Susan Boyle, the untold story

It’s been a couple of weeks since an unemployed church volunteer became an international YouTube darling, thanks to an "extraordinary" (to quote judge Simon Cowell) performance on "Britain’s Got Talent." The dowdy, overweight, middle-aged woman didn’t spark the imagination as she strode confidently onto the stage clutching a cordless microphone. And her initial interview with Cowell revealed a little-known fact that has been barely mentioned in the ensuing days, since she raised that microphone and stunned the entire world with her sweet, powerful soprano voice.

In a demonstration of her famous sense of humor, Susan Boyle poses singing with a hairbrush at her home in Blackburn, Scotland. (AP Photo)

Boyle told Lauren Crooks of BBC News Deadline Scotland Press & Picture Agency: "I was slightly brain damaged at birth, and I want people like me to see that they shouldn’t let a disability get in the way. I want to raise awareness - I want to turn my disability into ability."

The fact is, Susan Boyle’s learning disability has been severe enough to interfere with her ability to hold a regular job for most of her adult life, but that probably reflects problems with the system more than it does her functional capacities. Employment statistics for disabled people in Great Britain are not as dismal as they are in the U.S., but they still don’t come close to what they should be. They could be better on both sides of the pond with greater understanding in all quarters of the kind of support an individual disabled person needs to find and keep a job.

But disability hasn’t stopped Susan from leading an active and useful life: caring for her aging and sick parents until each of them passed away, and volunteering at her church on a regular basis. And she’s been singing almost all her life, entertaining family and friends and performing at charity events.

So, why hasn’t Susan hit the big time before this? You can look at the factors of her life--poor working-class neighborhood, teasing due to her learning disabilities, the responsibility of dependent parents--and find others who’ve overcome similar obstacles to accomplish great things. But you have to admit those people don’t look like Susan. It took the insight of an audience looking for pure, raw talent to see beyond the shell and deep into the soul.

And Susan does have soul. That was evident in the way she belted out "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. Her rendition was brimming with the heartache of someone whose "life has killed the dream I dreamed."

Now Susan Boyle has a new dream, and the world knows who she is and wants to share in it. Rumor has it, for her next appearance on "Britain’s Got Talent," she’s going to perform "Whistle Down the Wind," which she recently sang a capella for an interviewer.

And just to show she’s not a "one-trick pony," friends posted a 10-year-old CD of the soulful rendition of "Cry Me a River" which she recorded for a charity event as part of the Millennium Celebration. All this shows just how truly talented--and able!--Susan Boyle really is!