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Braille club volunteer plays piano for others

Posted at 6:39 PM, Aug 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-04 18:39:29-04

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Nicole Chapman loves to play the piano and sing.

"My mom said that I was fascinated I would get like little keyboards and I would practice on those. I would practice with myself on the piano and I would basically just hear stuff and I would just play it by heart," Chapman said.

Nicole is visually impaired.

"Because when I was born I was in an incubator and it damaged my optic nerve. So if I'm like playing with my tablet or reading an actual book, I have to put it up to my face pretty much to see what I am reading," she said.

The 41-year old believes it's not about obstacles, but about opportunities.

"And I do have thank God it's not worse than it is now, I do have mild cerebral palsy," she said.

She plays the piano at the Braille Club of Palm Beach County once a week. "Everyone just loves it a lot," she said.

Larry McDowell is the president of the local Braille Club.

"I think we strive to show that we are not disabled we are just unable to do certain things. We try to accentuate our abilities not our disabilities. There's life after blindness. Losing your eyesight isn't so bad, it's losing your vision for life that's bad," he said.

Learn more about the Braille Club of Palm Beach County on their website, https://brailleclub.webs.com/.