After living with the retinitis pigmentosa for decades, Andrew Leland; writer, audio producer, and teacher, decided to write about blindness in his debut book, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight. We discuss how he thought about specificity while addressing a broad audience and why writing about ableism felt so risky to him. We also talk about the concept of “blind thought” and the ongoing debate around blindness being a neutral characteristic.
The Stacks Book Club selection for August is You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi. We will discuss the book on August 30th with Sam Sanders.
LISTEN NOW
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher | Transcript
Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.
- The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland
- Retinitis pigmentosa (RP)
- Nerdette (WBEZ Chicago)
- “Nerdette Book Club: Andrew Leland on ‘The Country of the Blind’” (Nerdette)
- The Believer Magazine
- Heidi Julavits
- Emily Cunningham
- Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul? by Jesse McCarthy
- National Federation of the Blind (NFB)
- The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland (audiobook)
- There Plant Eyes by M Leona Godin
- American Council of the Blind (ACB)
- American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
- Kenneth Jernigan
- “Blindness – A Dying or a Living?” (Kenneth Jernigan, National Federation of the Blind)
- Blindness by Father Thomas J. Carroll
- Emilie Gossiaux
- Crip Camp (Nicole Newnham and James Lebrecht, 2020)
- 504 Sit-in
- San Francisco LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired (San Francisco, CA)
- Gallaudet University (Washington D.C.)
- Pu’er tea
- Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neal Simon
- Neil Simon
- “DeafBlind Communities May be Creating a New Language of Touch” (Andrew Leland, The New Yorker)
- Sight Unseen by Georgina Kleege
- More Than Meets the Eye by Georgina Kleege
- Blind Rage by Georgina Kleege
- How to Communicate by John Lee Clark
- Touch the Future by John Lee Clark
- MacArthur Fellows Program
To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.
Connect with Andrew: Instagram | Twitter | Website Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe
To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.
The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.
