It's my last day and my eyes haven't fallen out yet. My goal was 30 books as I started a day late so I've really got two books here to make up for it that I've been reading.
Remember the Yellow Pages? Let your fingers do the talking. I am a free range book worm and will read anything, including dictionaries and sometimes even the newspaper ads if there is NOTHING else. But thankfully I discovered actual books and in my years as a librarian the ones I prefer are the real life stories, especially memoirs of people spilling the beans on their lives, warts and all. I especially like memoirs of people who have a different perspective of life, and everyone has a tale to tell. (Whether true or not, is something you'll have to be the judge of)
Thank you to those who recommended I read Haben. How a deaf-blind woman conquered Harvard Law. Haben Girma (Haben means 'pride' in Eritrean) was born in Eritrea, grew up in Ethiopia and the US and is deaf-blind. She has partial hearing and partial sight (today we call it 'impaired') in that she can hear within a very small range while everything else is muffled and can see blurry outlines of things. So smell, taste and touch are very important to her, and her memoir is mostly about these things. She can read braille and has a machine that converts speech to braille so she can communicate, she also has guide dog and writes about her experiences with her puppy peeing everywhere, and can use a cane.
When she went to college she asked the cafeteria if they would print their menus in braille or simply email her a copy to convert so she wouldn't have to have a jackpot surprise every time she had a meal. She thought this might be a reasonable request but it turns out more difficult than she imagined! This in turn led to consider a career in law to become an advocate for those with disabilities. So she went to Harvard, changed legislation and met the President of the USA.
I so admire that - you can read about what happened in her book in which she does all sorts of things it was not considered possible for a person with disabilities to do. (If it were me I might consider a career in blind taste testing gourmet meals).
Book number two was Do you dream in color? Insights from a girl without sight. Lauren Rubin shares her experiences being born blind (but not deaf) in which she becomes an opera singer and jewellery maker on the side. She does dream in colour but being blind also means she's sensitive. It also meant when it came to a partner, it didn't matter who they looked like (or what race, which seems to be a big issue in the USA) or whether they were a boy or a girl. Her parents were very supportive and it seems she never had to want for anything, if she wanted to go skiing she learned, and if she wanted to learn opera she got in the best schools, and if she wanted to go to a museum she was allowed to touch all the paintings and objects. However she didn't always have a great time at mainstream school with people who didn't want to be her friend because she was 'different' or felt they might be obligated to look after her. She also applied for a guide dog like Haben but didn't have problems toilet training with her puppy.
I found reading these books about blind people to be eye opening (and everyone who is blind will have unique experiences) no two would be the same. What comes across is they'd like to be self-determined and have their rights to independence just as other Americans do (it's enshrined in their constitution) so good on them. I've got another one to read called 'Planet of the Blind' this time about a blind man.
If you are reading this and haven't donated to Great Kiwi Bookathon to support blind and low vision with readers, assistance, guide dogs, audio books and braille then please consider it before my eyes fall out. I am securing my future you see so if my eyes fail me I know who I can turn to. Happy reading!
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