Purple Seniors--Tech Lab Work--It's About Dignity
"Maybe I couldn't play first string, but I could of folded towels, couldn't I? I could of done something. That nurse on my ward, she keeps telling me I'm not ready."The Lifeguard at the pool, a "punchy" ex-football player who is committed for being picked up drunk and disorderly, can't get dismissed from the hospital. Is he a menace to society? Not completely. Once in a while he'll get in a three-point stance like he's ready to open a hole for a running back, but aside from that, he's able to hold a conversation, and he's willing to perform the most menial of tasks, like folding towels in the football team locker room, if it means getting out of the hospital.
Certainly back in the early 60s, people with physical and intellectual disabilities were treated with less understanding, less compassion, than they are today. Thankfully, national groups like Special Olympics and Best Buddies and local groups like DFRC (you know, the Blue-Gold people) have spread the news that "challenged" people are only "handicapped" when we treat them that way or when we whisper or snicker about them as if they didn't exist. Organizations like the OCI (Opportunity Center, Inc. --website is http://www.ourpeoplework.org/) train and employ people with disabilities to make them proud members of the work force. There is a local branch in Wilmington, by the way.
Watch this Special Olympics video ad on youtube (click on link). The video contains an unexpected ending that emphasizes the potential for greatness in everyone.
Your assignment today (complete and post before class on Tuesday, March 23) is to find on the Web an example of a living, breathing, physically or intellectually disabled person who has achieved success far beyond what society would expect from him or her.
Or find someone who has been convicted as a "criminal" or labeled a "psychopath" who has overcome his stigma, worked to amend his life, and has become a positive contributing member of society.
In 200 or 25 blog lines, tell me his or her story.
Provide the link, also, where you found this information.
posted by JTF @ 2:11 PM
25 comments
25 Comments:
Christy Brown was a famous author, painter, and poet who was afflicted with a severe atheoid cerebral palsy. Atheoid cerebral palsy is a disorder in which the person has difficulty sitting or walking in an upright and steady position, and simple tasks such as holding or reaching for objects can be extremely difficult or even impossible for them. On June 5, 1932, he was born in Crumlin, Dublin to an Irish family. He was incapable of deliberate movement or speech and was considered by doctors to also be mentally handicapped as well. His mother, however, continued to try to educate him. One day at around age five, he famously snatched a piece of chalk from his sister and drew on a piece of slate. After that, his left foot was the only part of him that he could somewhat control. His mother taught him the alphabet which he copied with his foot using chalk. He received treatment from Doctor Robert Collis who was also a writer and became a great friend of his. The two both loved literature and Dr. Collis introduced Christy to a few famous writers. Dr. Collis also guided him in the writing of his book, My Left Foot. Christy Brown went on writing more books, poems, and created paintings.
One person who comes to mind when I think of people who have overcome their mental disabilities is Forrie Brown. He is one of our Blue/ Gold buddies here at St. Mark’s and he has come so far since he started the program years ago. When he first started the program, he was very shy and did not want to talk to or communicate with people because he was so nervous. Everybody who knows Forrie would say that this is not possible. He is now the life of the party wherever he goes and he is one of the leading starts in the St. Mark’s Blue/ Gold Fashion Show. Forrie has become an extremely confident and crucial part of the Blue/ Gold program. Now, Forrie is one the football coaches for the freshman at our high school. They know him as “Coach Brown.” It is amazing to see how much he has grown and how confident he has become over the years. Forrie has gone from being a shy buddy, to a person who is not afraid of anything and loves to be the center of attention. Because of how he refuses to let his intellectual disabilities tie him down, his has achieved so much for himself and for the community around him.
Where I work there are several people with down syndrome. They are very hard workers and are treated the same as everybody else. I think that it is good that they are given the opportunity to work despite there disability. I think that by allowing them to work it makes them feel better about themselves. I don’t think that they should be treated any differently then anybody else. Since both of theses guys have worked there for so long most people that come in know who they are and say hi to them. Despite having a disability they live the same kind of life that we live. I know that the one guy is a body builder and competes in competitions. I’ve seen one of the other guys at church with his dad quite frequently. These are just two examples of how people with disabilities can be just like everybody else. I don’t think that it is right when people make fun of them because they have a disability. They were born with it and had no choice. I don’t see why instead of making fun of the person they can’t help them and make them fit in more. Where I work is just one example of how people with disabilities are members of the work force.
