21-year-old singer Anna Brabston from Overland Park, Kansas, is passionate about music. She performs “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” originally recorded by Elvis Presley.
Anna suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke before she was born. As a result of the stroke, she has multiple lifelong disabilities including cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, visual impairment, and autism. Despite these challenges, she showed unusual musical abilities at a very early age with singing/humming and playing songs on keyboard by ear. She has perfect pitch. Music is Anna’s passion. It has always brought calm, joy and order to a world that is often stressful and confusing to her.
Today, Anna’s music provides a vehicle through which she can connect with and contribute to her community. She volunteers by playing piano at two nursing homes, a hospital, her church, and her favorite, a local ice cream/coffee shop. She has limited communication skills with little intonation in her speech, but has a beautiful tone and perfect pitch when she sings.
She is assisted with the microphone in this performance by her high school choir teacher.
This Daily Joy performance is part of From the Top’s Musicians with Disabilities Special Initiative. This spring, From the Top has spotlighted young disabled and/or neurodivergent musicians who share their talents and tell their stories in their own words.