Andrea Begley

Having grown up performing in all-Ireland fleadhanna (Irish dance and music festivals) and singing competitions, Begley began songwriting and performing in open mic and other events in Belfast following completion of a law degree, in 2008.[3]

Begley is partially sighted as a result of glaucoma, which she developed at the age of 5 following a diagnosis of juvenile arthritis at age 3 and a half. Since then she has had around 23 operations, leaving her with about 10 per cent vision.[2] From the age of 19, she has volunteered with the Royal National Institute of Blind people, and is currently chair of the RNIB network committee in Northern Ireland.[10] She is a motivational speaker, delivering talks on her own experiences of sight loss and issues around visual impairment and disability to organisations and businesses across the UK and Ireland.[11]

The victory of Begley in The Voice raised the ire of competing coach will.i.am, who stormed off the set at the time her victory was announced.[12] He took to Twitter to express his outrage, saying "You should feel the audiences vibration in the room tonight after the publics vote…its #unexplainable…so sad…perplexed Andrea is amazing…dontGETmeWRONG…but we know who has the incredible voice".[13] Begley expressed understanding at his disappointment, saying "Will spoke to me and he wishes me well, but obviously everybody wants their act to win. But at the end of the day, the audience voted me, so that's it."[14]

In response to online criticism focused on Andrea's disability, members of the public and spokespersons for disability charities spoke out in support of Begley. Rosaleen Dempsey, children and youth services manager for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) Northern Ireland, of which Begley is a committee member, told the Belfast Telegraph: "We've all seen the disparaging remarks about Andrea's sensational win on Saturday night, but the fact remains, she received the most votes because the majority of voters loved her voice. RNIB NI would like to congratulate Andrea and we're confident that with her fabulous voice and tenacious personality, she will go far."

A spokeswoman for Disability Action said, "Andrea has demonstrated her huge talent over the past number of weeks and we wish her every success in the future. Anyone commenting negatively in relation to Andrea's disability should think about the very positive attitude that Andrea has and deal with their own prejudices."[15]

Begley's autobiography, "I Didn't See That Coming", was published by BBC Books in October 2013.[23] Of the title, Begley said, "I was conscious with the book I wanted to give it a tongue-in-cheek title ... For me, I think the most important thing is making people comfortable with [my visual impairment], and I think the more comfortable I am with it and the more I can sort of, you know, make a bit of a joke and have a bit of a laugh with it I think makes other people comfortable with it."[24]