Alexander Rogov was going to compete as a speed skater in the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games for the Russian team. He was really excited and only wanted to do one thing, win a medal. On the first day of the preliminaries for the 333 meter speed skating event, he fell on the last lap and tore his Achilles tendon. He was able to get up and cross the finish line but would not be able to compete for the games. He traveled all the way from his small town about an hour away from St. Petersburg to Idaho where his dreams of winning a medal in his first World Winter Games were ended the night before his 18th birthday. Through an interpreter Rogov said, “I was very disappointed. Winning a medal was the thing I wanted to do the most at the Games.” He had a successful surgery on his tendon and while he was recovering Timothy Shriver, Special Olympics Chairman, visited him. At the closing ceremony Shriver told Rogov’s story of determination and courage to the whole crowd. He told Rogov to come up on stage with him and when he was able to make it up on his crouches, Shriver presented him an honorary gold medal for bravery. Rogov’s dream came true.
Alexander Rogov was going to compete as a speed skater in the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games for the Russian team. He was really excited and only wanted to do one thing, win a medal. On the first day of the preliminaries for the 333 meter speed skating event, he fell on the last lap and tore his Achilles tendon. He was able to get up and cross the finish line but would not be able to compete for the games. He traveled all the way from his small town about an hour away from St. Petersburg to Idaho where his dreams of winning a medal in his first World Winter Games were ended the night before his 18th birthday. Through an interpreter Rogov said, “I was very disappointed. Winning a medal was the thing I wanted to do the most at the Games.” He had a successful surgery on his tendon and while he was recovering Timothy Shriver, Special Olympics Chairman, visited him. At the closing ceremony Shriver told Rogov’s story of determination and courage to the whole crowd. He told Rogov to come up on stage with him and when he was able to make it up on his crouches, Shriver presented him an honorary gold medal for bravery. Rogov’s dream came true.
Many people sometimes often overlook those who have a disability. Sometimes we might say they are weird or a social outcast but thats not true. One particular woman that I find reaches beyond her expectations is Heather Mills. During her early years Heather was a model and also married a former Beatle Paul McCartney. Heather was a normal two legged happy go lucky person until the year of 1993 when she was hit by a police motorbike and suffered from crushed ribs and punctured lung. However Heather's most severe life changing injury was that her leg was severed and had to be amputated. Now Heather wears a prosthetic limb and is not ashamed to show people and talk about it. She later founded Heather Mills Health Trust, that recycles old prosthetics. She still continues to this day to try to help other amputees. She doesn't let her disability hold her back. In fact, Heather was on the hit television show Dancing with the Stars in the Spring of 2007. Although she did not win the competition Heather was brave enough to agree to do the show and really worked to her best potential. Overall, Heather is an amazing person and never looks down on her prosthetic she always tries to look for the positive and help fellow amputees through Charity work and just sharing her story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Mills
Last year through my Blue Gold buddy group, I met Caitlin Coughlin. When I first met her at the Blue Gold Ice-Cream Social, she was nothing like I expected. She came up to my group and me glowing with excitement and eagerness. She then introduced herself and began making conversation with us. I had never met someone so welcoming and friendly in my life. In fact, Caitlin seemed to remember absolutely everything anyone told her, which highlighted her true compassion for others. Even if months had passed, she would ask me about a certain subject I had previously brought up. For example, when I told her I had been applying for a job, a few months later she asked me if I had been hired and how everything had gone. She greatly influenced my reaction and opinion of those labeled "handicapped" by society. Caitlin would often tell me about the job she had just gotten at the Hockessin Athletic Club. At the HAC, she worked in the childcare area. Here she helped take care of young children and hopefully passed on to them even half of her generosity and love for life. Caitlin taught me never to pay attention to the expectations others have for you, and instead live up to what you know your true potential is.
