Kate’s 2¢: “Girl A” by Abigail Dean

“Girl A” by Abigail Dean

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   At first, it was difficult to follow the time line and which end was up. Even at the close of the story, your guess is as good as mine, as to what Lex decided to do.  Open ending stories are like that.

   I enjoyed the story, although it was emotionally draining to realize the narrative arc was probably inspired by the several news articles about real situations.  It happens more often than we care to admit.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

ISBN 978-0-00-838905-5

Girl A is a novel by Abigail Dean that was published in January 2021.[1][2] For the crime thriller, which includes the abuse of children, Dean has said that she wanted to “focus on the effects of trauma and the media glare, rather than the suffering which triggers them.”[3]

In 2019 it was reported that Dean received a six-figure sum from UK publisher HarperCollins for Girl A and her next novel. She reportedly received a seven-figure deal from US publisher Viking Press.[4] In May 2020 it was reported that Johan Renck was in negotiations to direct and executive produce a limited series of Girl A, for 3000 Pictures at Sony Pictures.[5] Girl A was published in the UK[6] and Australia[7] in January 2021 and in the USA in February 2021.[8][9]

“HarperCollins triumphs in 9-way auction for slushpile debut Girl A”. The Bookseller. 16 October 2019.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Girl A DB102262

Dean, Abigail. Reading time: 12 hours, 49 minutes.

Read by Ell Potter.

Suspense Fiction

Lex has tried to live her life quietly after her family’s trauma was splashed across newspapers–where she was only identified as Girl A. After her estranged mother dies in prison, Lex and her siblings must deal with the lingering thrall of a house of horrors. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Downloaded: April 1, 2021

Kate’s 2¢: “The water rituals” by Eva García Sáenz, translated by Nick Caistor

“The water rituals” by Eva García Sáenz, translated by Nick Caistor

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I enjoy reading books from non-American writers. Their perspectives, morals, and styles are refreshing and interesting. The translator has an important role in making the foreign language come logically and comfortably into American/English for it all to make sense. Nick Caistor has done his homework and this story is a gem. Thank you.

   I’ve lived in Spain, so I also enjoyed getting re-acquainted with the pronunciation of streets, places, and names, as well as, remembering the various locations I knew.

From the WEB:

Eva García Sáenz was born in Vitoria, Spain. She published her first novel, La saga de los longevos (The Immortal Collection), in 2012, and it became a sales phenomenon in Spain, Latin America, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She is also the author of Los hijos de Adán (The Sons of Adam) and the historical novel Pasaje a Tahití (Passage to Tahiti).

Eva García Sáenz – Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio …

www.audible.com/author/Eva-Garcia-Saenz/B007C1F1FO

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nick Caistor (born 15 July 1946) is a British translator and journalist, best known for his translations of Spanish and Portuguese literature. He is a past winner of the Valle-Inclán Prize for translation.[1] He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4, the BBC World Service, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Guardian.[2] He lives in Norwich, and is married to fellow translator Amanda Hopkinson.[3]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The water rituals DB102842

García Sáenz, Eva; Caistor, Nick. Reading time: 13 hours, 48 minutes.

Read by Henry Leyva.

Mystery and Detective Stories

Inspector Unai “Kraken” López de Ayala finds out his lover, and boss, is pregnant. But she’s not sure who the father is. Kraken is immediately called away to investigate the ritualistic murder of a pregnant woman–who turns out to be his first love. Translated from the original 2017 Spanish edition. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Download The water rituals

Kate’s 2¢: “The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon: by Alexander McCall Smith

“The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon: by Alexander McCall Smith

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   Through dialogue and streams of consciousness, Private detective Precious Ramotswe takes us into her world of sleuthing out the truth.  The colloquialisms  made me smile, at times, for example, if someone is dead, they’d say he is late

   I needed to listen carefully to know who was talking as many of the names seemed to be just “Mrs.”, but in the local language.

   It was an interesting story full of intrigue as to the relationship of the nephem.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alexander McCall Smith was born in Bulawayo in 1948 to parents of British origin (his grandfather was born in Nairn, Scotland)[citation needed] in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), the youngest of four children.[5] His father worked as a public prosecutor in Bulawayo.[6] McCall Smith was educated at the Christian Brothers College in Bulawayo before moving to Scotland at age 17 to study law at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned his LLB[7] and PhD degrees.[5][8] He soon taught at Queen’s University Belfast, and while teaching there he entered a literary competition: one a children’s book and the other a novel for adults. He won in the children’s category.

