Spotlight: Hazel Trujillo

Spotlight: Hazel Trujillo

SPOTLIGHT: HAZEL TRUJILLO

Hazel Trujillo is a singer-songwriter
in Miami, Florida. She is also a deejay, classical guitarist, self-defense instructor,
diabetes educator, and blind diabetic! Her busy and successful lifestyle is
a shining example of the possible, and her unique perspective on life is an
inspiration to us all. Here she shares some of her experiences with VOICE editor
Ed Bryant.

What age were you diagnosed as diabetic?

At the age of six.

The strongest thing I remember from childhood is

that I was treated very differently, and I felt like some kind of creature from another

planet. I lost first grade because I got sick, right at that year, and had to repeat the

grade, because I was in the hospital for so long after I was diagnosed. But when I

repeated it, the same teacher that I'd had previously just seemed to have this behavior

towards me. In the middle of a class, she'd ask "if it was snack time!" Instead

of discreetly allowing me to go get my snack, she'd yell in front of everyone: "Hazel

needs her snack now!"

I found it very embarrassing. At that moment, I

didn't know what it was, but now, as an adult, I realize it was demeaning. It was very

difficult to deal with it. I would carry around these big things: syringes, extra food...

just being different was the hardest part of being a child with diabetes.

But I also feel it made me strong, and who I am

today, because, I guess, somehow I overcame being "strange." I realized I have

to be me, whatever that means.

How did your friends accept your diabetes?

I think I've been lucky in that respect. Most

people have dealt with that quite well. I didn't make it a big issue. I think if

situations had occurred when they were around, it might have been different, but really,

there are no complaints there. It's when the blindness came in that people became strange

with me.

Do you remember how many years it was, after

diagnosis, when you became blind?

It was 14 years.

Where did you grow up?

Boston. I lived all over, though. We lived in

North Carolina, and we lived in Florida. I finished growing up in Florida. I've lived all

over the east coast.

My parents came from Cuba in 1961, when the whole

revolution thing began there. They originally moved to Florida; but they didn't like it,

so they moved to Boston, and there they stayed for a while.

My father was a journalist in Cuba, and he did

printing, in a print shop, in Boston, until he was able to get back into journalism. They

hung in there. They did all kinds of things.

You say you lost sight at about age 20? Was it a

sudden thing, or gradual?

It was kind of ironic, because six months

previous to that, the ophthalmologist told me that my eyes were great, that my diabetes

had not affected them—then suddenly, the old familiar black lines occurred, and

within a month I lost it all. I had a vitrectomy, but they weren't able to save it. The

little bit I had left was gone after the surgery... all in a period of three months.

Have you had other complications of diabetes?

No. At this point I have some neuropathy, and

some diabetic gastroparesis, but serious complications? No.

Almost everything I do now, I started as a child.

Martial arts, I began at 15. I started the guitar when I was nine. Singing? I always did

it. I just enjoyed it. Seriously, after 20 what I did was first get my rehabilitation, at

the Lighthouse for the Blind, in Miami, Florida, and try to figure out what I was going to

do with the rest of my life.

I had planned to be a surgeon, before I lost my

sight. I was intending to go to medical school. My dream was to go to Harvard. Anyway, all

that fell, and now here I was, looking at life from another point of view. So I turned to

my first love, which was music...

After becoming a volunteer at the Lighthouse, and

doing my rehab and all that, I then concentrated on music. I really polished my guitar

work, and started to get seriously into classical and flamenco. Then I actually went into

a recording studio and recorded things I had written myself. I did a little 45. That was

in 1986. By then I had moved out of my parents' house, and tried to live as a

rehabilitated blind person (there's a lot to the story).

Didn't you tell me you had sung in other

countries?

That came after. I started this whole thing with

my 45, and then I started to be heard on Spanish radio in Miami—through my father's

connections, of course, that's how I was able to do that. And then it started to get a

little popular. Then I went ahead and recorded, seriously, some music, with professional

musicians, in a studio; the whole thing. That was aired in Central and South America, and

in some parts of Europe, including Israel, believe it or not!

