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

Thu Apr 25 12:13:15 UTC 2013

Givingyourself a plug.  Nothing wrong witht that man.  Grin.

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of christopher
nusbaum
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 7:00 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Research: Representation of blindness in literature

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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