Growing Bolder on WXXI-TV/HD

Pictured: Leon Fleisher

Sandy Scott and Leon Fleisher share their stories about struggling with being disabled and not giving up on their dream of music.

As part of WXXI and Al Sigl Community Agencies' annual Dialogue on Disability series, WXXI-TV/HD (DT21.1/cable 1011 and 11) will broadcast a special episode of Growing Bolder on Sunday, January 23 at 1 p.m. In this segment viewers will meet Sandy Scott, who has plenty of attitude, and find out how he went from a broken back to breaking records. Then meet Leon Fleisher, a phenomenon who sold out Carnegie Hall at 16. He was America’s premier concert pianist until in his mid-20s, when he was struck by a rare neurological disease that robbed him of the use of his right hand. So, he learned to play concertos with his left hand until modern medicine could find him a treatment that worked.

Dialogue on Disability: The Herman & Margaret Schwartz Community Series is a week-long outreach initiative designed to stimulate community dialogue about the perspectives and abilities of people with disabilities. At the heart of this initiative is programming broadcast on WXXI-TV and AM 1370 that celebrates the amazing lives of people with disabilities. Dialogue on Disability runs January 16-23. Dialogue on Disability is made possible thanks to support from the Fred L. Emerson Foundation.