By Dr. Annette Cannon, COMBO’s Ombudsman: Stealing is stealing. Theft is theft. However, when it involves stealing tip money from a musician who is visually impaired, it reaches a whole new level of damage. It is a reprehensible act of cowardice against a person with a disability. It basically targets their vulnerability by using the fact that the musician has lack of sight, lack of the ability to personally protect their tip money, or the ability to identify the thief. So many musicians rely on their cash tips, whether it is for gas money to get to and from gigs, food, or to pay their bills. To take advantage not only steals their livelihood, but it destroys trust and the sense of safety. Thieves lack any moral integrity.
Visually impaired performers need to play in public places and should have some protection measures in place. They work extra hard to conduct their performances. I have learned the reasons why blind musicians are targeted by thieves. One, they are simply easy targets and can’t see the thief grab the money. The thief knows that the musician is focused on playing their instrument or on singing. Last, it is assumed that a person who is visually impaired cannot chase them through a busy crowd.
I’ve made several posts about how thieves are the absolute worst. Do you remember how you felt when you had something stolen from you? A feeling of being violated or betrayed stays with you for a while, and because of the breach of your personal safety it can take a real toll. These thefts can result in criminal charges and or jail, with hopefully harsher charges due to committing a crime on someone with a disability. To bring charges, the police may look for a possible bystander intervention, witness statements to document, or cameras or video of the theft to help bring charges. I found some notable documented incidents of theft from musicians, but it was mainly buskers who were robbed.
I believe to rob someone of their tip money who is visually impaired, is the lowest of low. The act itself is shocking. I found a news story about theft from a blind musician (https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9847362/moment-callous-thieves-steal-blind-buskers-takings/).
I read about people giving counterfeit or fake money, undertipping knowing they can’t see it, or even not paying them for their gig. All highly unethical. I would imagine that most people would not tolerate this happening and would intervene somehow.
Some musicians say that it has never happened to them and they are unaware of it happening to others or to those musicians who are visually impaired/disabled. This is just not about tip money, but could be theft of instruments, etc. This brings me to the idea of making others aware of how those with a disability, in this case scenario, blindness, have to navigate their world all the time. It requires us to realize that they lack what we take for granted, such as reading a label, seeing the food we are eating, picking out our clothes, walking on the sidewalk safely, seeing who we are speaking to or seeing who is around us, gauging distance, etc.
These basic activities require immense mental energy and spatial memory. They are having to constantly adapt to their environment. Can you imagine the preparation that goes into doing these things, or the challenge it presents. Talk about building resilience! For me, I personally can’t begin to imagine what my anxiety level would be.
Most people with a visual impairment have to rely a lot on others to help them. Many have a sighted friend with them at all times (especially at gigs). They use canes, guide dogs, count steps, increase hearing skills to compensate, and use many other ways to navigate the challenges. When I make annual reports at work, I must make them digitally accessible to the visually impaired person to be able to read them through a screen reader or a tactile display. They cannot see the colors on my graphs or see a pie chart. There are challenges with social interactions and they face stigma. They can’t see facial expressions or body language that we all rely on without thinking about it.
Now imagine this person with a talent for playing music and sharing that talent with others, only to be taken advantage of by a thief. It is difficult enough for some to perform on a stage, but being blind adds another layer of difficulty. We all know some legendary icons, such as Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, who were blind and they brought attention to a lot of visually impaired musicians and their talent by overcoming their visual limitations. However, there are most likely some people in our local community who could benefit from our support and advocacy.
What can we do to help support our visually impaired musicians? The main thing is to treat them respectfully and professionally, the same as you would any other performer. When giving them a tip, announce that you are tipping them and say how much. It is important to always ask first if you can take a photo or video them. If they say ok, then offer a tip. Consider digital tipping.
Support their performances and music. Be kind and be inclusive.
Annette Cannon
COMBO VP
Photo: Barb & Annette
