March 14: Marco and Raul Midon (b. 1966)

Happy 42nd birthday to twin brothers Marco and Raul Midon. They were born in New Mexico, to parents of Argentine and African-American ancestries. Their blindness was caused by the way incubators were used for premature babies in the 1960s. Marco Midon is an engineer at NASA's Goddard Flight Center, who uses JAWS (a computer program that makes many software applications accessible for blind users) and other assistive technologies in his work. "If I want to be the best, and compete on the same level as those in the sighted world, I need to have the best equipment. It enables me to maximize communications with others, and get things done. I consider my communications and other technology to be a part of me, and I take it wherever I go," says Midon.

In one of those math/music collisions, Marco's twin Raul Midon is a successful singer-songwriter and guitarist. "I haven't found that people focus in too much on the fact that I'm a blind musician. Being a musician is being a musician. I don't think being blind makes it any easier or makes me more talented. I've been blind from birth. It's just a fact and that's it," he explained in a recent interview. He's at a music festival in Malaysia this weekend, and Australia next week. If Kuala Lumpur and Sydney aren't part of your itinerary in the next few days, you can hear him in this YouTube video instead:



Lyrics:

Picture yourself in world where there's no one else.
Nobody anywhere.
A moment ago there were voices and faces to look upon,
Can't see them anywhere.
Nothing more to say and no one left to say it to anyway.
Please listen to what i say.

Everybody can be somebody.
Everybody is free to make a difference.
Everybody can be somebody.
Everybody is free to make a difference in this world.

Picture a world where the people all feel their worth.
Children are everywhere.
There is a reason for everyone's time on earth.
Wondering why you should care.
Nothing more to say.
And only love can see us through anyway.
Please listen to what i say.

Everybody can be somebody.
Everybody is free to make a difference.
Everybody can be somebody.
Everybody is free to make a difference.

You don't have to be a big celebrity.
To feel the power, the power in your soul
You don't have to be a big star on mtv
To realize that in your eyes there's a view
That only you can see.

Everybody can be somebody.
Everybody is free to make a difference.
Everybody can be somebody.
Everybody is free to make a difference in this world.