[Stylist] Blindness matters

Wed Dec 12 16:21:59 UTC 2018

Thanks for sharing. Good article.

A couple of things. I find some of her examples interesting. One, the story
about the woman on the bus who didn't think her grand-daughter need a guide
dog because, "She knows how to find her way around." Sure, the woman
probably has no clue what and how a guide dog works, but the fact that she
didn't worry about her grandkid getting around as a blind person seems more
of a positive example than the version the writer follows this statement up
with. I would love if the people in my life didn't constantly assume I had
no idea how to get around.

Second, when she wrote a story about a blind person fearing to become a
parent, and publisher's told her this wasn't realistic because they saw
otherwise in the media, I mean, don't we want this? No one should dismiss
anyone's feelings about becoming a parent, blind or able-bodied, but I find
it refreshing that sighted people didn't find it realistic that blind people
would want to be parents and could do it. If more people automatically
thought I was completely capable of being a blind parent, my life would be
easier and less frustrating.

Probably not the best examples to give when talking about ableism in
publishing, in my opinion. And these are actually not ableist ideas., quite
the opposite.

Now, I know a lot of blind fiction writers have shared similar experiences,
especially when writing blind characters. However, as a creative nonfiction
writer, I find the opposite to be true. In fact, all people want me to write
about is blindness, and I have to explain that I do have other subjects I
want to write about. I don't know why truth is more accepted than fiction,
but in my experience, editors and publisher's love nonfiction stories about
disability.

Ultimately, knowing a lot of professional editors and publishers and writers
and having an MFA, ultimately, if your writing is good and you have a good
story, it will speak for itself, us being blind writers won't matter, or
having a blind character won't matter. The reality is that few people become
published- good and bad writers. It's a difficult market to break into,
especially book publishing. Lots of writers have to shop a manuscript around
several times before getting picked up, and even then, there's no guarantee
of success, and a small minority are able to make a living from writing,
even those who are getting published. Less than 1% of published writers can
make a living from writing alone. This is why so many writers have day jobs.

So, blind or not, if an editor and publisher isn't picking up your
manuscript, regardless of the reason, they are either the wrong
person/publisher, or your material needs work. Ask any published writer,
even the big ones, and most will tell you it took years and several
submissions before a manuscript was picked up for publication.

Now, as far as the technology used for publishing being inaccessible, yes,
this is true. Especially if self-publishing, the tech can be inaccessible,
or aspects of it can be. My experience with editors has been that they use
track changes, which is accessible with screenreaders, but there can be
wonky elements, but I use track changes myself for editing purposes, but
depending on what elements are being used, it could be tricky to work with
or even inaccessible if using very visual parts of something like track
changes. If a website is inaccessible, I won't submit to that particular
magazine/journal, or if it only has a print version and not online, I won't
submit usually either. The exception is an anthology. I actually wrote a
blog piece on the inaccessibility of literary mags websites. In my
experience, most editors don't mind working with a writer if they need help,
because at that point, they obviously like your writing and want to publish
you.

Ultimately, disabled people still have a lot to do to be viewed as equals in
society, and breaking able privelage is going to take time, but I think the
issue is not so black-and-white as this author makes it out to be. Right or
wrong, if an editor doesn't like a manuscript because of a blind character
or that a a writer is blind, then find another editor until you find the
right one. It's so incredibly rare to find an editor and publisher the first
time you submit, even the second and third times for anyone. It's not
surprising.

For anyone interested in being published, I highly recommend the following
books:

The Business of being a Writer by Jane Freedman
The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers by Betsy Learner

Both are available on Kindle.

-----Original Message-----
From: Stylist <stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of David Andrews via
Stylist
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2018 9:25 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Cc: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
Subject: [Stylist] Blindness matters

>This came from our jobs list. I think it is a very good article, about 
>a blind writer, and would encourage you to read it.

