NPR commentator Beth Finke is an award-winning author, teacher and journalist. She also happens to be blind. Beth’s memoir, Long Time, No See was named one of the Chicago Tribune’s favorite non-fiction books for 2003 and made the Book Sense 76 Top Ten list of university press books. Her children’s book about Seeing Eye dogs — Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound– was published by Blue Marlin Publications in October, 2007 and won an ASPCA Henry Bergh Childrens Book Award in 2008.
Hey Beth,
It was nice meeting you on the plane last night. I hope we can keep in touch. You’re blog seems pretty interesting. I’ll have to check it out more when I’m done with work today. Anyway, I just wanted to send you a couple links and say “hi!”
http://www.myspace.com/mikekraus
http://www.myspace.com/HFIpublishing
Keep in touch and pet Hanni for me.
Mike
I have a question, actually, and I can’t find a “Contact” button, so I’ll ask here. How can you type those blog posts if you’re blind? Do you have a braille keyboard, or do you dictate it to someone, or what? Just curious; this has been bugging me for a while.
In any case, I really like your writing and I have great respect for you. Thanks!
I’m glad you wrote! I was sure I’d written a post on my “Safe & Sound” blog explaining how I use a talking computer, but when I searched I realized I’d written that post for a different blog I work on – in addition to keeping a weekly blog here about my book “Hanni and Beth: Safe & sound” I also have a paid position keeping up a blog for Easter Seals. That Easter Seals blog is about autism, but it also covers assistive technology from time to time. Here’s the link to the post I wrote about my talking computer, it’s on the Easter Seals Autism blog, and I’ll paste the entire post below that, too. THANKS FOR ASKING!
http://autismblog.easterseals.com/listen-to-a-radio-essay-about-my-easter-seals-gig/
Ever wonder how the heck a woman like me, blind and unable to see a computer screen, ended up moderating the autism blog for Easter Seals?
Listen to (or read) my Navigating a New Workplace essay on Chicago Public Radio at http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=26740
and find out — the piece aired yesterday.
The essay features sound bites of my talking computer and focuses on the internship that got me started here at Easter Seals in 2006. I became involved
with Easter Seals when I participated in the
Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) grant
Easter Seals received from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Interactive Marketing Group at Easter Seals Headquarters used the grant to work with
Convio,
a software company, to create web content management tools for people who are blind.
Easter Seals recruited blind and visually impaired interns from all over the country to work with the software and learn web content management skills.
I was one of those interns. Once my 10-month TOP internship was completed, Easter Seals Headquarters hired me as the “Interactive Community Coordinator.”
What that fancy title means is that I’m the one moderating the Easter Seals and Autism blog — I read through blog comments on a daily basis and forward
your comments to Easter Seals blog authors and information and referral staff.
I use assistive technology to do my work — a computer program called
JAWS
reads the text on my screen out loud. That’s how I’m able to read your comments. I tell people I’m the only blind woman in America being paid to moderate
a blog. I’m not sure if that’s true, but so far no one has challenged me on that statement.
Tomorrow I’m presenting a “Blogging by Ear” session at the
Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired
(AER) International Convention here in Chicago. So now I’m adding another unsubstantiated claim to my resume: I am the only blind woman in America leading
sessions encouraging others to blog!
Hi Beth, I met you forever ago. Well actually in 2004ish in Karen’s Explore Chicago class. You visited our class and I quietly waited until everyone left the classroom to talk to you. My mother has been blind my entire life. I told you that the sound of your watch made me homesick and then I asked if I could walk you out. We emailed back and fourth for a bit but when the question of meeting up for a beer came up I never wrote back. To be honest with you I was not quite 21 at the time and didn’t know how to broach the situation. I came across your blog in the most random way. I graduated from the Theatre School at DePaul. From time to time I check up on the prestigious Court Theatre and came across your name as assisting with Wait Until Dark. Which is double coincidental because my mom also assisted with a production of the show a while back. I loved reading the questions the actors had for you. How did the show turn out? Did you get to go to opening night? I have not yet seen this production and I probably won’t get a chance to unfortunately. In any case I’m so glad to have found your web site. I’m going to make sure to check in from time to time. Oh and I’m still up for grabbing a beer sometime if you are!