Perceptions matter when it comes to understanding people's challenges: CNIB

When musicians want to be heard at The King's University in Edmonton, Jonathan Siieswerda is the sound guy who mixes it right.

"I'll plug everything in, set up the microphone stands, the piano and whatever, and then I'll go turn stuff on, then the band will come on and they'll practise, and I'll make sure that they sound good," Sieswerda, a student at the east Edmonton post-secondary school, told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday.

Sieswerda has been the audio/visual assistant at King's for a few years now and happens to be blind.

"I have no centre vision. I only have peripheral vision, so I have to look to the sides," said Sieswerda, who was born visually impaired, which "hasn't really changed" over his life.

"It's a part of me, and I think that I've come to accept it for the most part," he said. I find I can do pretty much almost everything, regardless of being visually impaired."

According to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, it's how others see people like Sieswerda -- applying stereotypes and preconceived ideas of what they can and can't do -- that continues to be a struggle.

At The King's University, he was given an opportunity because they focussed on something else.

"His abundance of knowledge in this area was very clear, so I had zero worries," Amanda Duenk, the university's spiritual growth coordinator, told CTV News Edmonton. "Just to see him in action and witness his ability to go above and beyond, i was very impressed."

While Sieswerda sometimes needs to bring things up close or off to the side to see what they are, it's not discouraging.

He says everyone struggles whether they have a noticeable disability or not. One thing he hopes many people can and will change are their perceptions.

"I think the challenges that we face shape us in a lot of ways," Sieswerda said. "They force us to push past what we normally think we could do."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Brandon Lynch and Craig Ellingson