Once, when coaching a young fellow on how to be a broadcaster, Bob Layton made a suggestion he instantly regretted - to look outside and describe the weather to the listening audience.
The 630 CHED radio personality quickly realized his faux pas, since the person he was coaching happened to be blind. Layton told the story of his meeting with this young gentleman during a past Saturday luncheon in St. Paul to honour the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Dec. 3.
Later, as Layton watched the young man at the microphone, he was seized with panic when the man seemed to follow his advice. ‘Oh God, he’s turning to the window,’ Layton recalled thinking. He was astounded and relieved when the next words he heard out of the deejay’s mouth was: “And doesn’t the sun feel nice today.”
This situation, along with other cases, taught Layton that, “There is more than one way to see.” During his presentation at St. Paul Senior Citizens Centre, Layton related a few of his experiences with people with disabilities, on how they managed to achieve great things, and how, through their achievements, they taught him to see the person before the disability.
For instance, there was the wheelchair-bound Percy Wickman, a popular Edmonton city council alderman, who ran as a Liberal in the 1989 provincial election against premier Don Getty. “The premier won a majority, but lost his own seat,” said Layton, explaining that Wickman won by dint of sheer hard work and determination. “Is he really disabled? I don’t know.”
Layton related the case of one relative who had to be sent to residential care when he became too strong for his parents to handle. The young man, named Keith, enjoyed his parents’ regular visits and their habitual gifts of Hot Wheels cars. However, on one visit, he emphatically told them he didn’t need the Hot Wheels car they had brought.
“Keith is going home,” he told them. His parents didn’t understand, but Keith repeated the statement a few times before they left. Shortly afterwards, Keith passed away, with Layton saying he’s heard of a few situations such as this, where the disabled person seemed to know beforehand when his or her time had come. He’s heard they may be “closer to God,” and speculated he should “be nice to them, because they might be able to put a word in for me.”
Layton gave the example of several other people flying in the face of their disabilities, such as Mel Michaud, a blind person who does beautiful fine woodwork, or musician Ben Crane, who learned an adaptive way of playing the guitar with a deformed hand. Many people want to improve their lives, and it’s up to each person to design something better for themselves, Layton said.
He urged people to spend time they would otherwise spend doing nothing, or watching TV, to learn a new skill, something he has done himself. For Layton, that skill was ventriloquism, which he demonstrated by singing along with a pair of puppets he’d brought to the show.
“Anything can be improved,” he said, encouraging people to set goals, write them down and work on realizing that goal within a given timeframe.
Emcee Donna Desjardins, a member of the Disability Day Committee that was struck to organize the event, said she was happy to see a good crowd of about 100 people, representing all abilities, backgrounds and ages, at the luncheon.
There was a lot of “good spirit and good energy” in the room, said Desjardins, with those with disabilities being an integral part, by helping to prepare the food, asking questions of Layton and saying the grace before the meal.
“Never ever discount someone because of a disability,” she said, adding there are several individuals with disabilities in St. Paul who contribute and do great things with their lives, being proof of Layton’s oft-repeated advice throughout his speech - “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.”
