Renowned Nigerian singer and music producer, Cobhams Asuquo, has spoken candidly about navigating life and success as a visually impaired artiste.
In a recent interview with Hip TV, the ‘One Hit’ crooner revealed that living with blindness has meant working significantly harder to prove himself in an industry where perceptions often create barriers.
“My awareness of myself as a blind person makes me work five times as hard [as others]. Because I realised that there is a stereotype around a blind person and the general assumption is that you are incapable. And because of that, I work hard to show that I can be capable of so many things,” he said.
Cobhams encouraged people with disabilities to embrace their reality, rather than sugar-coating it or living in denial.
“I think it’s totally okay to be blind. Secondly, for all intents and purposes, I think the world has just gone soft to a certain degree. And that’s fine. I think it’s okay to be sensitive. But I think it’s also okay to identify where you are and what you are dealing with so that you are not living in denial and looking for all kinds of euphemistic ways and names to call it,” he noted.
“Call it what it is. Deal with it for what it is and ensure your strength through your disability as opposed to all these very interesting names. Not everybody is going to agree with me and that’s fine.”
He emphasized that he is not visually impaired in the usual sense, but fully blind and has come to terms with that completely.
“I’m comfortable with being blind. Sometimes, we say impaired and I think impaired is great. My understanding of an impairment is that it’s weakness, it’s not a complete absence of something. So, if you are impaired, you are either weakened or unable to fully function in that capability. I’m not visually impaired, I don’t have a little bit of vision.”
“I’m completely blind, I can’t see a thing. And that’s totally alright. I’m good with it. As a matter of fact, there’s some dark humour around it sometimes and I’m totally good with that. That is who I am. And I embrace it. I think it makes it even more special that I have been able to live the life that I’ve lived and I’ve been able to do the things that I’ve done.”
Cobhams Asuquo remains one of Nigeria’s most respected music creatives, known for his soulful voice, inspirational lyrics, and production genius.
