[nabs-l] Research: Representation of blindness in literature

Fri Apr 26 10:59:44 UTC 2013

I would also recommend Blindsided by Prescilla Commings. Although this
book is also modern and American, I very much enjoyed reading it and
thought the author did a good job of portraying blind people in a way
that didn't evoke the reader's pity. Granted, it talks about the
struggles that Natalie (the main character) goes through while
adjusting to her blindness, especially her anxiety and outright
refusal to use her cane (at first.) I may have a little bias toward
this book, since it is set at the Maryland School for the Blind just
down the road from me in Baltimore. :) But even if it were not set
here, I would still recommend it to all of you. BTW, the NFB and our
national center are mentioned a few times in this book! If you would
like to read it, Blindsided is available from Bookshare. Happy
reading!!

Chris Nusbaum

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 26, 2013, at 12:05 AM, Julie McGinnity <kaybaycar at gmail.com> wrote:

> There is a book called Girl, Stolen by April Henry that is about a
> blind girl who is kidnapped.  Jane Eyre is a good one in my opinion.
> But if you're looking for something a bit more about blind characters
> adjusting to blindness you can always find Follow my Leader.  Blind
> Sighted is another more recent one.  If you want something a little
> more fantastical, there is a blind character in Libba Bray's new book
> the Diviners.  There is also Beastly, which was made into a movie a
> couple years ago.  But those are more modern and American(except for
> Jane Eyre).  Even so, they might be interesting reads for you.
>
> On 4/25/13, Joe <jsoro620 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Focus on the Family featured a blind character in their Adventures in
>> Odyssey series. Not literature, strictly speaking, though the radio show did
>> produce some films and book editions, I believe. Also, I forget the exact
>> name of the book, but was it something like The Seeing Summer? It's about
>> the girl who is kidnapped and held for ransom.--Joe
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Carrie Gilmer
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 3:54 PM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Research: Representation of blindness in literature
>>
>> Hello-
>> Two of my best friends from college were international students from Sweden,
>> over 25 years ago. we are still very close.  Asked them what they knew. they
>> both said they can recall absolutely no blind character in lit anywhere from
>> childhood or young adulthood, and both also had never seen a blind person
>> until sometime after coming to U.S. ...may be a difficult  or sparse topic.
>> best of luck
>> Carrie
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Apr 23, 2013, at 9:55 PM, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I don't know of anything specifically Swedish, but I've seen several
>>> depictions of blindness depicted in English literature.  There is one
>>> book called, "Hannah," where a blind girl wants to go to school.  She
>>> seems super dependent in there to me, but the book is also set in the
>>> 19th century so back then that might have been more common.  In the
>>> end she participates in some sort of harvesting contest to try to
>>> raise money to buy a brailler, and when she can't fathom how she's won
>>> she finds that the town kept putting their picked fruits/vegitables in
>>> her basket instead of their own.  There is also a book I've come
>>> across called, "From Charlie's Point of View, although I haven't
>>> really read it.
>>>
>>> On 4/23/13, Leye-Shprintse <leyeshprintse at ymail.com> wrote:
>>>> BS"D
>>>>
>>>> Dear NABS,
>>>>
>>>> I'm a blind student and it's time for me to start writing my thesis.
>>>> I've chosen to write about the representation of blindness in Swedish
>>>> children's and youth literature. I wonder if you've some ideas where
>>>> I can rasearch information to my thesis, do you know if someone else
>>>> have written about this subject? I think it's a very important
>>>> subject but since Swedish isn't a big language I can't find so much
>>>> information here. I'm happy for all ideas you can give me! It feels
>>>> so big to write a thesis so I'm a bit overwhelmed! Forgive my bad
>>>> English!
>>>>
>>>> Kind regards,
>>>> Leye-Shprintse
>>>>
>>>> Envoyé de mon iPad
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kaiti
>>>
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>>
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>
>
> --
> Julie McG
> National Association of Guide dog Users board member,  National
> Federation of the Blind performing arts division secretary,
> Missouri Association of Guide dog Users President,
> and Guiding Eyes for the Blind graduate 2008
> "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
> everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
> life."
> John 3:16
>
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