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Back in 2005, I started writing a book based on something that really happened: a blind girl who was briefly and accidentally kidnapped when her parents left the keys in the car and someone stole it. Only in my book, the thief kept the girl and she had to figure out how to escape.
My editor at the time felt that kidnapping books were overdone. He suggested I rewrite it from the POV of the kidnapper. That didn't seem right to me. How would readers understand what it was like to be blind? So I kept the book as it was, and my agent sent it out to a bunch of editors. Christy Ottaviano at Henry Holt loved it the way it was.
What I hadn't thought of at all - what I think no one thought of - was that schools like to have students read books about characters with disabilities. So that helped the book to find a wider audience. Also, it's about as clean as a YA can be, which I think also helped. The third thing that helped the book be assigned is that I tend to write books that test out at a fairly low grade level (even my adult books are like that, probably because I used to have to write to a certain grade level when I wrote in health care) and that are about high-interest topics (sometimes known as hi-low books).
I started getting requests for a teachers' guide, and with the help of a teacher, I put one together. You can see it here.
Since it was published, the book has been the winner or a finalist for 9 state awards. Now I get emails every day from kids who have read the book because they were assigned it at school.
Or I see posts on Amazon like this:
A blind woman who lost her sight seven years ago wrote 26 pages of a novel - with what turned out to be a pen that had run out of ink. She asked the local police for help, and they used forensic techniques (over many lunch hours) to resurrect the pages from the dents the inkless pen had made.
Read more here.
For centuries, to be blind was to have an oral culture, with no other senses involved - not sight, of course, but also not touch. As the New York Times reported a while back, “Some tried to read letters carved in wood or wax, formed by wire or outlined in felt with pins. Dissatisfied with such makeshift methods, Louis Braille, a student at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, began studying a cipher language of bumps, called night writing, developed by a French Army officer so soldiers could send messages in the dark.”
But new technology like text-to-speech is reducing the number of blind people who can read Braille well. Fewer than 10 percent are now fluent in Braille.
Some blind folks are able to perform amazing feats that would seem out of reach of most sighted people as well, like one Wall Street executive who has “an assistant reads The Financial Times to her while she uses her computer’s text-to-speech system to play The Economist aloud. She devotes one ear to the paper and the other to the magazine.” Could you hear two magazines being read aloud simultaneously?
Read more about the blind and Braille.
Emanuelle Lo is a girl who was born blind - and with amazing musical ability. When she was 11, she wrote this song, and then last Christmas friends and family helped produce a video for it.
I'm proud to say that she is also reading Girl, Stolen
. I was contacted by her librarian, and then asked her family if it would be okay if I posted her video.
There's restaurant in San Francisco called Opaque. The servers are all blind or vision-impaired, and the food is served in pitch blackness. One woman described her recent experience eating there with a blind friend. When she couldn't identify something in her salad that was oh-so-familiar (it turned out to be a mushroom), her friend told her that all of her senses were handicapped by her sight. Even her taste.
In addition to learning how much she relied on her eyes to tell her what she was eating, the writer of the article also learned how locate things on the table and what it's like to cut and fork up food you can't see (pieces either too big or gone altogether).
Of course, reading it made me think of Girl, Stolen
.
Read more here.
I really struggled to get Girl, Stolen "right." My biggest fear was that someone who was blind would read the book and think how wrong it was.
But all that work paid off. I've gotten compliments from several folks who are blind, including today's email:
I just read “Girl Stolen” this morning, and, being I’m totally blind, I read it in the downloaded audio format from the National Library Service. I am writing because I want to say thank you for writing such an interesting and thoroughly researched book. At age 31, I was blinded in an auto accident, and could really relate to Cheyenne’s experiences because you truly understood and presented the emotional adjustment aspect of that process so well. I found myself smiling at the small, almost invisible, nuances of what daily life is like for somebody who can’t see, yet strives to live life to the fullest in a sighted world. My accident occurred 18 years ago, but it seems like it was only yesterday and the adjustment memories are some I think I’ll keep with me for the rest of my life. However, like Cheyenne, I long ago worked through to the acceptance phase of the adjustment process, but I will forever keep a kindling of hope in my heart that one day that miracle of sight restoration may occur.
Additionally, I also commend you on your presentation of the hospitalization and care of burn patients. I found myself nodding my head in agreement several times when you described Griffin’s injuries and the emotional scars that accompanied this. I learned much of this when I did my clinical psychology practicum at Shriners’ Burns Hospital in Galveston. Oh, how the patients loathed and feared the tub room!
This was my first experience with one of your books, but I am about to seek out more. I just wanted to share the appreciation and thoughts of your newest fan.
By:
Joe Sottile,
on 9/6/2011
Blog:
Joe Silly Sottile's Blog
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It will take just 37 seconds to read this andchange your thinking..
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the samehospital room.
One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for anhour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.
His bed was next to the room's only window.
The other man had to spend all his time flat onhis back.
The men talked for hours on end.
They spoke of their wives and families, theirhomes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they hadbeen on vacation..
Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by thewindow could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate allthe things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for thoseone hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all theactivity and color of the world outside.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake
Ducks and swans played on the water while childrensailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers ofevery color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
As the man by the window described all this inexquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyesand imagine this picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon, the man by the windowdescribed a parade passing by.
Although the other man could not hear the band -he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed itwith descriptive words.
Days, weeks and months passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring waterfor their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, whohad died peacefully in his sleep.