   He has gained the most fame for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, featuring Mma Precious Ramotswe and set in Gaborone, Botswana. The first novel was published in 1998. By 2009, the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series had sold more than 20 million copies in English editions.[2]

   According to his publisher in Edinburgh, “He was, until 2005, a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, but gave up the position to concentrate on his writing and now writes full time.”[20]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon DB77800

McCall Smith, Alexander. Reading time: 9 hours, 8 minutes.

Read by Mitzi Friedlander. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Mystery and Detective Stories

Bestsellers

Botswana. Private detective Precious Ramotswe juggles two cases: The owner of the newly opened Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon believes she is being sabotaged, and an attorney fears an imposter is posing as the nephew of a dead farmer. Bestseller. 2013.

Download The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon

Kate’s 2¢: “Badges, bears, and eagles: the true-life adventures of a California fish and game warden” by Steven Callan

“Badges, bears, and eagles: the true-life adventures of a California fish and game warden” by Steven Callan

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I really like hearing how the good guys get the bad guys in these true stories from two  experienced Fish and Game Wardens. It is incredible how cruel some people are to the other species with whom we share this earth.

   Callan has a knack for story telling and he has a lot of fodder to work with. Callan structures each section with an explanation of the law, then regales us with tales with tails, wings, and fins. Thank you for sharing.

steventcallan.com/about-the-author/

Hired by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1974, Warden Steve Callan’s first assignment was the Earp Patrol District on the Colorado River. He was promoted to patrol lieutenant in January of 1978, leaving the desert and moving to the metropolitan area of Riverside/San Bernardino. He retired in 2002.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/StevenTCallanActions for this site

Jan 12, 2016 · Hired by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1974, he spent thirty years as a warden/patrol lieutenant, starting his career near the Colorado River, moving on to Riverside/San Bernardino, and finally ending up in Shasta County (Redding). Steve and his wife, Kathleen, support many environmental causes.

The Case of the Missing Game Warden, by Steven T. Callan

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Badges, bears, and eagles: the true-life adventures of a California fish and game warden DBC16463

Callan, Steven T. Reading time: 11 hours, 0 minutes.

Read by Vance McCausland. A production of Braille and Talking Book Library, California State Library.

Biography

Animals and Wildlife

Nature and the Environment

True crime tales with tails. Long-time wildlife conservation warden with California Department of Fish and Game shares cases from his career. Bears and eagles, along with salmon, catfish, doves, snakes, deer, elk and swans come under the watchful eyes of the author and his partner Dave Szody as they aim to stop poachers. Adult. Some strong language. Some violence.

Download Badges, bears, and eagles: the true-life adventures of a California fish and game warden

Kate’s 2¢: “Cut And Run” by Brennan Allison

“Cut And Run” by Brennan Allison

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

      FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid and her Private Investigator husband always have a rough time balancing their two, time consuming jobs with parenting his newly discovered son. There is lots of angst and action as they go from one crisis for her job to another crisis for his job, but somehow, they eventually meld the two cases for the conclusion.

   Ann Marie Lee did a good job of reading this tory for the NLS.

From www.allisonbrennan.com

Allison Brennan (born September 29, 1969?) is an American best-selling writer of romantic thriller novels. Her first book was published in 2005.

Brennan was born in San Carlos, California. In 1987, she graduated from Menlo School in Atherton, California, and attended college at UC Santa Cruz from 1987 to 1989, working as a legislative consultant in the California State Legislature from 1992 to 2005. In 1993, she married Dan Brennan, and they had five children. She currently resides in Elk Grove, California.[1]

As of 2012, Brennan has published numerous novels, five of which are found in over 1000 libraries[2] and have been translated into Japanese, Norwegian, German, Spanish, French and Italian. Most of her books have been New York Times best-sellers.[3

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Cut and run DB101339

Brennan, Allison. Reading time: 13 hours, 16 minutes.

Read by Ann Marie Lee.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

A violent storm uncovers the remains of a family that authorities assumed fled the country years ago to avoid prosecution. But the body of the youngest son isn’t among them. FBI agent Lucy Kincaid and her partner investigate. Meanwhile reporter Max Revere has a connected investigation with Lucy’s PI husband. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: January 15, 2021

Kate’s 2¢: “Cold As Ice” by Allison Brennan Kate’s 2¢: “Cold As Ice” by Allison Brennan

“Cold As Ice” by Allison Brennan

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid and her Private Investigator husband always have a rough time balancing their two, time consuming jobs with parenting his newly discovered son. There is lots of angst and action as they go from one crisis for her job to another crisis for his job, but somehow, they eventually meld the two cases for the conclusion.

   Ann Marie Lee did a good job of reading this tory for the NLS.

