John.
Uncle John is my mother’s youngest brother. He was born on June 12, 1970, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Uncle John was not born deaf and blind. According to my grandmother, when Uncle John was 16 months old he came down with meningitis, which robbed him of both his sight and hearing. The sad thing about this was that my grandparents were not aware about this and only realized my uncle’s disability when he was only two years old. By then the damage to the nerves in his eyes were too severe to be rectified and there was nothing that could be done for his ears. With great determination my grandmother tutored my uncle at home in Mathematics, Language, Music and Art. My uncle was a fast learner and picked up well in all the subjects. But he showed tremendous improvement and excellence in Music. My grandmother decided to get him a music tutor although it took a toll on their livelihood as my grandfather was the only wage earner in the house and he had a family of five young kids to feed and educate. My grandmother decided to sell cakes to make extra money. My uncle progressed so well that he had completed all the 8 levels of music in just 5 years. When he was 15 years old my uncle decided to lift the burden of my grandparents by teaching music to earn a living. He was such a patient and caring music teacher that parents were waiting at the doorstep to enrol their children in his music classes. He had