I've been involved with Blue Gold since my freshman year and have had a buddy since the beginning of my junior year. I have seen how hard working and successful these buddies can be at anything they work at. Most of them work even harder than a lot of my peers and it shows. At every Blue Gold event, my group and I are there with our buddy having a great time, talking about different things or playing different games outside. Some of the things they do are so amazing. My buddy recently has been working at the University of Delaware while in the fall helping coach the St. Marks football team. He brought so much energy to our group in the fashion show we just had, constantly coming up with creative ideas and making jokes the entire time. The fashion show is huge for Blue Gold and the buddies. I felt honored to have the opportunity to be a part of it and everything that it represents. It makes me feel good knowing that spending any amount of time with the buddies in Blue Gold makes their week. I intend to continue to be involved with Blue Gold next year when I go off to college.
I met Scotty my Blue/Gold buddy last year during the ice cream social, it was his first year in blue/gold just as mine was The first day I met him in blue/gold I was kind of shy and he was too. But we got to talk, mostly about how Madison smells, and how weird she is. Well I got him to start laughing and we started having fun. He is the most influential person I have ever met in my entire life. He goes to school at Newark high school everyday with some of the other buddies in Blue/Gold. Sometimes we take advantage of the things we are allowed to do even so simple as to go to school, as much as we hate it, school is a gift to Scotty and he loves to go. Meeting Scotty changed my life; I use to use the R word and take advantage of the things I have been gifted by God. But I learned that people like Scotty are the sweetest people I have ever met, he’s nice, he couldn’t hold a grudge, he was a great personality, and he’s like the little brother I always wanted. He makes a normal kid in my eyes and he teaches me how I should live me life, and I learn at least one new thing every time I am with him. One example is how Scotty did fashion show just this past weekend, it took a lot for Scotty to learn the moves, but he did do it, I knew he could do I. He may not be the flashiest dancer in the bunch, but he knew how to get down with the best of us. I wish he were my brother because I am proud of everything he does or accomplishes in his life.
Too many times we are blinded by a person’s mental disabilities. We think that without sight people can’t read. But Helen Keller changed that. We think that without limbs, people can’t run marathons…but thousands of amputees have. Like the blind and the physically wounded, Tony Deblois, a blind, autistic has surpassed anyone’s expectations about what would become of his life—a life that isn’t below average or even average, but extraordinary. A gift came with Tony’s handicaps. Tony is a musical savant. At the age of 20, Tony has mastered 20 instruments, knows a total of more than 8,000 songs, and is continuing to find astounding success in the music business. Tony has been described as a “master musician,” “an incredible genius,” and his “stellar, moving and dynamic” piano playing has captivated thousands on his nationwide tours. He is never the one to say that he can’t do something, and while some people just give up, Tony goes head first into obstacles that wouldn’t be easy for an ordinary person, let alone one with autism. People are always astounded by his independent attitude, and his favorite phrase is “I just haven’t learned that yet.” While he is not busy playing for his many audiences, he enjoys working out on exercise machines, swimming, ballroom dancing, and the computer. Ordinary hobbies? Yes, but Tony has one extraordinary talent.
One person who has overcome their disability and has far surpassed expectations of him is Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is most commonly referred to as ALS. At this point in his life the ALS has left him almost completely paralyzed. He is unable to speak or use his hands so he uses NeoSpeech's VoiceText speech synthesizer to communicate with people. He is well recognized around the world for his accomplishments and his intelligence. He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes. He has also achieved success with works of popular science where he discusses his own theories. Some of his books include the runaway best seller A Brief History of Time, which stayed on the British Sunday Times bestsellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Stephen Hawking has worked on the basic laws, which govern the universe. With Roger Penrose he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. Professor Hawking has twelve honorary degrees. He was awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honour in 1989. He is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes, is a Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Mattie Stepanek has always been a huge inspiration to me since my fifth grade teacher introduced his work to me and my class. Mattie was diagnosed with Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy which interrupts automatic body functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and many other things. He is confined to a wheelchair and has a ventilator, a tube in his trachea, must get weekly platelet and red blood transfusions and much more and he is only eighteen. Although Mattie has had a very difficult life, he is an extremely positive person which is why he is such an inspiration to me. What is most important to Mattie is "praying and playing, and celebrating life every day in some way." Mattie is most known for writing five books all of which were New York Times Bestsellers. He has written poetry, essays, prayers, and short stories which millions of people have read and been inspired by around the world. His works have also been published in other books and he is even a lyricist for the CD "Music Through Heartsongs" sung by Billy Gilman. Other accomplishments include National Goodwill Ambassador for MDA along with many awards for public speaking and writing poetry. Mattie is such an inspiration to not only those with disabilities but to all people because of his amazing spirit and drive to make something of his life. Mattie is even a practical jokester and writes lists of things he wants to write, places he wants to see, and things he wants to remember. He will continue to inspire me and many others through his bright spirit and love for living.
