A blooming love story - Blind disc jockey finds soulmate

Sunday afternoon saw Damion 'DJ Cane' Rose travelling from his home in Mona, St Andrew, to visit his girlfriend, 45-year-old Charmaine Tucker, in Duhaney Park, some 13 kilometres away.

The two met at work two years ago, and have embarked on a journey down 'Lover's Highway'.

"She's very quiet and very helpful and patient. So that's what stood out about her for me. We knew each other for a while, enuh, but it's about October 2019 that we started to date. That was about one year after we meet," he said.

For the first date, the couple went to an establishment on Hope Road in Kingston to have drinks. Rose says there were no butterflies in his stomach. He was just anxious to get to know Tucker.

"Me nuh walk wid nerves ...If a yes a yes, and if a no a no. A so me live my life, and me did already know say she rate me. So we just went there and get fi know each other. Me drink two drinks and we talk bout we family, and what we like and dislike because that is very important."

Tucker, the woman who Rose travelled to see, is a bit more reserved. She shyly told THE STAR about the blooming love story.

"I met him when I used to work around where he is working now, at Society for the Blind, and I didn't care that he is blind. I don't care about that. We have been together about a year now," she said.

'Think bout marriage'

"And we nuh reach nuh weh yet," Rose chipped in. "We a think bout marriage and dem thing deh," he said laughing.

Rose is currently employed to the Jamaica Society for the Blind in Kingston, where he performs multiple roles.

"I am the receptionist and the audio editor. I have actually done a lot of editing. I used a programme called Gold Wave and it allows me to do all kinda editing. I also do things for their Youtube channel. I do a feature on the channel called Tech Tips, about apps that can aid the blind and the visually impaired, an do interviews with other blind persons who pass through the society."

"I am also a disc jockey and just living life. People know me as DJ Cane. I do advertisements, I do jingles, I do podcasts. I do anything audio. I am opening my business very soon and it is going to be called 'DJ Cane Audio Productions,' so people can look out for that."

Rose lost his sight when he was just two years old but has learnt to adapt to living in the fast-pace world that very often ignores people with disabilities.

"I got blind at age two because of a bad operation. A doctor claimed that he knew what he was doing and he messed up my eyes. According to my mother and grandmother, when me born, me coulda see. But my eyes used to roll. They weren't steady, so me woulda a look pon yuh and me eyes a roll all over the place. They thought something was wrong, so they carried me to hospital and the doctor said he was going to fix it, and this is the result," Rose told THE STAR in a comical tone.

"I only remember the sunlight. I can remember that. Fi me, this is life. This is what I know, practically from birth. This is how I grow up. While growing up, everybody adjusted and me figure out a way how fi live. I went to the Salvation Army School for the Blind and anything I learned, I passed it on to my family. They adapted quite well."

As far as commuting is concerned, Rose said that is no issue for him.

"Me go anywhere. I actually came back from Westmoreland this morning, after I went down for the weekend to spend time with my family and thing. I am actually from Mona, but I come fi check mi girlfriend down the road. Me a live a normal life!" he added, causing those around him to burst out in laughter.