From www.allisonbrennan.com

Allison Brennan (born September 29, 1969?) is an American best-selling writer of romantic thriller novels. Her first book was published in 2005.

Brennan was born in San Carlos, California. In 1987, she graduated from Menlo School in Atherton, California, and attended college at UC Santa Cruz from 1987 to 1989, working as a legislative consultant in the California State Legislature from 1992 to 2005. In 1993, she married Dan Brennan, and they had five children. She currently resides in Elk Grove, California.[1]

As of 2012, Brennan has published numerous novels, five of which are found in over 1000 libraries[2] and have been translated into Japanese, Norwegian, German, Spanish, French and Italian. Most of her books have been New York Times best-sellers.[3

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Cold as ice DB101340

Brennan, Allison. Reading time: 14 hours, 25 minutes.

Read by Ann Marie Lee.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Two years ago, FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid put psychopath Elise Hansen Hunt in juvenile detention for her role in an organized crime syndicate. Now released at eighteen, Elise has a plan to make Lucy’s life hell. It begins with Lucy’s husband being arrested for a murder he most certainly did not commit. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: January 15, 2021

Kate’s 2¢: “The Bumpy Road to Assisted Living: A Daughter’s Memoir” by Mary Hiland

“The Bumpy Road to Assisted Living: A Daughter’s Memoir” by Mary Hiland

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   There are several useful suggestions in this memoir. I like that Mary included some of her favorite recipes, even if she doesn’t like to bake cookies.

From the Web:

Mary Hiland, a native of Cincinnati, lives in Gahanna, Ohio with her Seeing Eye® dog, Dora. She is a graduate of the Ohio State University with a B.S. degree in Social Work. She recently retired as Executive Director of The American Council of the Blind of Ohio.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The bumpy road to assisted living: a daughter’s memoir DB91261

Hiland, Mary. Reading time: 7 hours, 3 minutes.

Read by Jill Ferris. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Social Sciences

The author, who is blind, describes navigating the details involved in moving her resistant ninety-six-year-old mother, who had dementia, into an assisted living community and the often-frustrating months that followed. Provides advice for those in similar situations. 2017.

“Insight Out: One Blind Woman’s View of Her Life” gives you a peek inside the life of Mary Hiland, an ACB member from Ohio. Each chapter reveals a new facet of how she meets the demands of living without sight. You’ll gain new understanding of how blind people are different and how they are not. Myths and 1misperceptions are explored through thoughtful, sensitive, and personal…

www.dldbooks.com/maryhiland

Kate’s 2¢: “Wondrous beauty: the life and adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte” by Carol Berkin

“Wondrous beauty: the life and adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte” by Carol Berkin

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I can’t say that I like Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte. She epitomizes the such adjectives as willful, vain, manipulative, and quite the self-centered bitch. Oh, did I mention social climber and lacking substance, even though she was  reputed to be  quick witted and intellectual?

   Berkin acknowledged  the many people who assisted her in researching Elizabeth and I can appreciate the effort it must have been to put it all together in a chronological narrative. Well done.

   Kate Kiley did a good job of reading the narrative for NLS.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

   Carol Berkin graduated from Barnard College in 1964 and holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

She taught at Baruch College from 1972 to 2008 and has taught at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York since 1983. She is currently Baruch Presidential Professor of History at the City University of New York.[3]

She has worked as a historical commentator for several television documentaries, most notably PBS’s Dolley Madison: America’s First Lady.[4]

   Selected works[edit]

• Jonathan Sewall; odyssey of an American loyalist. Columbia University Press. 1974. ISBN 0231038518. OCLC 947967.

• Making America: A History of the United States. Houghton Mifflin. 1995. ISBN 0395714370. OCLC 32065166.

• First Generations: Women in Colonial America. Hill and Wang. 1996. ISBN 0809045613. OCLC 34354867.

• A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution. Harcourt. 2002. ISBN 0151009481. OCLC 49663906.

• Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence.

• Civil War Wives: The Lives & Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis & Julia Dent Grant. Alfred A. Knopf. 2009. ISBN 9781400044467. OCLC 335678795.

• Wondrous Beauty: Betsy Bonaparte, the Belle of Baltimore Who Married Napoleon’s Brother. Alfred A. Knopf. 2014. ISBN 9780307592781. OCLC 842323047. Wondrous Beauty was reviewed in the New York Times.[6

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Wondrous beauty: the life and adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte

Berkin, Carol.  

Read by Kate Kiley. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Biography

World History and Affairs

Biography of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, renowned as the most beautiful woman of nineteenth-century Baltimore, whose brief marriage in 1803 to Jérôme Bonaparte, the youngest brother of the disapproving Napoleon Bonaparte, became enmeshed in the diplomatic and political histories of the United States, France, and England. 2014.           

