[stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

[Lynda Lambert]

Jim, you are not the Devil's advocate at all. I think you are very astute. 
Creative people face a dichotome - and we tread a very tenuous path - we do 
not want to be the "blind painter" "blind poet" or the blind whatever it is. 
We must be responsible to our craft, and we must be excellent at it and able 
to hold our own in our field.  We must understand that we are to be held to 
a standard regardless of any challenges we face, to have credibility to our 
peers.  We cannot hide behind our challenge, nor can we put it up front and 
expect to get good results and promotion of our work by doing this.  I think 
the "a ha!" moment is priceless in whatever we do. Thanks for this comment. 
Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Homme, James" <james.homme at highmark.com>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV


> Hi,
> I'm going to play devil's advocate. What if you took references to 
> blindness out of your bio, then hit them with that aspect of you at some 
> later point?
>
> Jim
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Applebutter 
> Hill
> Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 6:40 PM
> To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>
> Chris,
> I hope so too, and the fact that the writer had a blind father is
> encouraging. He also said he didn't want it to be a portrayal of blind
> people in general, which I don't really know how to interpret - since when
> are any TV characters that generalized?
>
> I also hear you about the mainstream publishing industry. Blind is a dirty
> word. I have spoken with other blind women who say they were actually told
> that their blind female characters were "unrealistic." We're supposed to 
> be
> helpless and carry our burden of sightlessness with a quiet dignity.
>
> I actually removed any mention of it from my book descriptions online. 
> I'll
> probably get some flack for that, but the truth is that "blind" doesn't 
> sell
> books, and if you are a blind writer, one of the biggest hurdles is 
> getting
> someone to review the book like they'd review any other. It takes a lot 
> for
> people to get past how amazing you are for being a blind writer.
>
> My hubby has really been trying to get me to think about the reality that
> the book isn't all about blindness. I do, of course, talk about it when 
> I'm
> targeting niche markets like education professors, blindness rehab
> counsellors, schools for the blind, etc. But for the general public, I 
> don't
> think it works at this time.
>
> Maybe someday soon, people will see blind as the new black and want to 
> hear
> our stories, but my experience is that you really have to back-door the
> issue, and that's not an easy thing to do. I just hope people will find 
> the
> description interesting and not read too far down into my bio.
> Donna
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris Kuell
> Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 8:47 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>
> Donna,
>
> I'm generally skeptical by nature, but I really hope they do a good job 
> with
> this show. It's exactly what we've been talking about here--an opportunity
> to crush the stupid stereotypes and let the public see a guy who is
> interesting, and just happens to be blind. If it does a good job, and if 
> the
> public enjoys it, it could open the door to more blind characters in the
> arts. Personally, I feel certain that the reason books like yours and mine
> aren't getting read by agents and traditional publishers is because we 
> have
> blind protagonists. An agent, or more likely, an agent's assistant reads 
> my
> query and thinks--a blind protagonist? Nobody is going to buy that. It's 
> too
> outside mainstream experience.
>
> Hopefully, the times, they are a changing.
>
> chris
>
>
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