Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter

Popular duo Father and Son. - Photo by Herbert McKenis

Getting to the top in the entertainment industry is not an easy road, and it's even harder when you can't see your rocky and potholed road.

Despite these tiring obstacles, entertainers with disabilities do not seen to be daunted by them - they have decided to trod on.

Sydney Thorpe, keyboard player for Fab 5, has always loved playing the piano and says when he was a child it was one of his few loves. Since then he has graduated to bigger things - namely, playing with Fab 5 for many years.

He says throughout the years, the public has embraced him without much bias.

"First of all, it was like moving from hot to cold. At that time people started to see me on TV and hear me on radio. They didn't see a blind guy, they saw me, Sydney Thorpe ... If them never know my name, them say 'musician'.

"People were fascinated because they had never seen a visually challenged person playing three keyboards at a time, much less sitting on a revolving stool, spinning and playing the keyboards ... I didn't have anything to prove to anybody because I was in a band that was a top band," he said.

Still, top band or not, one has to wonder if Thorpe has ever indulged in the always looming self-pity. He laughed, saying: "Life is too short for that when the energy you use to do that can be channelled into something else."

Thorpe says besides playing with the band, he has kept himself busy working on his new album, Keys To Your Soul, surfing the Internet - and now for the jaw-dropper: driving.

Internet

"With the advent of computers, I don't have no time to feel sorry for myself. I taught myself the whole business of computing and I love to surf the Internet and that sort of thing," he said.

He explained his driving stunt: "I just said 'I can't have a car and nuh know how it feel'. I drove from Springvale round to the rehearsal area (parking lot) once. Where the car was parked it was easy because I had my ears out the window and could hear and there was someone there taping it," he said.

It's obvious that he has a sense of humour that keeps him upbeat. He adds: "More time when I am walking on the road and I have to be looking out for the people and I have to wonder if is dem or me. Everybody gazing and hitting you over in the plaza; is the worst."

However, one thing he doesn't find funny is the lack of opportunities for persons with disabilities, particularly in entertainment.

"The moment you hear somebody go blind, your guard goes up. People won't employ you unless you have a name, they often say that you need to have experience. Which one comes first, the egg or chicken? How are you going to be capable if they don't allow you the experience?

"Unique Vision (band) is almost as old as Fab 5, but they don't get as much work as they should. People are usually like 'oh, the blind band' and immediately a guard goes up. Because we have a disability we have to work extra hard to prove ourselves and it is not really fair ... Those people who are challenged visually also have families to take care of and they need food too," he continued.

Roy Dunbar is also blind and he is a keyboard player for Errol Lee and the Bare Essentials Band. He is a past student of the School For the Blind, secretary for the Jamaica Association for the Deaf, he once had a band called 'Optical Illusion', he was the former musical director for the Grace Thrillers, husband of 10 years with three children. In short, he's a busybody.

WhileDunbar doesn't seem to accept defeat, his experiences highlight the everyday difficulties those with disabilities encounter. These disability-related obstacles are why Dunbar's band, 'Optical Illusion', split.

"It was more difficult for an all-blind band to survive every year, especially when it's a case where 10 new bands are coming up. We split in 1993. In order to keep the band going you have to have shows and we couldn't find a manager. After that the members went their own way and I was a top musician so I got a few jobs. I played with people like Boris Gardiner, Ernie Smith and Bare Essentials," he said.

He spoke of some obstacles he frequently encounters when performing at venues or travelling overseas.

"As a blind person it is sometimes difficult when you go to a venue to play because you can't move around the venue by yourself, so I might ask one of the other members. It's a band of all men so sometimes they might want to look for a girl so I am left alone. Apart from that, if I am on tour, I might stay in the hotel while the other people go out. I don't feel any way about this because I know I am an integral part of the band."

Dunbar's greatest achievements include once being "onstage in England and Mr. Noel Lewis from the 'Grace Thrillers' said 'Roy Dunbar is our musical director'. That felt good. It was also good when I had my own band."

Latifa 'Tifa' Brown, 23, isn't blind, deaf, nor is she a paraplegic, and you may have seen her music videos on TV and even then her disability isn't obvious. So why is she being mentioned?

Tifa says, "Basically I had a bone disease, Blount disease, which is when your inner bones grow faster than the outer bones, my feet were basically at 45 degree angles. My mom was stung by a scorpion when she was pregnant with me, so the poison affected her and her child."

Tifa says: "I had three operations: one in Canada and the others down here. After the first two operations my legs would straighten out, but because I was young I kept growing it out. After the lastsurgery they stopped the growth, that's why I'm only five feet. Some nerves are dead now in my feet. I walk slightly funny now, I can walk straight with extra effort but it's harder. I have to practise, especially if I want to go out on the international market, which I do."

Do you feel uncomfortable in the public eye?

"No, not really, I don't consider myself to be handicapped, I live a pretty normal life. Growing up I wasn't made to feel different in any way different. I had a close-knit family. I did sports, dancing; I was a leading hockey goal scorer in my school. Some people may stare, but after 23 years, you get used to it."

Has it hindered your career?

"Not yet, not really, I've gotten on very well ... I will go on stage and go 'you know it's the girl wid the famous walk'. I could use it as a gimmick but I don't want my music to be about my feet."

What about blocking your feet in your videos?

Tifa: "It's not done on purpose, I guess it's the way they edit it. It's not the first time people have asked me. In my first video I was dancing and everything, so I don't know where people are getting it from. I'm doing another video the 23rd of February, I will be doing a lot of stunts, running, you'll see."

Do you perform?

"Yeah, I do, haven't really recently but I will be in March and April. The last big show I did was 'Champions in Action' at Jamworld, I was well received."

kavelle.christie@gleanerjm.com - Additional reporting was done by Krista Henry, Staff Reporter.