Blind musician with Asperger's plays 22 instruments

From The Enterprise:

RANDOLPH, Mass. — Tony DeBlois (pictured) is proving disabilities don’t have to limit anyone.

DeBlois was blind at birth, weighing less than 2 pounds. He was diagnosed with autism when he was 5.

But his mother, Janice DeBlois, witnessed a miracle when she bought an organ at a yard sale and her son played “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” at the age of 2.

Today, DeBlois, 36, plays 22 instruments, and has been performing professionally since he was 9. He leads an improvisational jazz ensemble, and he has made six CDs.

He is the subject of a CBS movie of the week, “Journey to the Heart.” He performs nationally as well as internationally, and has entertained at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Stories about him have been broadcast on National Public Radio, Voice of America radio and Talk America, and he has been on the Today Show and Entertainment Tonight.

While attending the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Mass., he had violin lessons and learned the trumpet. Other instruments he plays include harmonica, guitar, chord organ, Indian flute, pan flute, banjo, saxophone and clarinet.

He won a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1996. He has received a Certificate of Achievement for his work from the school.

DeBlois has a rare phenomena, musical savant syndrome, which was diagnosed when he was 15 years old. Savants are people who, despite serious mental or physical disabilities, have remarkable and sometimes spectacular talents.

Dr. Darold A. Treffert, a Wisconsin psychiatrist, first met DeBlois in 1989 and has followed his success closely since. He still attends his concerts when DeBlois performs in the Midwest.

Treffert has included a profile of the entertainer in his book, “Extraordinary People: Understanding Savant Syndrome,” and in his upcoming book, “Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired and Sudden Savant.”

Treffert calls DeBlois “an amazing and inspirational young man."

“Tony is in the very high threshold category of ‘prodigious savant’ — people who, without such handicaps, would be called prodigy, or genius,” he said.

Tracy Tocchio, activities director at the Cedar Hill health center in Randolph, said DeBlois entertains on all the main holidays as well as other events.

“Tony is wonderful,” said Tocchio. “He is a humble guy about his talents, very well-educated. You can talk to Tony about anything that’s happening in the world.”

A mother's perseverance

Janice DeBlois’ perseverance and concentration on Tony’s ability, rather than disability, has opened up a world for the entertainer that may not have otherwise been possible. She has written a book with Antonio Felix, “Some Kind of Genius.”

When she was rushed to the hospital six months pregnant and already in labor, doctors said that her son might be born blind. They asked her if she wanted him to live or die.

“I was horrified they would even ask me. I told them that you don’t take gifts from God and throw them away.” DeBlois was her first child, although she had nine pregnancies before. After Tony, his mother gave birth to a second son, Ray, who has Asperger’s syndrome.

Janice says raising Tony has been an “adventure,” and it changed her path in life. As a military wife, she was a private investigator in Baltimore getting a degree in law enforcement. But she switched her major in college to child development when the family got transferred to Fort Bliss, Texas.

“I figured if I was to raise a handicapped child, I would first have to know how a normal child reacts,” she said.

She earned a bachelors degree in elementary education, then degrees in special education with kindergarten and early childhood following.

Motor skills were most difficult for the entertainer, so his mother taught him everyday skills by using the instruments he plays. For instance, DeBlois learned how to brush his teeth by playing the violin, since it replicated the same kind of motion. He learned to brush his hair by teaching himself the drums.

When DeBois is not working, he spends time with his girlfriend, sings and plays hand bells at his church.

“In my search to better understand savant syndrome,” said Treffert, “it is from people like Tony and his mom that I’ve learned about matters of the heart, as well as workings of the mind.”