I made recordings for the blind at the Braille Institute for two years. I went in every Monday morning and worked for one-and-a-half hours, making a tape recording of chapters, articles, and books. The coordinator would screen the requests and hand them out as volunteers arrived to make recordings. I remember reading a microwave cookbook, parts of a geology textbook, a book about the architecture of Las Vegas, an ESL workbook, and a Department of Transportation manual. As I was reading about the rules for parking and loads relating to trucks, I began to wonder if this was for a blind person. I told my teenage son about it and without hesitation, he said blind people can do anything. When I asked the coordinator, she said it was for a person with dyslexia, a term I didn’t know at the time. Kudos to my son for being such an optimist.
Acquaintances of mine went to entertain a small social gathering for blind people and were saddened when the most often asked question was, “How did you get here?”
July 7. 1996