A blind talent, a piano, and a dream.
In a search for the best amateur pianists in the UK, artists and judges Lang Lang and Mika came across Lucy’s stunning performance at Leeds station. At age thirteen, Lucy made her TV debut in 2023, appearing on Channel 4’s show, The Piano. During the series, contestants performed at one of the public pianos located at various train stations across the United Kingdom.
Blind since birth, Lucy stopped traffic with an extraordinarily delicate artistry: “For two opinionated pains like us to be flummoxed and speechless…” remarked Mika to Lang Lang. “How does she even study?” wondered a deeply moved Lang Lang. In an episode at Leeds station, Lucy performed Chopin’s Nocturne in B flat minor. “It was one of those moments when the whole world stops,” commented Candice, Lucy’s mother, “People were missing their trains just to listen to my daughter.”
Social media fandom followed as the video amassed millions of views on Twitter in the following days. Lucy would progress to the final of The Piano, performing at The Royal Festival Hall alongside three other contestants, winning the “Performance of the Night” award. A standing ovation crowned eight years of The Amber Trust’s educational support of this artist; not only was Lucy able to share her talent with the entire nation, but all of the United Kingdom was able to admire and celebrate her profoundly.
The Amber Trust was founded in 1995 to provide blind and partially sighted children, including those with additional disabilities, the best possible chance to meet their musical needs and aspirations. The beneficiaries of Amber find a significant impact in their lives. This support brings children immense joy, encourages them to learn, boosts their confidence, and helps them connect to the world beyond musical repertoire. Children can share their thoughts and feelings with others, opening up a sense of agency, independence, and belonging in a world unprepared for their needs and talents.
The Amber Trust’s core activity is providing Music Awards for individual blind and partially sighted children and young people. The Awards can fund instrumental and singing lessons, purchase musical instruments and items of musical technology, provide tickets and assistance with attending concerts, and finance travel and accommodations to access opportunities for musical engagements.
The Amber Trust aims to reach children through music as early as possible: “Little Amber” for families of children with a vision impairment aged 0-5, “AmberPlus” for those with complex needs aged 5-18, and “With Music in Mind” for those with neurodegenerative conditions.
In 2022-2023 alone, the organization impacted 662 blind and partially sighted children across the UK, 266 children via their Music Awards program, funding lessons in piano, harp, violin, cello, guitar, clarinet, saxophone, drums, voice, and braille music lessons.
The Challenge: A Statistically Overwhelming Need
According to the Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC), there are approximately 37,000 vision-impaired children and young people in England and Wales. 3 out of 1000 children in the UK are blind or partially sighted, and the numbers grow daily: “Every day, four more children will be diagnosed with sight loss.”
Sight loss impacts children and young people’s mental health, presenting prevailing symptoms of anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression. RSBC research publishes insights from other studies, such as that blind and partially sighted children are more likely to be bullied, one in every two parents felt that their child had problems concentrating at school because of their condition, and around a quarter of all blind and partially sighted children are unhappy with their lives because of their sight loss and half of all parents are worried about their ability to learn at school.
Feelings of social isolation are some of the most complex challenges faced by blind and partially sighted people of all ages.
The data demonstrates an added difficulty for families to provide proper containment and opportunities for development. These difficulties are primarily economic, considering these children often “live in households with a weekly income of less than £300.” (RSBC, 2012).
Considering the entire UK population, 2 million people live with sight loss. A study from the University of Birmingham and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) published in November 2022 reveals that only one in four people with sight loss are in paid employment: “The research revealed that attitudes towards employing someone with sight loss are the biggest barrier people with sight loss face – due largely to misconceptions of ability, leading to inaccessibility of recruitment practices and inadequate employee support.”
All this research in the United Kingdom shows how pressing this social problem is and how adequate it is to address young age groups to enable resilient, happier, more fulfilling lives with possibilities of social belonging and workforce participation. Focusing on children also impacts their surrounding communities, as families learn what the standard for adequate support looks like and dismiss self-fulfilling prophecy anxieties as their children learn to explore and enjoy opportunities and apply themselves to their passions.
The Opportunity Ahead: Building On 30 Years of Impact
With 2025 around the corner, The Amber Trust faces a promising opportunity to celebrate how its efforts have transformed the lives of (now) adult people with blindness and sight loss. Examples of excellence abound in their reports, and the presidency of HRH Queen of the United Kingdom, Camilla Parker Bowles, boosts all charity initiatives and raises the organization’s profile significantly.
Considering the organization relies entirely on fundraising through donors, the 2025 celebrations will be an excellent opportunity to spread awareness in the United Kingdom and diversify its donor base while keeping its current donor base close, engaged, and thrilled with the results of its contribution.
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