd been an underprivileged kid who managed to get into military flight school as a cadet, against heavy odds, and became one of the British demonstration pilots. He was horsing around after a demo at his home aerodrome, and crashed, costing him his legs.
He learned to walk on his false legs, then learned to dance. He learned to drive a stick shift with no legs, then met a girl and took her dancing...she didn't realize he had no legs and he didn't tell her right away. They were married. He managed to get re-accepted to the service, and became a pilot again. He became well recognized and if I recall held the position of Wing Commander or Group Commander, flying fighters. He was shot down, and in the damaged aircraft, his legs were trapped. He survived because he was able to unbuckle his legs and jump.
The Germans caught him, and the allies dropped him a fresh set of legs. The germans let him have them, and he used them to escape. He was caught again, and sent to a prison in a castle. The germans let him take walks, thinking him no flight risk, and he would steal vegetables for the other prisoners and hide them in his hollow legs, on those walks.
After the war, he returned to England and started his own flying service.
Paul Brickhill wrote a book about him called "Reach for the Sky," and I believe someone made it into a movie at some point.