Download Wondrous beauty: the life and adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte

Kate’s 2¢: Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Kate’s 2¢: Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I started reading the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 1987 or so. The NLS sent it in the mail on a sound sheet.  I read them and saved them, thinking I’d have more time after the children are grown and flown the coop. Well, the technology changed and I no longer had the right type of record player to play the sound sheets. I saved the cardboard inserts to use for crafts and tossed the rest.

   Now, I down-load EQMM. It is interesting to note how many ‘first time writers’ have gone on to be prize winners and very successful authors.

From the Web:

Ellery Queen, pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, original names, respectively, Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky, (respectively, born October 20, 1905, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died September 3, 1982, White Plains, New York; born January 11, 1905, Brooklyn, New York—died April 3, 1971, near Waterbury, Connecticut), American cousins who were coauthors of a series of more than 35 detective novels featuring a character named Ellery Queen, created in 1929.

Ellery Queen | American author | Britannica

www.britannica.com/biography/Ellery-Quee

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Ellery Queen March, 2021

Reading time: 12 hours, 17 minutes.

Read by Dwayne Glapion; Laura Hatch; Shawn Hertel. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Downloaded: April 9, 2021

Download Ellery Queen March, 2021

“I’m Proud to be blind” by Jonathan Mosen.

Why I am proud to be blind

Sent: Wednesday, May 5, 2021 2:06 PM

To: AcbOfNyMembers@groups.io

Subject: [acbofnymembers] FW: article from Jonathan Mosen

Why I am proud to be blind

Jonathan Mosen

I often mention on my Mosen At Large podcast that I am proud to be blind. Recently, I was challenged by a listener and asked how I can possibly be proud of having a serious, debilitating condition.

I am glad to say that disability pride, and blind pride as a subset of that, is on the rise. Yet it is an incomprehensible concept to some.

I keep a gratitude journal, where I write at least 10 things every day for which I am grateful. So it was easy for me to consult that journal, where I have often written of things relating to blindness for which I am grateful and write this piece on why I am proud to be blind. You can hear the audio of this in Mosen At Large episode 119, but here is the text of what I said.

I am profoundly proud to be blind. I am proud of the fact that as a kid, when my older siblings would have been found out for reading at night, I read in the dark as much as I liked, a Braille book tucked under the covers on winter nights.

I am proud to be blind, because it connects me with a proud history. I share a characteristic with a man who gave us the priceless gift of functional, efficient literacy. Louis Braille was an example of “nothing about us without us” in the 19th century, long before we used that phrase. His genius invention was derided by sighted people who were certain they knew what was best for us. He was ridiculed. His code was driven underground and his books were burned. But he prevailed, because he was blind. He devised his code for himself, he gave it, at considerable personal cost, to all of us.

I am proud to be blind, because of all the other blind people who followed in Louis Braille’s footsteps, blind people innovating and inventing for our collective advancement, imagining a better future and making it real. Whether it be Larry Skutchan with his methodical mind and interminable patience, or Ted Henter with his zeal and entrepreneurship, or David Costution and Glen Gordon who believed that Windows could be truly useable and then made it come true, or the blind people now working on the inside of mainstream companies who are our champions, we dreamed it, we created it.

I am proud to be blind, because blind people are the reason the 33 RPM record was developed, initially so talking books could be distributed more efficiently.

And speaking of talking books, I am proud to be blind, because blind people are the reason talking books exist. Now, sighted people are using them too.

I am proud to be blind, because the original reading machine was created for us. We started the journey of digitising printed text that resulted in the scanners that are still commonplace in offices today.

I am proud to be blind, because long before the term PDA was in the lexicon of sighted people, we were taking notes, keeping track of appointments and reading books on devices like Keynotes and Braille’n’Speaks.

I am proud to be blind, because we were one of the reasons computers started to talk. Technology is better because of blind people. There are so many examples of technology when we, proudly, have been the blind who led the sighted.

I am proud to be blind, because I am not influenced by someone’s physical appearance, but instead gain information from the tone of a voice and the words that are said.

I am proud to be blind, because it has made me a more lateral thinker, developing and refining alternative techniques to access a wide range of information so I can thrive in a largely sight-dependent world.

I am proud to be blind, because even though my other senses aren’t sharper than anyone else’s, in fact I have a dual sensory loss, like many blind people I use them well. It makes me smile when I can tell what type of audio processor is being used on a radio station, or when another blind person can tell the kind of car that’s passing by simply by the sound it’s making, or when a blind person gives another blind person an instruction like, “when your cane hits a pole on my street that emits a fifth octave A-Flat, you’re outside my house”.

