Poet and author Christy Nolan, who died in 2009, has been posthumously awarded a degree from Trinity College Dublin (TCD).
The writer, who had quadriplegic cerebral palsy, attended TCD as a student of English, but he dropped out after one year.
TCD has said the award is being made in celebration of the fact that despite immense physical barriers, in that year he found a community in Trinity that recognised his potential and his voice.
The college's head of English said the recognition was overdue.
His BA degree parchment was accepted by his sister Yvonne Nolan at a ceremony in TCD.
Ms Nolan said her brother, were he alive, would be so proud.
"He would be so proud that the place that he always regarded as his alma mater would honour him in this way.
"Every milestone that Christy hit was so hard. His struggle to put words on paper was so hard and difficult, he would be elated today."
Born in 1965 Christy Nolan’s cerebral palsy meant that he had no control over his body movements apart from those of his head and eyes.
Growing up, his mother struggled to convince people outside of the family that her son was of normal intelligence.
The breakthrough came when a doctor at the Central Remedial Clinic assessed him as above average intelligence.
The young Christy went on to receive an education, beginning at the CRC and then moving on to Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin.
With the aid of a drug which relaxed his muscles and pointer stick that could be attached to his head and used to pick out letters on an electronic typewriter he began to be able to write and finally express himself.
At just 15 years old, Christy Nolan published his first poetry collection, 'Dam-Burst of Dreams'. In 1987, at the age of 21, he won the UK's Whitbread Book of the Year Award for his memoir, 'Under the Eye of the Clock'. He later published the critically acclaimed novel The Banyan Tree.
Making the award TCD said he remained "a shining example of Irish creativity and literature".
Christy Nolan died in 2009 and his family donated his archive to the Library at TCD.
"His life, meanwhile, embodies the very principles Trinity now promotes through inclusive education, universal design, and the empowerment of disabled students," the college said.
"Christy Nolan wrote that 'nobody made him feel different at Trinity' - a powerful reminder of what this university can be at its best: a place where disabled people are not only accepted but celebrated", Declan Treanor, Director of Trinity disability Service said.
"Awarding a posthumous degree formally recognises the academic path he began here and the unique contribution he made as a Trinity student, writer, and cultural figure."
Professor Bernice Murphy, head of the Trinity School of English, said recognising Christy Nolan with a posthumous degree was "overdue".
"Christy Nolan was an extraordinary writer, who rightly has received global acclaim for his work. The fact that he produced this brilliant work despite his disability makes his legacy even more remarkable," she added.
Listen: Dam-burst of Dreams: The extraordinary story of Christy Nolan, Irish poet and author disabled at birth by severe cerebral palsy leaving him paralysed from the neck down (Broadcast 1981).