She was saddened and called the hospitalattendants to take the body away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, th
There’s a guy in Washington State who says he has a “service snake.” He’s just one of many people who have pushed and pulled at the definition of service animals to the point where it became ridiculous. As the New York Times pointed out in 2008: “first it was guide dogs for the blind; now it’s monkeys for quadriplegia and agoraphobia, guide miniature horses, a goat for muscular dystrophy, a parrot for psychosis and any number of animals for anxiety, including cats, ferrets, pigs, at least one iguana and a duck. They’re all showing up in stores and in restaurants, which is perfectly legal because the Americans With Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) requires that service animals be allowed wherever their owners want to go.”
Read the full NYT article here. (And note that is written by Rebecca Skloot - who went on to write The Immortal Life of Henrietta Laacks.)
But now there are new rules “restricting the definition of a service animal to include only dogs (and miniature horses, in some situations) that have been trained to work or perform specific tasks to help someone with a disability. That means animals tasked only with providing emotional support, comfort, therapy or companionship aren't considered service animals and may not be permitted in restaurants, stores, hotels or other public places.” Read the full Oregonian article here.
While the new rules may exclude some legitimate service animals, it will put a stop to people wanting to fly with their “emotional support goat.” Which people have done. Using a provision that allowed a service animal to fly for free.
“The right to read of blind and partially sighted Canadians is in jeopardy.” More information about the Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s financial crisis in this CBC article. Stay up to date on what’s happening on their facebook page. If you are Canadian, please consider sending a letter expressing your concerns.
I’ve got a book coming out this year - Girl, Stolen - about a blind high school student who turns out to be more capable than she ever imagined. I just saw this story about a blind high school football player.
By: Jessamyn West,
on 5/17/2008
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I’ve been travelling and working more than I’ve been surfing and sharing lately. That will change this Summer, but for now it’s the reality of what seems to be The Conference Season. Here are some nifty links that people have sent me, and ones that I have noticed over the past few weeks. Sort of a random grab bag.
By: Eleanor Tylbor,
on 11/26/2007
Blog:
NOTE TO MYSELF
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NOTE TO SELF: SEEMS WE HAVE A LOT TO WORRY ABOUT THIS CHRISTMAS AND HOLIDAY SHOPPING
As soon as she had found the perfect present for her niece and dropped it in her shopping cart, Lovey Lane had a nagging worry.
"It just hit me -- this is made in China," the Dundalk resident said, checking the Disney princess costume box and scrutinizing the beads adorning a tiara as a possible hazard. "I thought I'd better put it back."
But the Pirates of the Caribbean ship for her nephew stayed put in the cart, as Lane reasoned that the plastic toy was not likely tainted by lead.
"Of course, we don't know what paint they're using," said Lane, shopping yesterday morning at Toys "R" Us in the Golden Ring area of Baltimore County.
After months of recalls that have seen millions of toys pulled from store shelves -- including classics such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora the Explorer and Big Bird -- anxiety was palpable in the toy aisles on the day after Thanksgiving. Warnings of lead paint and choking hazards, and even chemical coatings that could be transformed into a "date rape" drug if ingested, have gotten shoppers' attention.
Full Story Here:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-te.bz.toys24nov24,0,3673506.story
Toy safety tips
• Children under age 3: Avoid toys with small parts, which pose a choking hazard.
• Children under 6: Avoid building sets with small magnets. If they are swallowed, serious injuries or death can occur.
• Children under 8: Avoid toys that have sharp edges and points.
• Riding toys, skateboards and in-line skates can cause fatal falls. Helmets and safety gear should be worn and sized to fit.
• Projectile toys such as air rockets, darts and slingshots, intended for older children, can result in serious eye injuries.
• Chargers and adapters should be supervised by adults to prevent burn hazards.
• Read toy labels for age and safety recommendations.
[Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission]
Shopping for children's toys has become complicated. Perhaps it's time for consumers to seriously consider buying products and goods made locally.
We can't have turkey anyway, not after my kid watched that PETA video.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jessamyn. The Snib has done a great deal to impede the creation and distribution of alternate-format books in this country. I’ll have a blog post up in due course.
Any plausible alternative to the Snib, along with an alteration to copyright law, would be better. Best of all would be a highly decentralized approach in which not just the Snib but sighted people don’t go around assuming it’s A-OK for the Snib to decide what blind people can read. (That’s what’s happening now and has happened for decades.)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marianne Lenox and Bill Drew, AFSCME Libraries. AFSCME Libraries said: Librarian.net: now this is how you do a save the library campaign http://bit.ly/7qZWYD [...]
“Right to read”? No one is telling visually impaired Canadians not to read. They’re simply not paying for materials for the visually impaired.
If a so-called “right” requires other people to fork over cash, then it’s not a right. It’s a state-mandated entitlement.
John, stop being full of shit for five seconds. The copyright holder has first right to produce an alternate format (for large print, the sole right). Can’t be bothered? Then somebody else can do it. At the moment it’s limited to a person or a nonprofit, which makes no sense whatsoever. CNIB has cornered this market for decades and materially limited the number of alternate-format titles – through outright incompetence, in my experience.
Short of abolishing that section of the law, which ain’t gonna happen, something needs to be done to provide reading materials to people with a print disability. You and Ayn Rand will be thrilled to learn that many of us want an open, decentralized system that not only permits but encourages for-profit creation of alternate formats.