Sir Isaac Newton is known to people all around the world as one of the smartest men in our history. In his life he was a physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, alchemist, theologian, and an epileptic. Epilepsy is commonly defined as a brain disorder in which a person has seemingly random seizures for their entire life if left without medication. Unlike most people who would just accept that they have a disability and let that run their lives or commit themselves to an institution such as in “The Cookoo’s Nest”, Sir Isaac Newton decided to turn his life into something extraordinary that people would be talking about forever. During the course of Newton’s life, he was able to come up with universal gravitation and the three laws of motion with are used constantly in physics today. In the mathematics field Sir Isaac Newton developed the commonly studied and used calculus. If it were not for this single man conjuring up the courage the overcome his disability, who would know where our knowledge of mathematics, physics or any of the other fields he was so well accomplished in would be.
On October 31, 2003, 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton was surfing off the coast of the Hawaiian island, Kauai, with her friend Alana and Alana's father and brother. It was 7:30 in the morning and they all were trying to catch some waves. Bethany was lying on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in the water. All of the sudden, a 14-foot tiger shark attacked Bethany, grabbed her left arm, and managed to tear it from her body just below the shoulder. Bethany struggled to paddle back to shore and lost almost 60% of her blood in the process. She was rushed to Wilcox Memorial Hospital where she was rushed into emergency surgery. Over the next six days, Bethany recovered from the horrible attack and, as a result, was now missing her left arm. Although this experience was traumatic for Bethany, it did not dampen her spirits. She was decided that she wanted to get back on her surf board, and was determined to do just that. It was only a short three weeks after the attack when Bethany Hamilton got back to surfing. A new surf board was fashioned for her which was slightly longer and thicker to aid in paddling. After teaching herself to surf again, Bethany got back into competitive surfing and won the ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete of the Year in June 2004, and was awarded with a special courage award at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards. In 2005, she took first place NSSA National Championship of Surfing, a feat she had been trying to accomplish since before her attack. She also began competing full-time in a world qualifying surfing tournament in 2008 and placed 3rd among the world's best women surfers. Now twenty years old, Bethany Hamilton has appeared on various television shows such as Oprah, 20/20, and The Tonight Show. She has also written a book entitled "Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board." There is also going to be a film based on her amazing encounter. Bethany Hamilton defied all odds of ever surfing again after her attack. But her perseverance and determination led her to accomplish this feat.
When Shaun Murray was sixteen years old, he was left with severe physical injuries after a motorcycle accident. Shaun’s injuries could not be fixed by surgery because of their severity, so now he is permanently physically disabled and feels phantom pains. Physically Shaun has some severed nerves in his spine and arrested development of is right arm, yet he is highly competitive. Shaun is forty years old and doesn’t let his handicap bother him, he engages in various competitive sports. One sport he in participates in competitively is Karate; he has obtained the rank of 2nd Dan Black Belt. Over the years Shaun has managed to stay in shape and has competed in five marathons and is also an avid cyclist. To aid Shaun in his biking a special bike was made which allows for him to have complete control over his bike using his left side. Shaun and his buddies even organized a twelve-hour ride to raise money for Willow Wood Hospice, which is a Palliative care center for patients who have life-threatening diseases. Shaun is married and has three children; he currently works as an engineering storeman for Cabot Chemicals.
When ever I think about mentally challenged people, I instantly feel bad about how they are treated in today's society. It is not their choice to have mental disabilities so we shouldn't treat them like it is. At my work, there is a frequent customer who is disabled that always comes in with her mom. I have grown very friendly with them and discovered that she actually participates in the Blue Gold fashion show. Her mom told me that she loves it, mostly because of the fact that she feels like she fits in. She told me thats also why they shop at our store because everyone treats her like she's the same as everyone else. She always comes in, shops with her mom, talks to all the cashiers about her life and activities like any other girl would do. In my eyes she just as normal as everyone else, her disability is easy to look past and accept. Thats why I wrote about this because it reminded me of the commercial we watched because she's over coming societies "stigma" and doing her own thing no matter what people have to say.
