Autistic and Blind; Challenge Accepted by Skarlet Ramirez
Lavender Bell, an autistic and blind twenty year old singer from Fitchburg, MA yearns to one day create a sculpture exhibition that showcases what she sees as shades of people’s voices. Bell, who was born blind along with three other siblings, wants people to see what she sees through sculpting.
She grew up in a house with five brothers and four sisters where she was the youngest of her nine siblings. However, when she was very little she developed a passion for singing, a talent she didn’t even know she had. “She was born with perfect pitch”, she recalls her parents saying.
Bell, who has been singing for as long as she can remember, describes singing as her passion, hobby, and future career. Besides becoming a famous singer, she would like to be a sound engineer in order to be able to edit her own music. Her dream is to sell albums, establish a solid career, and perform throughout the country. Bell, has many dreams and aspirations just like any other person would, and her disabilities haven’t stopped her from pursuing what she loves. “Just because I’m disabled, doesn’t mean I’m different” she said. She feels as if society misunderstands her because of her disability and she was abused because of it, when she could still hear, speak, and do everything else that everyone does.
When Bell was fifteen and a freshman in high school, one of her friends introduced her to Wil, which was an event that has changed her life until this day. Wil Darcangelo The Tribe is a rock band lead by Wil Darcangelo who started it all by himself. Since the first time Wil listened to Lavender sing, he knew right off the bat that she had a lot of potential. He offered her to be a member and singer of The Tribe, and she has been a member for almost six years now. “They Tribe really built me up” she said. She didn’t know who she was, and the members and Wil helped her build up her confidence. “Being blind, having autism, and learning challenges, I didn’t know who I was because of all those things. I had low self-esteem, and after I joined the tribe, I saw that people were wrong”. She was put in her head that she wasn’t worth it, and she developed a lot of insecurities. “People doubted me, and now I want to inspire people who are disabled to follow their aspirations just as I did” Bell said with pride as she spoke.
What Bell loves the most about being part of The Tribe, is that she helps people constantly. She explains that some people get lost in their parts of a song and are not confident with their ability to perform, “it makes me feel happy that they got it”, she said. She hopes the Tribe becomes national, and she hopes her story inspires people with what she’s doing now; that a disability can’t put a limit on you. Besides singing, Bell enjoys swimming, reading audio books, talking on the phone, meeting new people, and attending programs for the blind in her free time. Thinking about one of the most memorable moments of her life, she describes how she will never forget about talking to Wil about joining the tribe. “It’s such a miracle to be able to sing and not have people tell you that it is far-fetched, and the opportunities.., its real, my dreams are finally coming true”.
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