I know things have changed somewhat in recent years, and people see their membership of a minority group as a way to get entitlement brownie points, but the pop music business has always been an equal opportunity employer. If you can write a great song and get it in front of enough ears, you too can make it big.
Given that, it's always seemed dumb to me that Russell would lead with his disability front and centre. Presumably he's hoping that people will take the attitude of 'lets give the slow kid a chance', which I assume will have worked a lot for him as a kid. Problem is, nobody gives a fuck in the real world. Either your songs cut the mustard or they don't. And Russell's don't.
But Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles never had to scream 'let the blind guy have a shot'. They succeeded because they were great. Ian Dury was never, "I had polio! Listen to my songs." People listened because the songs were great. People listened to Django Reinhart in spite of his fucked up hand, not because of it. Donny Hathaway suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was hospitalized multiple times, yet he recorded some of the most sublime and definitive soul albums of the early 70's. He didn't cry and whine about his condition, he just made astonishing records.
Greer's obstacle isn't is disability -- it's the fact that he's an entitled, no-talent cunt.
