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
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus survives vote calling for his ouster
Greg Fergus survived a vote to oust him as House of Commons Speaker on Tuesday, but with close to half of MPs expressing a loss of confidence in him, he faces a precarious path forward in maintaining order in Parliament.
'It was hell': Israeli mother held hostage with her children describes 51 days in captivity
Hagar Brodutch, her three children and four-year-old neighbour were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from their home in Kfar Aza, Israel on Oct. 7 and held for 51 days. They were released in November, but Brodutch says her thoughts are never far from those still being held in Gaza.
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
P.E.I. kiteboarder 'lucky to be alive' after shark attack in Turks and Caicos
A professional kiteboarder from P.E.I. says he has been seriously injured in a shark attack that occurred while he was snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands last week.
Teen dies after being hit by train in N.W. Calgary
A teenager has died after being hit by a train in northwest Calgary on Tuesday afternoon.
Black bear kebabs make family sick with parasitic worms
It was supposed to be a celebration, but one family’s unique meal of black bear meat sent several members to the hospital instead.
'It's his vacation too': Jimmy the baby goat joins 2-week road trip across Canada
After Jimmy the baby goat was shunned by his mother, a New Brunswick man took the kid on a two-week road trip across Canada.
The double-level airplane seat is back. This time, there’s a first-class version
It’s the airplane seat design that launched a thousand memes and kickstarted a media storm. And now the double-level seat is back – only this time, with a twist.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.