When people hear Hayden Cardinal sing his favourite Beatles song Hear Comes the Sun, it captivates them — especially when they realize he’s not even looking at the strings on his ukulele. The 11-year-old was born with optic nerve hypoplasia — a rare disease in which his optic nerves are under-developed so he’s visually impaired and autistic. Early on, his parents noticed he had a gift for music. At just one years old, he started playing the keyboard. After a few school field trips to the symphony, Hayden fell in love with string instruments. The ukulele is his favourite.