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They're People Too
Jan. 9th, 2013 07:59 amWhen you're blind, you tend to listen to a lot of talking books. Talking books are books which have been read onto record, tape, CD, or some other digital format, either by volunteers or by paid staffmembers of organizations. In the sighted world, they're simply known as recorded books, audiobooks, or (formerly) books on tape.
I've seen a lot of public tweets, e-mails on lists, blog entries, and so on, where listeners to talking books can get quite critical of certain readers. I've done this too, regrettably. Sometimes this criticism will take on a lot more vehemence: I can't stand such-and-such, such-and-such has a lousy voice, or even I hate so-and-so.
I think this is all part of the sense of entitlement that tends to enslave some of us. We want our books read professionally, we're entitled to have our books read professionally, so, by extension, we're entitled to make cruel, almost libelous statements about the human beings, yes, the human beings, behind the microphone.
I remember once instance where I was reading a mailing list for people testing a new book reader. Some of the voice prompts on this reader were made by human, rather than synthetic, speech, using the organizations narrators. I kept reading things like, "Anyone but her, I hate her voice, she's awful". It's entirely possible that she was herself reading these e-mails.
It seems that we sometimes forget, in our own selfish need to be opinionative, that the people we're talking about, often very publicly, are human beings with feelings, sensitivity, and quite often, a desire to help and to make a difference. To treat these people this way is, in my view, inexcusable, hurtful, and wrong. And yes, I'm speaing to myself here too.
Yes, I do believe that blind people are entitled to quality, professionally-produced books, and lots of them. But the people who do the work are also entitled to the dignity, respect and proper treatment to which every human being on the planet is entitled. To focus on our own entitlement without respecting the entitlement of others is unacceptable and shameful. Dignity is owed to everyone by everyone.
I've seen a lot of public tweets, e-mails on lists, blog entries, and so on, where listeners to talking books can get quite critical of certain readers. I've done this too, regrettably. Sometimes this criticism will take on a lot more vehemence: I can't stand such-and-such, such-and-such has a lousy voice, or even I hate so-and-so.
I think this is all part of the sense of entitlement that tends to enslave some of us. We want our books read professionally, we're entitled to have our books read professionally, so, by extension, we're entitled to make cruel, almost libelous statements about the human beings, yes, the human beings, behind the microphone.
I remember once instance where I was reading a mailing list for people testing a new book reader. Some of the voice prompts on this reader were made by human, rather than synthetic, speech, using the organizations narrators. I kept reading things like, "Anyone but her, I hate her voice, she's awful". It's entirely possible that she was herself reading these e-mails.
It seems that we sometimes forget, in our own selfish need to be opinionative, that the people we're talking about, often very publicly, are human beings with feelings, sensitivity, and quite often, a desire to help and to make a difference. To treat these people this way is, in my view, inexcusable, hurtful, and wrong. And yes, I'm speaing to myself here too.
Yes, I do believe that blind people are entitled to quality, professionally-produced books, and lots of them. But the people who do the work are also entitled to the dignity, respect and proper treatment to which every human being on the planet is entitled. To focus on our own entitlement without respecting the entitlement of others is unacceptable and shameful. Dignity is owed to everyone by everyone.
