Books for the Blind, Not a Liberal or Conservative Issue

One week ago we at Planet of the Blind wrote a post decrying New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s budget plan calling for the elimination of the Garden State’s lending library for the blind. The so called “Talking Book” program (which is directed and administered by the United States Library of Congress) has been recording and distributing books for the blind since the great depression and they have done so with remarkable professionalism and devotion. Recorded books for blind and physically disabled readers are not your average commercial audio books. They are recorded and developed in ways that allow blind readers to access the same books you might read in your public library and in effect this service makes it possible for borrowers to read far more printed material than one might find in the audio books section of your local Barnes and Noble. Talking Books represent the nation’s library, and in a very real sense they represent our nation’s conscience.

Yet it was inevitable that we would receive a vituperative comment from a reader who identified himself as being conservative (for so we must presume given his disdain for “liberals” who, he argued, support government waste.)

I have been scratching my head ever since I received the comment below because for the life of me I can’t follow the line of thinking that supposes that books for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens (war vets, the elderly, disabled kids) represent a “liberal” agenda. Here is what the commenter wrote (his original mistakes included:

I guess if you say talking books mean so much to the blind i will go along with it and it sounds like a wonderful thing, but how in the hell did it become government’s responsibility to provide such things. This should in no way be part of the government’s duties. Mainly because by the time the government pays what it costs for salaries, health care & pensions for the people who would have to staff the program you could probably build a library the size of the clinton library and massage parlor of talking books. These sorts of programs should be left to charities or these people’s family and friends. I know if i had a family member or friend who needed such things i would be more than happy to help out. I am sure the cost to a friend, family member or charity would be a lot cheaper and more properly run than some government bureaucracy. That is the problem with you liberals, you want government to be the provider of things that should be provided by oneself.

Books for the blind are not expensive, nor does the provision of state-wide library services cost much money. But leaving aside the nickel and dime arguments, who in his or her right mind would propose that our national identity, nay, our very “ethos” is not built upon the idea that all should have an education? Perhaps I can put this in personal terms. I’m a blind college professor. I make a six figure salary. My books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. I pay taxes. I spend my money widely. I am paying for my step kids educations. I bought each of them an automobile. I will simply point out that these things were made possible in no small part by the Talking Books program which has allowed me to have a place at the table of my culture. The commenter assumes that some kind of charity or community based citizens group can provide books for people with disabilities. Fair enough. But I’ve got news for my correspondent: our nations charities are in bad shape and many of them are failing. Programs and services for the blind are overrun and the numbers of blind and visually impaired people in this country are growing at alarming rates. This is because we are fighting two wars and yes, America’s population is aging fast. My dear correspondent, would you like to rely on a neighborhood group or a charity to provide you with the means to literacy? My God! We give school kids a hot lunch when their families are too poor to feed them. Such values are neither liberal or conservative. They are American values and they are what my dad fought to preserve when he went to war in the Pacific.

I have long been a fan of William Bennett’s volume The Book of Virtues. Who says I’m an ivory tower poet? 

The man who misses all the fun
Is he who says, “It can’t be done.”
In solemn pride he stands aloof
And greets each venture with reproof.
Had he the power he’d efface
The history of the human race;
We’d have no radio or motor cars,
No streets lit by electric stars;
No telegraph nor telephone,
We’d linger in the age of stone.
The world would sleep if things were run
By men who say, “It can’t be done.”

S.K.

Author: stevekuusisto

Poet, Essayist, Blogger, Journalist, Memoirist, Disability Rights Advocate, Public Speaker, Professor, Syracuse University View all posts by stevekuusisto