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Monday, July 30, 2007

Listening to books

I've loved reading books since I was a little kid, and when I found out I had a degenerative eye disease, my biggest fear was losing the ability to read. I remember being taken on a trip to the Bay area by someone from the Dept. of Rehabilitation, just after I was diagnosed - we visited an institute for the blind. Adults with different levels of blindness lived there, learning how to cook, clean the house, pick out color co-ordinated clothes, tell different bills of money apart, use a cane, make chess boards (to sell), and to read braille. He wanted me to move in there, and my refusal was my first step on the road to serious denial :-)

I spent the next years trying to hide my vision problem from employers, trying to hang on to my driver's license, trying not to get squashed crossing the street, and most of all trying to read books while guessing at words that seemed always in smaller and smaller print. I eventually had to give up ... ok, I do still take my chances crossing the street without a cane, but I had to quit my job, quit driving, and have mostly given up reading books for pleasure.

This sounds sadder than it is :-) because computers have made reading online much easier for me than trying to read books, and now I've finanlly managed to loosen that death grip I have on doing things the "normal" way, and have tried an audio book. I'm listening to a CD from the library of The Lost World by Michael Crichton (sort of book II of Jurassic Park), and for the first time in a very long time, trying to see is not getting in the way of the story .... it's fun again. Hard to explain how great this is.




16 Comments:

Blogger Jeff said...

Crystal,

My heart goes out to you on this, truly. Just a point of curiosity... how do you manage to read what you see on blogs, and to pick out works of art, watch movies etc... I know that you use reverse-colors and large font to look at blogs, but do you have vision aids for other sorts of things?

8:20 PM  
Blogger cowboyangel said...

Crystal,

Glad to hear the audiobook is going well. Is this one related to Jurassic Park?

8:53 PM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi Jeff,

there are lots of aids for people like me, but most are too expensive. This page has stuff for people with age related macular degeneration, but what I have, Stargardt's disease, is very similar in symptoms.

For movies (on tv) I sit very close with my eyes just a couple of inches from the screen to see what's going on. I miss stuff but get most of what's happening.

I can't make art bigger online but can look through a magnifying glass and I can make photoss and art bigger in a viewing program like Preview or graphic converter.

Thanks for asking :-)

2:23 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Will,

yes, the story in this book takes place a little while after the one in Jurassic Park and has the same character that Jeff Goldblum played in the movie - Ian Malcolm. Crichton's an ok writer - I've read a number of his books and they aren't profound but they keep you turning the pages :-)

2:26 AM  
Blogger Cura Animarum said...

I can SOOOO relate to your fear of not being able to read. I'm a voracious reader and that is also one of my hidden fears...being blind and not able to enjoy a good book. I have to admit, I wondered if you were a fan of audio books or not and am glad you broached the subject yourself. If you enjoy old-time radio shows check out www.fearyoucanhear.com

This guy has created an on-line catalogue of almost every old radio show imaginable. I have to pay for a membership but that is only so that people who are blind or visually impaired don't have to. Yep, that's right, you would get a life-long membership for free!

Personally I love it for the old 'Shadow' shows but he's got a ton of others too that are great! Sometimes the quality is a little rough as the original tapes (and sometimes albums) that he acquires have not been cared for as well as they should have been but I've been very happy with them.

If you like early Orson Welles stuff check out The Mercury Theatre on the Air free one hour shows, pretty much everything they did in 1938 and then from '39 - '40 when they became the Campbell Playhouse. Really fantastic original broadcasts.

The great thing about radio plays is that they were designed to be listened to so you might find them even more appealing than an audio book.

I can't recall if you have broadband or not. If a slow connection is a problem let me know and I can put a CD together for you and send it out too.

As you can see, I'm a HUGE fan of Old-Time radio shows! ;-)

6:56 AM  
Blogger Sandalstraps said...

Crystal,

Glad to see audio books are working relatively well for you.

I'vw thought about you a great deal lately, because I've been having some trouble with my vision. Thank God it only affects one eye, and looks like its going to be temporary. For a moment there, I was afraid I was losing my sight.

If, however, this short bout with eye trouble were more serious, it warms my heart to know how well you - who love reading at least as much as I do - are doing.

9:31 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Cura,

I do like old radio shows, though I've only heard a few of them on tv :-) I'll check out the links. I have a dial-up connection, but it will probably be ok. Thanks!

11:04 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi Chris,

I hope your eye gye gets better soon - you've had enough health concerns already with the asthma, etc. Thanks for the kind words :-)

11:08 AM  
Blogger Sandalstraps said...

Crystal,

All the health concerns appear to be related, so, all told I'm not that bad off. The eye problem turned out, like the asthma, to be an allergic reaction to something. It hasn't exactly cleared up, but when I went to the doctor yesterday he told me that he could see about a 10% improvement. So I'm on the mend.

6:45 AM  
Blogger Susan said...

Hi Crystal! I love audio books, as you know. I used to buy them used on eBay and then sell them back again, but that got tiresome. So I've been getting them from the library, like you.

Recently I learned I can download audio books for free through our state library system. I wouldn't be surprised if this is available to you, too. I bought a 1GB MP3 player for $39.99 (Circuit City), which holds more than one book. Or books and music. Or a book and some podcasts. :-) I'm really enjoying this. I can choose from 1,600 books online, but I still use the library sometimes for books that aren't on the online list.

I absolutely don't blame you for not wanting to live in that facility. Especially when you were just diagnosed. I can't imagine agreeing to that.

7:02 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Chris - I'm glad there's some improvement. Prayers :-)

11:01 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Susan,

I didn't know there were MP3 players for so cheap - thought they were all hundreds of dollars like ipods.

You can download books from the state library? I'll have to see if we have the same service here. The library here doesn't have many audio books in the system, so it would be great if some were downloadable online - thanks :-)

11:05 AM  
Blogger Susan said...

The funny thing is, iPods won't work with library downloads, at least not here. The library gave me a list of brands that were compatible with the system. I bought a SanDisk. Love it! I'm really enchanted with the whole process.

PS: I answered you in my Grasshopper thread at Rondel's.

8:08 PM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi Susan ... I'll hop over to the coffeehouse :-)

12:58 AM  
Blogger cowboyangel said...

Crystal,

I know Sacramento Public has downloadable audiobooks. Both the LA and San Fran Public Libraries do, too. California residents can get a library card from both systems - though you might have to do that in person. Their websites have a lot of audiobooks.

LA Pub Lib

San Fran Pub Lib

8:07 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Will,

thanks for looking that stuff up for me. I went back to the library page for Sac and did find the mp3 books. But I just realized something - if my aged computer has trouble downloading even songs that last just minutes, won't downloading a whole book probably kill it?

1:33 PM  

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