I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has written me over the past year. My grandma had been my primary audience for these books, and after she passed I wasn’t sure if other people would be interested. The response from readers, and the friends and family who help these books find their way to low vision readers has been really heartwarming.
It is not easy for anyone to step outside themselves and imagine another person’s experience. I am inspired by the friends and family who take an interest in the lives of those around them. Sometimes being a friend can mean researching, advocating or helping someone navigate a complex system, but it always starts with that basic act of imagination. If it was easy for us to set our own experiences aside and imagine the details of another’s daily challenges we’d do it all the time. It can be a difficult, uncomfortable, and sometimes scary act, but it causes positive change in the world with surprising regularity. (And it just happens to be a muscle that is strengthened by reading literature.)
So thank you to the friends, family and caregivers who have helped these books find their readers. Hearing from all of you has exposed me to the nourishing presence of this invisible web of care which everyone is a part of. And thank you to the readers who have made lots of good requests for future titles. Please keep them coming. And keep on reading!
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