Dave

>Putting this article here because I think it would spark some good 
>discussion, especially when it comes to considering different careers 
>we are not much into.
>
>  ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
>  Yes, Blind People Read Books. We Write Them, Too.
>  by Laurie Alice Eakes
>  Reprinted from the HUFFINGTON POST
>          "Windy, let's get some coffee," I suggested, in need of an  
>iced latte.
>          My Seeing Eye dog swerved right, tension through the harness
>  increasing as she skirted a corral of outdoor tables. She knew 
>exactly
>  where she was going, eager for the praise and pats she'd receive when
>  we reached the door.
>          Knowing to head for my favorite coffee shop just because I 
>suggested
>  it is not part of Windy's training, and if anyone had heard me, a
>  common misconception would've been satisfied.
>          "My daughter is going blind, but she doesn't need a dog, 
>because she
>  already knows her way around," an elderly woman told me on the bus
>  earlier that morning.
>          "The dog doesn't know the way around," I politely responded. 
>"I give
>  her directions. It's her job to get me to my destination safely."
>          The woman's vague "uh-huh" told me she didn't believe me.
>          No matter how many people we inform, many still believe blind 
>people
>  are clueless about their directions, their surroundings and anything
>  else requiring sight--which, to the sighted world, is just about
>  everything. Plenty of others also seem to forget that blind people
>  communicate and consume media as would any other hearing person. We
>  use expressions like "see," "watched" and "looked at" all the time
>  (they've taken on the meaning of "absorbed" and "observed"). We have
>  cable TV. We go to movies and subscribe to Netflix and Hulu. We have
>  favorite shows.
>          And we read books.
>          Two hundred years ago, when books were rare and expensive, 
>people
>  read to one another in a group and, afterward, all claimed to have
>  "read" the book. An audiobook is no different. Many blind people also
>  read braille books. Some of us read via our Kindle apps on our
>  iPhones, which have Voiceover to make them accessible if a person
>  can't see.
>          Blind people write books, too. I have 27 traditionally 
>published
>  books to my name and more coming out. Many of them are historical
>  novels that I researched via more books--scanned books, recorded
>  books, digitized books.
>          Reading and writing books is no more difficult for a blind 
>person
>  than for a person who can see. It's the publishing part that's not so
>  easy.
>          The first agent who offered to represent me stopped sending 
>out my
>  work to editors when she learned I was blind. Other editors wouldn't
>  work with me, daring to tell my agent it was because of my blindness.
>  One went so far as to think she should rewrite my book for me and I
>  should accept it because of my "visual problems."
>          And my favorite incident--the one time I dared write a 
>realistic
>  blind heroine who wasn't all sunshine and light about her condition 
>or
>  how people treated her--the editor told my agent a blind woman
>  wouldn't fear being a parent because she, the editor, had seen
>  otherwise in the media.
>          Seriously?
>          Though I have to admit, she had a point. The media depicts 
>blind
>  people as super-spiritual beings. Books--and their authors--rarely
>  make their blind characters angry with the world for being ignorant.
>  Nor do they give their blind heroine a drop-dead gorgeous man to
>  romance. On the contrary, she generally falls for the ugly dude whom
>  others shun despite his goodness, which only she sees.
>          Historically, blind characters are never shunted into dark 
>corners,
>  hidden away in institutions or left uneducated because the world
>  believed blindness meant one wasn't capable of learning. Blind people
>  are supposed to be like John Milton and Fanny Crosby, writing
>  beautiful poetry and hymns designed to inspire. Readers follow blind
>  characters who are blithely living their lives despite their
>  condition, gaining insights others don't have, to remind them just 
>how
>  well off they are. I may be worried about making rent, but it's
>  nothing compared to being blind. What an inspiration this 
>protagonist,
>  and this author, is.
>          Frankly, I'd rather be told I'm snarky. That, at least, would 
>make me human.
>          I confess I too once fell into the trap of writing a 
>happy-go-lucky
>  character with a disability. I wanted to write a blind hero who lived
>  in the 1890s because of a tidbit of history I'd read while 
>researching
>  other books. Of course, I made sure the character had a ton of money
>  and was content with his lot. That suited the plot much better than
>  the realism of blind people dependent on the government or others for
>  support.
>          Because many are. According to the US Department of  Labor's 
>Bureau of
>  Labor Statistics, an alarming 75 percent of blind or visually 
>disabled
>  people are not part of our country's labor force. My husband, a blind
>  attorney, and I, a blind author, are incredibly blessed to have jobs
>  and a house of our own in a fantastic location, but we are the
>  exception.
>          Even when gainfully employed, the industries we work in can 
>make our
>  jobs unnecessarily challenging. I've seen some encouraging signs
>  recently that change is coming to the publishing industry (including
>  making trade association websites more accessible to blind users and
>  ensuring physical barriers to conferences and workshops are removed),
>  but general attitudes have remained stagnant.
>          Agents and editors with whom I've worked in the past have 
>made me
>  paranoid about "coming out" regarding my blindness or attending
>  writing conferences. Once, the marketing person for one of my
>  publishers introduced herself to everyone at the book signing except
>  for me. She skipped right over me, as though I were invisible. Like I
>  was wearing my own invisibility cloak.
>          That cloak doesn't extend to my wonderful Windy; at a  recent 
>writers'
>  conference, more people talked to my dog than to me. Most people know
>  not to touch service dogs, but they don't realize they shouldn't talk
>  to them, either. If Windy gets distracted, she gets corrected, and
>  that's not fair to her (but is necessary to keep her focused on her
>  work). When I asked attendees not to talk to my dog, I was either
>  ignored or treated as though I was in the wrong.
>          During the Jane Austen era, one could ruin someone's  social 
>career by
>  employing the "cut direct," in which one acknowledged the person with
>  a look, then turned away, thereby erasing them.
>          That's how I feel sometimes--erased. No one cared that I was 
>wearing
>  a pin that said I'd been a finalist for the highest award in the
>  romance genre, the RITA. No one cared I was wearing my "25 Books
>  Published" pin (next pin is 35). No one cared I was presenting at a
>  workshop that week or that, just maybe, we had more than just writing
>  and books in common. Instead, they talked to the dog, because
>  apparently a creature with a brain the size of a walnut is more
>  intelligent than a woman with a master's degree who can't see.
>          I currently have both an amazing agent and an incredible  
>editor. They
>  are supportive and understanding that sometimes certain software and
>  social media platforms don't always work for me. They knew I was 
>blind
>  before taking me on and liked my writing well enough not to care.
>          The publishing industry needs more agents and editors like 
>them, but
>  true change will require more than just that. As of 2015, only eight
>  percent of industry professionals had a disability. We need people
>  with disabilities at all stages of the publishing process, including
>  authors, agents, editors, sensitivity readers, marketers and
>  publicists.
>          I look forward to the day when I attend a writers' conference 
>and
>  people talk to me instead of my dog. In the meantime, you can find me
>  working on book Number 28.
>          NOTE: Laurie Alice Eakes is the bestselling author of more 
>than 25
>  books, both historical and contemporary romantic suspense. She writes
>  full time from her home in northern Illinois.

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