Tag: braille

Valentin Haüy’s Essai (1786) * On the Education of Blind Children * NYPL Rare books * Image + Description

I wrote about Valentin Haüy and his founding of the first school for blind children in 1785 in There Plant Eyes. My dear friend David Lowe, who is a photo specialist in the Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs at the New York Public Library, read my book (Thanks, David!), and because he did, when he saw Valentin Haüy’s… Read more

Blindness, Disability, Accessibility, and Innovation * ACT Talk +Essay

ACT Equity Keynote, May 23, 2023 My flurry of travel speaking gigs in the spring finished with an online presentation for ACT (known for their college test). It touches on a lot of the #DownWithOcularcentrism/up with #BlindPride points I discuss in much of  my writing and have been developing in recent talks, where I also incorporate storytelling techniques to keep… Read more

Contemplating the Many Things Worse than Being Blind at the Helen Keller Forest Hills Tribute Mural

Thanks to a wonderful writer friend, Jess DeCourcy Hinds, I learned about The Helen Keller Forest Hills Tribute Mural in Queens, New York, where Keller lived for many years. Sadly, Keller’s home no longer exists. In its place stands the Reform Temple of Forest Hills at 71-11 112th Street, which was formerly 93 Seminole Avenue. That’s “where Helen Keller resided… Read more

Footnote on ‘Invisible Child’ by Andrea Elliott

Andrea Elliott was recently announced as the Pulitzer winner in nonfiction for Invisible Child: poverty, survival, and hope in an American city (Random House, 2021). I was honored to have a conversation with her during the Virtual Monster Book Tour for There Plant Eyes. During that conversation and others over the past couple years, we’ve talked about visibility and invisibility.… Read more

Footnote on ‘Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel’ by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in Chemistry (Doubleday, 2022) by Bonnie Garmus is funny and charming despite the brutal 1950’s sexism—a sexism which, even if less systematic and unapologetic, will still resonate with most women today. You can’t help but fall in love with Elizabeth Zott, who is hilarious in her seriousness about chemistry, love, family, cooking, and everything else. Ad to the formula… Read more

There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness

About the Book From Homer to Helen Keller, from Dune to Stevie Wonder, from the invention of braille to the science of echolocation, M. Leona Godin explores the fascinating history of blindness, interweaving it with her own story of gradually losing her sight. There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained… Read more