He's one of a handful of actors who commands $25 million a picture. He's been called "aggressively infantile," "gleefully uninhibited," and he's been called the greatest physical comedian of the past century. He makes fun of ego and insecurity, altruism and selfishness, macho bravado and feminine sensitivity. And you can find a little bit of all those things in his personality. But you would never expect from this man to suffer from manic depression. Jim Carrey was born on January 17, 1962 in Canada. He was in great movies such as A Christmas Carol, Me Myself & Irene, The Mask, and Bruce Almighty. At age 16 his family experienced poverty at that point. Also his mom was suffering through depression and taking lots of pain pills. He would go home everyday and make faces to make her laugh just to make her feel better. Even though Carrey worked hard and achieved great success in his career, he still suffered from depression from his past. That’s where all his physical comedy came from; he figured from desperation. From his youth he realization the only way to survive this emotion and his financial state was through humor. Carrey went back to comedy clubs and started doing improving, vowing at one point to do an entirely different act every night. Right now, he no longer takes Prozac or another drug, but instead copes through spirituality. He states later at an interview, "I rarely drink coffee. I'm very serious about no alcohol, no drugs. Life is too beautiful." Carrey's faith is both personal and mystical. He believes that miracles will come true, if you believe in them, and he has his life and his career to prove it. But acting is still the biggest part of his life - the thing that defines his: his talent and need to perform. So with his faith and his career it helps him become stable and fight the serious illness of maniac depression.
Dick Hoyt is a retired lieutenant colonel with the Air National Guard. He is a devoted runner and swimmer and has run “Ever Boston marathon since 1981.” But Dick is not mentally challenged, his son is. In 1962, Dick and Judy Hoyt were given news the their newborn son, Rick Hoyt, has cerebral palsy and is spastic quadriplegic. Doctors told them that it would be best for everyone if he was institutionalized because he had no chance of recovery and little hope for Rick to live a “normal life.” They did the exact opposite and kept Rick and attempted to raise him like every other child. They noticed that even though he could not speak or walk, he was always watching what was going on. So when rick was ten he had a computer built for him that allowed Rick to “talk” to others, despite the fact that almost everyone thought Rick would just be a vegetable the rest of his life. At the age of 13 Rick was even put into public school and actually attended Boston University. He graduated with a degree in Special Education. Dick would push Rick in all the races he ran in, over 1000, six of them being iron man competitions. In the iron man competitions Dick would swim with a boat attached to his back that had Rick in it. Dick competes in these grueling competitions because after Rick's first race he told his father, “Dad, when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.”
Since freshman year, I have been a member of Blue/Gold. To be honest, I really only did it at first because my older brother told me how awesome doing fashion show was. As the years have gone by, I have met so many amazing people throughout this program. Whether they are fellow students, teachers, parents, or buddies, they all share one thing in common: compassion for one another. Every buddy always comes up to me with a huge smile on their face that helps to brighten my day. My buddy, Jeffy, is the quintessence of an amazing person. He has many mental and physical disabilities, but they do not phase him in any way. A lot of people always imply or make a comment about how they feel bad for him. I would have thought the same thing before, but now I just say "Why would you feel bad for him? Just look at how happy he is." I am always so amazed at how easy he is impress. The littlest things that others would overlook are held dear by Jeffy. We went bowling with him last week for his birthday and all decided to let him win. Little did we know he was really good and he ended up beating us all in the second game when we were actually trying. This taught us to never underestimate him just because of his disabilities. We met his family at the bowling alley as well. They were all so kind and welcoming that it made me happy that Jeffy belonged to that family. After meeting his mother, I knew that he was very well taken care of. I always try my best every day to be the best I can be, and in many ways, I use Jeffy as a role model.
