Can We Learn From Susan Boyle?

If you have been keeping up with the arrival/saga of Susan Boyle on the show in Britain, then you'll know of whom I am speaking. If you do not, then here is a brief introduction.

A few weeks ago Susan Boyle made a very unexpected and unheralded entry on to the stage of the British show named "Britain's Got Talent." When the audience and judges first laid eyes on this 47-year-old lady, they did not give her any hope of success. Almost everyone present – judges and audience alike -- started to jeer and snicker, but within seconds Susan changed the entire hall and the world forever. You see, within seconds of beginning her song, both the audience and the judges had been stunned by one of the most awesome voices that they had ever heard. A middle-aged volunteer church worker singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Miserables had done it!

So what am I really getting at you may be asking? Very simple! Most of the world, those with sight enough to see, often judge people by their looks. When the audience and judges first set eyes on Susan Boyle they did exactly that. They did not give this very plain looking middle-aged lady a ghost of a chance of success. Why? Because they felt that she was just a bit too old to appeal to them. She was just too dowdy-looking to be taken seriously. She was just not good enough based on her looks. What a shock when she belted out her first notes.

I am afraid that this is the kind of thing that blind and visually-impaired persons face on a daily basis. We are almost always judged based on our blindness; the inability to see, and the inability to navigate our way like normal persons. Most of the rest of the world judge us on our disability rather than our ability. They do exactly what the audience and judges did to Susan Boyle a few weeks ago. Sometimes, blind and sighted persons do manage to shock their associates and acquaintances, and I hope that Susan Boyle motivates my sightless friends to reach out and provide some timely shocks as she has managed to do.

I am offering to help our sighted readers become less judgmental when it comes to their perceptions and hang-ups about persons who are blind and sight impaired. You can contact me at info@sterlingcreations.ca or if you are curious and open-minded enough you can visit any of these websites: www.nfb.org, www.afb.org, www.acb.org, www.rnib.org, www.cnib.ca.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and special-needs business consultant wishing you a terrific day and suggesting that you should not judge a blind person by their disability. Judge them for their ability.