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Tommy Edison
American YouTuber, radio presenter, and film critic (born 1963) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Tommy Edison (born July 17, 1963) is an American YouTuber, radio presenter and film critic known for his blindness and self-deprecating sense of humor in his internet presence.[2] From 1994 until 2013, he worked as a traffic reporter for the station Star 99.9 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[3]
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Although he had never driven a car or seen a traffic jam, as a traffic reporter he used what he heard about traffic on police scanners and in calls with listeners on the road.[4]
Motivated to review films by his frustration with their visual language,[2] he started a YouTube channel called Blind Film Critic with his friend Ben Churchill in 2011. His reviews focus on script, music and sound effects.[5] The first film he reviewed was Scream 4;[6] his favorites include Hugo, Goodfellas, Clerks and American Hustle.[2] In 2013, audio description allowed him to watch his first silent film, which he joked was "eye-opening"—however, he does not use it when preparing his reviews.[2] He was endorsed by Roger Ebert in 2011, and has been featured on The Howard Stern Show and CNN.[2] He also made videos answering viewers' questions about blindness on another channel entitled The Tommy Edison Experience, and has covered topics such as dreams,[4] colors,[7] Braille[8] and assistive technology.[9]
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Early life and career
Edison was born completely blind due to an underdeveloped optic nerve.[2] He was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended Canterbury School and the University of Bridgeport, where he studied music.[3] He has credited his parents for treating him the same as his sighted sisters during his upbringing.[10] His mother went to great lengths to make sure Tommy was put into a normal class rather than the school recommended special education class, stating, "My kid—his cognitive skills are fine, he just can't see."[11] After developing an interest in local and New York radio stations, he was hired as a disc jockey for the station WJAZ in Stamford, Connecticut in 1987, becoming its traffic reporter two years later.[3]
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References
External links
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