Finally a novel has been given mainstream publication that has a principal blind character and is written by a blind author. Edward Hoagland’s In the Country of the Blind appeared late last year, but became available in audio only recently. Because I
Blog
Resisting Kafka
1 I’m walking up a busy avenue toward a famous intersection, perhaps Manhattan's Columbus Circle. Pausing at the quiet cross-street just before it, I think maybe I should turn left to avoid being noticed. But that’s paranoia speaking. I press
A Coat of Varnish
Catchphrases separate the generations. That they do so seems arbitrary and unfortunate. Everything that causes friction between generations is unfortunate. As a boy in London, I’d ask my father, “What’s up?” and he’d reply acidly, “The sky.” If he
Journalism and Disability
Media coverage of visually impaired people can distress their subjects. One reason might be that visually impaired people disagree among themselves about the best ways to write and talk about their experiences and how they feel they’re perceived by
To a Friendship
The last time I was in the same room with Victor, at a college reunion, we avoided each other. I could hardly blame him. I’d failed to return his calls. But then, he’d stood me up not once, but twice. Victor (all names here are pseudonyms) and I
Them’s the Breaks
“We go to the top of the fifth, and once again here’s the voice of the Manhattan Madisons, Clint Hill.” “Why, thank you, Pete Gray. We’re coming to you today from the Loco Foto Booth. Loco Foto, the photo-sharing service that lets you spread your
More Thoughts on “Early Spring”
Last year at this time, I posted “Early Spring.” It was intended to evoke spring’s sensuality while expressing sorrow that it might be nothing more than the haphazard product of natural selection. In spring, animals come to life while killing others,
Texas
There were two uplifting stories out of Texas last week. Both began badly. After the mosque in Victoria, Texas, burned down, Jews from the town’s temple went around to one of the mosque’s founders and handed him the keys to the synagogue. (The fire’s
Trumplodyte and the Arena People
Troglodytes were a tribe of cave dwellers. One of their descendants is American patriot Trumplodyte, living in a gold cave in the sky over Fifth Avenue. He loves his fellow Americans so much that he offered to come down and reign over them, even
Time Pathways
I’ve occasionally asked myself, say in a restaurant, is the friend sitting across from me experiencing this dinner in the same moment I am? My existence is separate from his, so why shouldn’t our moments in time also be separate? It’s as if I
Regret
We treasure our regrets. It ought to make no sense. Sadness causes pain. There have been times when something I wish I hadn’t said or done comes to mind and I wince or, even more embarrassing, groan aloud. Soldiers have regrets for actions committed
The Strawberry Statement
On January 21, Donald Trump is going to look down from his high tower, in whichever dimension it may be, on the women marching in protest against his assault on civility and think to himself, “Melania and Ivanka look a whole lot better than these
A Flawed Teacher’s Elegant Legacy
Can a teacher who is deficient at her subject be a lasting positive influence? We’ve all encountered experts who do harm. I had two science teachers who were knowledgeable in their field but who taught so badly, one even sadistically, that I still
Tricks of Memory
The tricks memory plays on us are not always cruel. For decades, I thought I remembered a lush Italian garden from a book of Aldous Huxley stories that a high school girlfriend liked to read aloud to me. It wasn’t an image, let alone an idea. It was
Why Must the TSA Target Disabled and Elderly People?
Hip and other joint replacements are made of metal, and so anyone who has an artificial joint triggers metal detector alarms. When the Transportation Security Administration is in charge, the alarm results in an automatic pat-down or full-body scan.
Heart and Mind
In 1981, when I was representing criminal defendants on appeal, Vicky, a girl I’d known since childhood, was murdered. Vicky was the youngest daughter in the family that my family was closest to when we lived in Sheffield, England, between 1964
The Cathedral Town
What is it about those small cathedral towns, which in England are by definition cities, no matter how tiny? Recalling those idealized places of perpetually mild weather and well-mannered people brings peace of mind. I’m hardly alone. The small
The Ophthalmologist
I’ve come to dislike articles by blind people that expose the insensitivity that sighted people can display. They tend to be one-sided, with the sighted offender looking stupid while the blind character is all innocence. But once in a while such a
Rasp
A rasp, also known as creaky voice, also known as vocal fry, has become widespread. It didn’t use to be, which suggests that in most cases it isn’t caused by vocal cord affliction. Instead, it’s become fashionable. Unfortunately, it’s also been made
Early Spring
It’s still February, but on Saturday we were given a glimpse of spring here in the improbably rural ambiance of a ninth floor terrace in Brooklyn Heights, across the East River from Wall Street. Already for a few days, a mourning dove had been cooing
Denial: The Good Neurosis?
The experiences of disabled people can help in understanding much about human nature. Take denial. My friend Adam and I launched into an email discussion of denial after I encountered a piece by a blogger named Jason Romero, who has experienced
On Comedy and Disability
It’s said that comedy comes from a place of hurt, so that if the humor seems hurtful, no one is more hurt than the comedian. Still, when a white standup comic mimics some stereotype of a black man in a mocking way, is he bringing out the prejudices
The Pigeonhole Factor
I’ve had this website for nearly a year, and I’ve been posting on my blog since July. As I assess my hopes for this project, I have reconsidered the text on my homepage, and specifically the discussion of the role of blindness in my work. On the one
How Can We Talk About Race? Thoughts Based on How We Talk About Disability
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is quoted in the December 10 edition of the New York Times as saying: “I don’t think it stands to reason that it’s a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible.” He went on to say
Fab Vocab
After recently adding a “subscribe” feature to my website, I discovered that WordPress’s initial form reply to people who sign up begins, “Howdy.” I like people who say “Howdy,” especially friends from places like Texas and California. But it isn’t