[blindkid] Fwd: Novel Research

Tue Jan 31 12:30:55 UTC 2012

I would suggest that this person access the Kernel Books at nfb.org...  There sure are lots of personal stories there!

-----Original Message-----
From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
To: david.andrews <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
Cc: rachel peterson <tupperware87 at msn.com>
Sent: Sat, Jan 28, 2012 4:33 pm
Subject: [blindkid] Fwd: Novel Research

I am forwarding this message to a few of our lists -- the woman seems 
o be genuinely interested in finding out about blind persons.  In 
articular, maybe some of you who are older can help her with 
ttitudes in 30's and 40's which I am sure were substantially 
ifferent, thus blind persons would have been different.
Dave
p.s.  Please respons to her directly, as she is not on any of our lists!

From: "rachel peterson" <tupperware87 at msn.com>
Hi David,

My name's Rachel Peterson and I got your email address from Melissa 
Green, the president of the Greeley chapter of the NFB here in 
northern Colorado. I got connected with Melissa by Ed Morman, when I 
contacted the NFB Baltimore. I'm a writer of children's fiction and 
I have a desire to write a book where the main character is blind. 
It would be a late 1930's-1940 era story and the girl would be 
around 10-12. I am not blind and I currently don't know anyone who 
is. So why do I want to write this book? Well my younger sister has 
been interested in adopting blind children for several years, so the 
subject of blind people and how they live is a frequently discussed 
topic. And recently a friend of mine and her husband have been 
journeying in the process of adopting a little blind girl. This 
inspired me to start trying to learn some about Braille, so that I 
could write little notes to their daughter.

  As a writer I'm passionate about detail and accuracy. If I can't 
 gain enough information as well as understanding of a person's view 
 point and feelings I don't feel comfortable writing about the 
 subject. I love history and am very curious about other people and 
 how they live. When I create a character I try and envision myself 
 in their shoes, so that I can best describe how they think and feel 
 in every situation. I really want to share the truth about life as 
 a blind person from their perspective, not the stereotypical public 
 view, or even what I try and imagine it to be like.

Melissa said if I emailed you this information as well as my 
specific questions, you could post it to all the NFB lists. I don't 
know what that means but I'm sure you do.

Now that I've told a little about what I'm doing and looking for I 
want to be more specific. I would really love to hear personal view 
points from real blind people. For who could better tell me about it 
than someone who lives it. I'm so eager to learn about this exciting 
new world, I'm very curious, and have a pile of questions, but I'll 
try and organize my thoughts some so that someone could actually 
give me some insight and answers.

Story summary: This book is in its infancy in my mind but this is a 
loose idea of how I intend to start it. A ten to twelve-year-old 
blind girl is leaving the blind school she's been living at to spend 
the summer of 1940 with her great uncle and aunt. I want her to show 
people that she's not limited. She's very adventurous almost to the 
point of mischievous sometimes as she discovers her new world. She 
was either born blind or has been blind for a long time so she's 
very used to how to do things without sight. With that background 
here is a list of my more organized questions.

1.)  When she arrives at her Great Uncle and Aunts house for the 
first time, how would she go about learning where everything is, in 
each room? Would she learn it all right away? Or would she learn 
about different rooms over the course of a week? How would she 
exactly go about discovering each room?

2.)  In 1940, would she have a cane?

3.)  How would she make her first assessment of the new people she's 
meeting? Does she judge them by voice? Do blind people still have 
forms of body language that tells attitudes? Do you get a picture in 
your head of what they look like? How can you tell if the person you 
are meeting is someone you can trust or not? Is tone of voice an 
important piece for a blind person or not?

4.)  If our character is ever timid or fearful about something what 
would it be over? Is there anything that a blind person would be 
more fearful about?

5.)  How would our character feel about other kids? Would she feel 
she needed to prove herself? Would she feel intimidated or inferior? 
Would she feel she was better than them if she was more gifted or 
skilled at certain things?

6.)  How would our character feel about the questions adults and 
children would ask her in regards to her blindness? Would she be 
annoyed? Would she be excited to help people understand? What are 
common questions sighted people ask blind people? What answers do 
you give them?

7.)  Before our character came to her relative's house, could she 
have lived at a blind school year round like boarding school? What 
things did they teach children at blind schools in the late 1930's to 1940?

8.)  Realistically, how independent would a blind ten-year-old, in 
1940 have been?

9.)  When you first come to a new place you've never been, indoors 
or outdoors, what are the first things you notice?

10.)                 In your opinion, are blind people better 
listeners when someone is talking than a sighted person? Or do you 
get distracted in your own thoughts just the same?

11.)                 Do blind people ever run into things? Walls? 
Doors? Furniture?

12.)                 How will our character know when it is morning? 
And time to get up?

13.)                 Are there any concerns our characters sighted 
relatives would have about her? Are there common fears sighted 
parents have about their blind children?

14.)                 What are the top three most annoying things 
sighted people try and do for blind people? (If there is more than 
three feel free to list them.)

15.)                 What might be our character's favorite thing to 
do be? What kinds of things are especially fun for blind people?

16.)                 Are there any advantages blind children have 
over sighted children?

17.)                 Are there any specific situations that would 
make our character feel left out?

This is just a small list I thought up to get me started, but please 
don't feel restricted by the questions, for I'm certain I've missed 
key things I'll need to know. So if you think of additional things 
you feel are important points for our blind character to convey in 
her personality, perspective, and life I would love to share them in 
this story.  Also, if anyone has any personal childhood stories 
they'd like to share about funny, exciting, or scary things that 
happened to them as a blind child I'm always excited to try and use 
real life stories in my fiction. They don't have to be super 
personal or even related to being blind; maybe you just played a 
funny trick on someone once. Example being, my grandpa told me about 
how he and his friends turned an old door into a jump for their snow skis.

So, if you know of anyone who would enjoy answering these questions 
and would like to help me learn I'd love to hear from them. My email 
address is: <mailto:shawshee1414 at gmail.com>shawshee1414 at gmail.com  I 
also have a blog: 
<http://pagesforthedarkhorses.blogspot.com/>http://pagesforthedarkhorses.blogspot.com 
>where I'm selling my other books if people want to learn more about 
what I've already done and I also talk more about myself there and 
how I got started in writing.

Thank you so much for your time and assistance.

Sincerely,

Rachel Peterson
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