While many people just say that they have a photographic memory, Stephen Wiltshire lives off his amazing talent. Stephen was born as a mute and at age 3 was diagnosed with autism. He did not match very well with other people and lived in a world of his own. Stephen also suffered from development issues and severe tantrums. From age 5 until age 8, he became obsessed with drawing and painting. Animals, buses, cars, buildings; you name it. Eventually, Mr. Wiltshire learned how to speak at age 9 with his first word being "paper". His talent truly has grown since he started and so has his fan base. Stephen starred in many television productions around the world and has been the subject of books. One of his greatest achievements would be his natural ability to re-create a panoramic view of a city straight from memory. Some of these cities include New York, Tokyo, Rome, and Madrid. His first showing of his work was in 2003 at the Orleans House Gallery which featured work as far back as 1983. On top of his drawing expertise, Stephen is a fantastic singer who has been identified as having perfect pitch. He can remember any song and express the emotions just the same. Psychologists say that it is very rare to find an autistic person who is a dual- savant. Stephen Wiltshire is an incredible person who blends in so well with society now that his autism is hardly noticeable. Regardless of his disability, his talent gives hope to all people and inspires many.
Josh Blue is a famous comedian who made a name for himself on the NBC show Last Comic Standing. He was born in 1978 with Cerebral Palsy which affected many of his fine motor skills but left him mentally unaffected. Since winning the fourth season of Last Comic Standing he has made appearances in two low budget horror movies and several television shows including Mind of Mencia and the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Blue is not afraid to confront his cerebral palsy on stage, many of his jokes involve mishaps related to his affliction, which audiences seem to enjoy. He openly pokes fun at the fact that he cannot entirely control his left arm which does what he has named the "Palsy Punch," his arm flies around expectedly. But Blue’s humor is not just based on cerebral palsy, he often makes witty observations about other day to day occurrences. Despite his condition he can do most everyday activities and is married. Blue is often said to be very likably and good-natured. He is still touring and has also started to branch out as an artist, because of his condition he often creates surreal and ethereal paintings.
http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/biography.aspx
Throughout the history of Mathematics, there have been many mathematicians that have furthered Math. One such mathematician was John Nash. In the 1960s it was determined that John Nash had Paranoid Schizophrenia. He believed that an organization was trying to start a conspiracy against the U.S. government. John Nash was put into the hospital and took medications to keep the hallucinations away. After being discharged from the hospital he stopped taking his medication and learned to tell the real from the falsely believed. Even though Nash struggled with this paranoid schizophrenia, Nash made numerous contributions to mathematics, specifically in game theory and differential geometry mathematics. John Nash has also received numerous prizes and awards, including the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
In recent years, there are many disabled people that have passed insurmountable odds to achieve something that no other disabled person has done before, something even most people that don’t have a disability couldn’t do. One of those feats is climbing the tallest mountain in the world, the 29,000 foot high Mount Everest. This marvelous mountain was conquered by Tom Whittaker. It started in 1979, when he went to Canada and the United States to begin his mountaineering career. This career was shattered, or at least thought to be shattered, when he was in a car accident when he was in the states. He refused to take pain medication so that he could plead his case to not get amputated, and it worked, and only his right foot was amputated. Whittaker would not let his disability get in the way of his dream, so he continued to work hard to achieve his goal of climbing the tallest mountain in the world. It took him nine years and three attempts to achieve his dream, but he finally did in 1998, with an amputated right foot. Other than being the first disabled person to climb Mount Everest, he founded the Cooperative Wilderness Handicapped Outdoor Group at Idaho State University. He is also being recognized by the government of the United Kingdom for his services to mountaineering and disabilities. He is now a huge inspiration to England and physically disabled people around the world.
When I read the assignment for this blog the first person to come to mind when thinking of someone who achieved greatness with a physical disability was Ray Charles. Ray Charles is a very famous musician playing the piano, organ, sax, clarinet, and trumpet. Ray was blind at the age of seven and went to a school for the deaf and blind where he learned to read and write music. Ray took his love of music with him everywhere and became one of the greatest. He never let his blindness affect his abilities to play great music and become a hit. When Ray moved to Seattle, Washington he met Quincy Jones and taught him how to write and arrange music. Their friendship lasted through their lifetimes and they worked on many pieces together through this time. Ray never let his blindness get the best of him and he continued with what he loved, and that was music. Today movies and books have been written about the great Ray Charles and he will forever be known in the music world as one of the greatest.
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