I lost the right to vote privately and anonymously in 1985. That’s the year I lost my sight. After that, I needed Mike to help me with a ballot. One time Mike was out of town during elections, so a polling judge from the Republican party and a polling judge from the Democratic party squeezed […]

I’ve researched the issues. I’ve studied the candidates. I’m ready to vote. Now I’m just hoping the talking voting machine works when Whitney leads me to my voting booth. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires voting systems to provide independent and private voting for all voters — including those of us with disabilities. […]

Reports I’m receiving from fellow Seeing Eye graduates tell me the Seeing Eye school, located in Morristown, New Jersey, was spared some of the more devastating damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Training at the Seeing Eye usually includes a trip to the Morristown train station to learn to get safely on and off trains with […]

When my Seeing Eye dog wants my husband Mike’s attention, she sits down, looks his way, and bats her big beautiful brown eyes. To get my attention, she butts her head against my computer chair. If I’m standing up, she nudges my hand. Whitney drops the ball at Mike’s feet when they play catch. When […]

I turned the radio on just in time last Friday to hear Fresh Air’s movie reviewer David Edelstein say The Sessions ( a new semi-fictional movie about the life of a writer paralyzed below the neck from childhood polio) was better than some of the other “disability-of-the-week Oscar-bait” pictures he’d seen. Cynical? Maybe. His statement […]