Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

From Homer to Helen Keller, from Dune to Stevie Wonder, from the invention of Braille to the science of echolocation. What is the common thread between them? In this stunningly personal and informative presentation, writer and educator M. Leona Godin explored the fascinating history of blindness, interweaving it with her own story of gradually losing her sight. In conversation with blind author and illustrator Keith Rosson, and based on her book There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness, Godin probed the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what it means to be “blind.” They explored the history of blindness being used to signify such things as thoughtlessness, irrationality, and unconsciousness, while at the same time blind people have been othered as the recipients of special powers as compensation for lost sight. With insight from her own life as a person who began losing her vision at age 10, Godin illuminated the often