I am proud to be blind, because of the legacy of great blind civil rights leaders around the world. Often ostracised and branded radical troublemakers, they confronted, and are still confronting today, the tyranny of low expectations and the disabling decisions society has chosen to make. They challenged the damaging, fundamentally flawed notion that we had neither the ability nor the right to achieve self-determination, that it wasn’t necessary for society to be accessible, or inclusive, or accepting. Their belief in a fairer tomorrow unshackled us from institutions and shattered disempowering paternalism. Their tenacity has seen the increasing availability of better training, much of it driven by blind people ourselves, and increased opportunity through civil rights legislation.

I am proud to be blind, because as a subset of the world’s largest minority, disabled people, blind people led the way in the disability movement, securing legislative victories long before they were common for much of the rest of the sector. I am grateful every day of my life for those blind people who took on those difficult causes, displayed tenacity and stated their cases again, and again, and again until progress was slowly but surely made. I am proud of the personal responsibility I feel as a blind person to always cherish and defend, never take for granted, and constantly build upon the legacy of civil rights victories that I have inherited and benefited from. I am mindful that they must not be squandered, and I am proud to stand up, be counted, and do my moral duty to advance that legacy so that the next generation has even more opportunity than I have had.

I am proud to be blind, because it has shaped who I am, it is part of my identity and it has helped define me. I accept that. I embrace that.

I am proud to be blind, because in being blind I contribute to the rich tapestry and the diversity of humankind.

I am proud to be blind, because no matter how many negative signals are sent, I know that being blind makes me no less a person of worth.

I am proud to be blind, because the opposite of pride is shame, and my blindness is nothing to be ashamed of.

I am proud to be blind, and therefore share a characteristic with talented people from all walks of life. Blind people are parents, devoted, loving parents, some of whom have had their babies literally snatched from their loving arms, an atrocity no capable and loving parent should endure, and all for no other reason than people getting it horribly wrong about blindness. I am proud that we as blind people show those parents love, solidarity, and a steadfast determination to get those children back where they belong.

Blind people are in factories and farms, law practices and legislatures, sandwich shops and start-ups. I am proud of the blind teachers, software developers, businesspeople, mechanics, transcribers, musicians and even medical doctors. There is very little we can’t do and there are few professions where you can’t find a blind person, often to many people’s surprise. The only trouble is, the world doesn’t necessarily know that.

And that’s the biggest reason I am proud to be blind. Because every day, just by getting on with my life, I defy the odds in a disabling society, we defy expectations where there is little disability confidence. When people tell us we can’t, we show them yes, we can. It can be exhausting sometimes. We may get knocked down, and sometimes we may feel like we’re out for the count. But eventually, most of us get up again. We apply for that one more job. We work around that inaccessible website. We keep calm and carry on when we’re treated like a helpless child in the street, or when walking into a store, or when yet another ride share driver declines to take our guide dog. That takes guts, it takes tenacity. The odds are stacked against us, but we march on, we make progress. Go us!

Yes, I am proud, proud, a thousand times proud to be blind.

Share and enjoy

#Members@groups.io] On Behalf Of Don Horne

Sent: Wednesday, May 5, 2021 2:34 PM

I want to look at this from a perspective other than “I agree” or “I disagree.”

Let’s take blindness out of the picture for a moment. When I marvel at Lainie Kazan’s performance  in MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, I feel Hofstra Pride; she and I both have degrees from the school and her accomplishments for me as a result.

I am neither    proud nor ashamed of being blind; it is what it is. I am, however, proud of the accomplishments of many blind people and of the blind community as a whole. I feel extra pride in those accomplishments because I know in a very direct, tangible way what a difference they have made In the world. I also know that my road may be a bit easier because of their accomplishments. That doesn’t mean that I don’t take pride in many other people and events that have nothing to do with blindness.

What bothers me about this article is that in two instances, Mosen expresses his pride by using comparisons. Most of the time, I am repelled by this sort of statement. For me, spending time talking about which disability groups were the first to involve them selves in advocacy is both ridiculous and harmful. We can be just as proud of what we as a blind community have accomplished            without the comparisons.

Here, don, is where I think you and I might actually agree though: if we think of those comparisons in ways that separate us from the whole rather than allowing us  to celebrate our contribution to it, we are making a dangerous and counterproductive mistake. And if the ONLY thing that defines us is our blindness, then we are not taking advantage of the advances we are fighting so hard to gain.

That’s my two cents worth (if it’s worth two cents, lol.)