Tell us about your recorded music.

All the songs are either my father's or mine. The

first one, the "Hazel" album, is bilingual. The second album, called "On

Golden Wings," is all in English, with some guitar instrumentals. I've been charging

$10 for them, but for VOICE readers who would like to buy them, if you want both of them,

I'll send both for $15. To order, contact me, Hazel Trujillo, at PO Box 430049, Miami, FL

33243-0049.

At that time, I was doing a little bit of a lot

of things: Going to college, I was a volunteer for several things, I was doing my martial

arts, I was trying to deal with just being a blind person, on her own, as an adult. I was

working, doing a lot of things, and trying to have a social life, all at the same time! So

I didn't concentrate on the music—and then I did, later on, and decided that it

really wasn't for me, the glamorous life. No matter how many connections one has, its very

difficult—the music road has gotten very closed—you can hardly get in.

I have found that some people have a problem with

blindness—I had one person from a record company tell me that "sex is what

sells" and if they feel they can't put you, the artist, in a package that will sell,

they're not going to use you. He was basically saying that no matter how good looking you

are, if you're a woman, and you're blind, they can't throw that out there. I don't know if

you've noticed, but there are only blind men in music, and there aren't that many. That's

what made me decide to just do my own thing, which is DJ work and things like that.

What about your martial arts? You said you

started that young...

I was lucky enough that the teacher I was with at

the time I lost my vision was willing to work with me. Most teachers don't know how to go

about that. I taught him how to teach me. He just didn't know how to tell me what to do or

where, so I'd teach him things like the "clock system." Somehow we worked it

out, and then along the way I've had many other teachers, of many different styles of

martial arts. It's worked out. Now, at this point, I'm the teacher. I've developed a whole

bunch of systems together, that will fit people who are visually impaired.

How many years have you been in martial arts?

Now, it's going to be 19.

Do you have any particular belts?

First degree Black. You can't teach if you're not

a master.

Have you ever used it?

I was walking to my cousin's house, with bag and

cane, and this guy jumped out, trying to take my bag. I flipped him, and he ran away...

And you work one day a week at the Lighthouse. Do

you teach martial arts there?

It's not exactly martial arts; it's a

self-defense class. They're not there long enough to do a whole course, so I just do a

"quickie."

I really think martial arts helped me with my

diabetes. If you maintain a good exercise program, I think it really helps.

And you've had diabetes 28 years? Do you have any

advice to offer other diabetics?

I think everybody is such an individual, and no

two diabetics are alike, so I really can't say "you should eat this; you should do

that." Everybody's different. But what I think is most important is the attitude

toward the diabetes. If you try to beat it, to look at it as an enemy, it will win without

a doubt. But if you look at as something you have to live with, like your hair color, or

having six toes (you may not like it, but that's the way it is), if you learn to live with

it, without anger, I think life becomes easier. I went through that; I was angry; and as a

teenager, I thought I would beat it, and ended up in comas instead. Now, I live with it,

and it doesn't bother me as much, because somehow, we've worked it out—almost as if

diabetes was another individual... Like a bad roommate! If you can work it out, things can

go more smoothly.

There are times, and it's human to feel bad; just

don't feel bad all the time, and life will be better. Look at it more positively. I

understand, personally, that blindness and diabetes is not a very good combination. I just

think that all of us diabetics need to try to maintain as tight a control as possible, and

do what's needed for our bodies, whatever that may be.

Do you self-manage?

Yes, absolutely. I test my blood, sometimes up to

eight times a day. I know some people might think I'm on the extreme side, but, like I

said, one has to do what is comfortable, but the point is to really take care of yourself.

For insulin, I use a Novolin Pen.

Hazel Trujillo, you are indeed a positive

example; you don't let anything slow you down.