Customer Reviews

Traveling Blind: Adventures in Vision with a Guide Dog by My Side (New Directions in the Human-Animal Bond)

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Imagine that instead of seeing cherished, vivid sunset views, that now you see only fuzzy light toward the western sky that could disappear if you turn your head slightly. If you were to lose your freedom of independent movement, would you venture out at all to shop for groceries, knowing the event would make you a public spectacle? I imagine I would feel a sense of loss, grief, frustration and fear if my world were devoid of the visual stimuli to which I have been accustomed. Traveling Blind, written by Susan Krieger, gives a personal account as she travels with her partner and guide dog throughout the American Southwest. The bigger picture is the story of her journey as she loses her sight and learns to navigate independently in spite of a degenerative disease.

Susan's narrative warrants an audience because she shares her reflections as her vision deteriorates and she gains new insights into her life coping with a disability that threatens to limit her independence and change her identity. She reexamines her self-identity because of the constant intrusion of strangers' perceptions of her "invisible disability." Legally blind, Susan is preoccupied with what she can still see in front of her face. Using telescopic lenses or magnifying glass, she relies on the limited sensory input she retains. She doesn't fit a stereotype. Her vision is impaired, not totally absent. Hers is a keen paradox; she still can see some things, sometimes. She is faced with the conundrum of not wanting to draw attention to her difference, but her guide dog and her queries to strangers when she needs help attract great interest and often unwanted attention. The author is courageous to share her fears and shifting reality.

The account of her journey en route to the Big Hachet Mountains, though offering a detailed visual description of the desert southwest, did not engage me as much as later chapters. I felt I was on a tedious road trip, destined to join the trio at each rest stop, visit the bathroom and check in to each hotel. Then it occurred to me that in her world of shrinking vision, her focus tended toward close-up details.

Because a major theme of the book is how the public behaved towards her and her dog, this book is educational for a general audience on how to behave in the presence of service dogs of any kind. The dogs are working. The person with a service dog, whether you can see the disability or not, is simply trying to navigate independently through life. Sadly in this instance, Susan's loss of vision equates with loss of privacy because of her choice in using a guide dog. Strangers constantly remark, approach and reproach her as she exercises her independence.

Admirably, the author speaks up for people with "invisible disabilities." Also her message conveys that a service dog is not a pet, nor a robot that is programmed to work. The symbiosis of handler and dog is an intricate dance, requiring the dog handler to focus on the needs of the dog and her own needs simultaneously. Even with a guide dog, the author struggles to get around by herself. I look forward to the day that the public understands that assistance dogs are doing their jobs, and that interference only makes personal freedom harder to come by for people with disabilities.

Her inclusion of a literature review at the end of the book is a valuable resource on the topic of women and disabilities.

by Martha Meacham

for Story Circle Book Reviews

reviewing books by, for, and about women

When I see a person with a guide dog, I now know I should NOT ask "training that dog?" That is just one of the useful insights I gleaned from this very personal, poignant story of a woman who shares her efforts to come to terms with her decreasing vision, her reliance on her guide dog, and her reliance on her beloved partner "Hannah." We learn something more about how it feels to be the object of curiosity, pity, admiration, disbelief, and not always be able to tell which response we are evoking. She is clear about the importance of awareness, acceptance and kindness from strangers; when she and her partner experience these, life is good. When not, they are creative and persistent in searching for the positive in a challenging situation.

What a gem! I have now read and reread Traveling Blind and I am enormously impressed by author Susan Krieger's ability to take the reader with her on her journey in a space that is marked by both blindness and sight (she calls it "navigating duality"). The book is highly personal but much more as well - a travelogue of coming to terms with losing vision and at the same time becoming closer to others - including a beautiful guide dog (whose picture is on the cover, also on the web page that goes with the book, [...]There are wonderful pictures of the southwestern landscapes depicted in the book and information on accessible versions as well.) From reading this book I learned a lot about people who move through the world with guide dogs, in airports and on streets and on trails, and how they interact with the sighted world. This book is written from the heart, directly, lyrically. It is not sentimental but it is moving on many levels. One thing that stays with me is the recurrent theme that Krieger does not just lose sight but gains new ways of seeing beauty in the world. I recommend the book for anyone who enjoys a good read, who thinks about ways of seeing, and is or knows someone who is blind or losing sight.