Sunday, March 4, 2012

Victoria Boland

Autism Light #160 is Victoria Boland.


Victoria Boland with her partner Andrew Rudd
Victoria Boland is from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She has lived in both Canada and Australia. In 2002, Victoria and her mother Viga Boland wrote the Autism Song, Don't Give Up on Me as an autism awareness song. Victoria Boland is an Autism Light for the way in which Don't Give Up on Me has brought awareness to autism.

At age 8 Victoria Boland started performing for audiences in her homeland of Australia. At the age of 15 she won two scholarships to Boston's Berklee College of Music. In 1999 Victoria Boland performed at a Shania Twain concert and in 2000, she produced her first music CD called All Woman Girl.  Victoria Boland sings pop rock and alternative music. She also performed at Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee in 2002.  Additional information about her honors and experiences in music are at this link.

Although written in 2002, it took 3 years to raise funds to record Don't Give Up on Me (the Autism Song). It was recorded in 2005 and was officially released on April 30, 2006 for the Canadian National Autism Foundation. The story of how the song was commissioned is at this link. The following is the original video presentation of Victoria and Viga Boland's song Don't Give Up on Me.

 

The following is a live performance of Victoria Boland singing Don't Give Up on Me. 




The chorus to the song says, "You're the light in my dark, the current in my stream. my sun when it's raining and drowning all my dreams. Without you, I can't make it ... so don't give up on me. There's a whole lot of love inside the person you can't see (Source for Lyrics).


Websites: The following websites feature Victoria Boland's career.
Social Media: You can follow Victoria Boland and her partner Andrew Rudd on the following social media areas:
Special thanks to Victoria Boland for raising awareness for autism in Canada through her music. It is an inspiration to see such a talented musician devote efforts to an autism song. 

Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.

Photo: The photo in this post is used with permission of Viga Boland.

6 comments:

  1. Thank you so very much Victoria and as well Viga for such an inspirational song and for your support with raising awareness to autism

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  2. Thanks so much for your excellent blog post. Victoria and I appreciate your support and promotion of our song. Our hearts are with you in your daily work with children. What's more important than them?

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    1. It was our pleasure. I would also be happy to put an official photo of Victoria on the post at some later update of it.

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  3. I cried when I first heard this...this is how it is. How can a person without autism have so much insight and understanding? Victoria is a gift from heaven...thank you for your beautiful music. You raise awareness and you bring healing. You are beautiful.

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  4. I saw Victoria sing in 2002/3 in Deal Kent UK and I liked her music a lot. Canadian musicians reflect the solidity of the Canadian nation, they are very accomplished. Listening to her album "All Woman Girl", I remembered that evening and her personality from the strength of her performance on the album. Autism is a condition that is beginning to be understood at long last, and its linkage to schizophrenia though not obvious is clear to me. That both are on the same spectrum became clear to me today when I met someone who could be said to be my twin in how he sees the world, and I had been diagnosed in 1966, and he had had the learning difficulties associated with autism. He and I are now on the right track, and are both coping with our problems. It is miraculous to me that the two illnesses are being recognized as extremes of a spectrum of disorders generally recognized as cognitive/affective and that they are curable by the sole therapy of loving understanding and caring, although it is a rocky path to recovery and many find it too hard.

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