Our friend Ellen Sandmeyer had us over for Christmas Eve this year. Her two sons, her nine-year-old granddaughter Kaia and Kaia’s mom had flown in for the holidays, and we spent the evening together munching cookies, sipping drinks, sharing stories, and…learning Braille. When I called ahead to make sure no one had allergies or a […]

Whitney and I took a commuter train to Deerfield, Illinois Thursday to talk with third graders at Wilmot Elementary about what it’s like to be blind and get around with a Seeing Eye dog. I started by explaining the three rules Wilmot students should keep in mind if they happen to see a guide dog […]

Here’s a post I wrote for the Easterseals national blog before we left for the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference. An opinion piece about the banning of plastic straws in different businesses and municipalities published in the Washington Post earlier this month caught my attention. Written by disability advocate Karin Hitselberger, the piece was brilliant at […]

Just got news that the Library of Congress Talking Book Service has created a Braille version of Writing Out Loud — it’s available free of charge to Americans who are blind or visually impaired. The Library of Congress administers the National Library Service (NLS), a talking-book and Braille program available for free to those of […]

The questions Robin Sitten and I got from our audience at the Perkins School for the Blind Thursday sure were thought-provoking. Here’s a sampling: Did you write your memoir Long Time, No See as therapy, or did you write it to share your journey with others? The people who sign up for your memoir classes, […]