Mario - Season 2

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...on-2-mario.jpg

Age: 24
Hometown: Lanham, MD

Mario (Arnauz), a singer/song writer, has been performing in school concerts, gospel and chamber choirs, and at Washington DC area churches for nine years. He was born with Morning Glory Syndrome, which ultimately caused him to go totally blind at the age of nine. Despite his disability, he can also dance, act, and play the piano, guitar and drums. When Mario, a triplet, was an infant, his mother passed away. With his father out of the picture, his grandmother took him and his siblings in. Mario attended several different schools, due to moving around a lot, and at each school he attended he did everything he could to assimilate with sighted students. He believes music has healing powers, and his love for the performing arts sustained him through the tough times. Mario does motivational speaking, comedy, impersonations and is a voice-over artist. He dreams of publishing his autobiography and landing a recording contract. Mario originally auditioned for “The Glee Project” online and at the New York City open casting call.

Wow, what a smile! Absolutely adorable!

I wonder if his siblings have the same syndrome that he does.

I am so impressed with him and what he has been able to accomplish being blind. A great role model for people who have disabilities. He must have a wonderful grandmother who raised him and all his siblings with a lot of love. How sad to have lost his mom and a dad out of the picture.

As an accessibility advocate, I really hate reading things like "Despite his disability...". He's blind...why in heaven's name wouldn't he be able to sing? Dance? Play a musical instrument? Act?

(I'm probably a little overly-sensitive right now...a friend of mine who is a musician, a producer, and a lawyer recently moved to the area, and I'm now super-aware of how people look at her and her guide dog when we go shopping or out to eat. I'm always a bit stunned after I spend some time with her. And this week, I'll be hanging out with her and another friend, who's a programmer...she has a dog, he uses a cane, and I'll be in the middle :-). But people won't know how smart they are...they'll just see the dog and cane.)

With all the strikes he's had against him, you just want him to succeed to make up for the crap life has handed him.

Then you hear him sing and you realize he should (and can) succeed on the voice alone. No back story needed. So well-spoken and likable!

with his visual impairment he's had to work harder to get to where the other contestants are - additional training sessions and what not. I might have just a smidge more respect for him (at this point) because it's going to take him more time and effort to get to where the other kids are with the choreography. I think working around his disability illustrates just how much he wants this. I really hope he doesn't turn into a whining a-hole like Alex did.

no free pass for this talented boy! And he doesn't expect one. LOVE love him

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Originally Posted by Duxxy

with his visual impairment he's had to work harder to get to where the other contestants are - additional training sessions and what not. I might have just a smidge more respect for him (at this point) because it's going to take him more time and effort to get to where the other kids are with the choreography. I think working around his disability illustrates just how much he wants this. I really hope he doesn't turn into a whining a-hole like Alex did.

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I hadn't even thought about how difficult the choreography might be for a blind person. I found it really interesting to watch how Mario learned the moves by touching the dancers as they moved to follow their body positioning. He has a great smile and a wonderful voice - so far he's one of my favorites of the guys!

The summary upthread states that Mario really focuses on doing things for himself, but I would think that he could do more of that if he had an assistance dog. Does anyone know if he has one, but it's just not shown on the show? Just curious.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Debb70

The summary upthread states that Mario really focuses on doing things for himself, but I would think that he could do more of that if he had an assistance dog. Does anyone know if he has one, but it's just not shown on the show? Just curious.

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I don't know if Mario has a guide dog, but if he did, I'm not sure why it wouldn't be shown.

Dog versus cane: it's a personal preference, and there's not a whole lot of difference in what someone who's blind can do (that is, they can do a lot no matter which they prefer).

My musician friend who's blind has a dog and takes him to all her performances. She only uses a cane if he's not around for some reason (like when he goes to the groomer). OTOH, one of my programmer friends who's also blind uses a cane. He has several that he uses, depending on the weather...the one with the bigger ball is better when the weather is bad, while he typically uses the one with a smaller ball at conferences (where he'll mostly be inside) or in good weather.