In the documentary, The Story Behind the Notes, Adrian Anantawan wears a black turtleneck and a thin slice of light separates his body from the black background while he plays his violin. Floating behind him, there’s a silent video of a man at Bloorview Macmillan Children’s Centre fitting Anantawan’s violin adapter to his right arm, the one that holds the bow stroking the strings. The scene behind Adrian as he plays changes to men constructing his prosthetic arm from scratch. The process is as meticulous as Anantawan’s playing, like how precise the tightness of the adapter needs to be in order for him to bow. As a nail spindles into the adapter, Anantawan plays his final note, and everything goes to black. 

When Anantawan began the violin at 10-years-old, he would play for the prosthetists at the Children’s Centre, a rehabilitation center in Toronto, where his parents brought him because he was born missing his right hand. Now, Anantawan’s performances include audiences at the White House, the Opening Ceremonies of the Athens and Vancouver Olympic Games, and the United Nations.

As seen in his official bio, Anantawan “helped create the Virtual Chamber Music Initiative at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehab Centre [, bringing] researchers, musicians, doctors, and educators together to develop adaptive musical instruments capable of being played by a young person with disabilities within a chamber music setting.” Anantawan—who holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale University, and Harvard Graduate School of Education—founded the Music Inclusion Program for children with disabilities who want to learn an instrument. He asks the audience at his 2012 TED Talk:

“What if we use technology through art disability and education to be able to reveal the inner humanity of kids with Cerebral palsy, children with Down syndrome? Accessibility is not an act of charity. It’s one of lifting the ceiling of potential developments so all children can explore this world but also possibly create new ones.”

Later, The Story Behind the Notes shows Anantawan against a green screen with a room full of people setting up for the video shoot. The scene returns to the black background, and the violinist begins to play. The black background becomes newspaper articles singing the praises and many accomplishments of Anantawan.  Then, you hear his voice over his violin: 

“I don’t think people care about disabilities. It’s what you do on top of those disabilities that people gravitate towards, and that’s what you have to keep on doing or else what are you trying to be? Nothing much, except another disabled person.”

Through his music and advocacy, Anantawan has and continues to use his platforms to create not only modes of representation, but also material change for and alongside people with disabilities.