Thought Wheel

Ann Chiappetta

Annie Shares News V2 # 7.5 Lotsa Stuf 🛒

| Filed under blindness blogging Fiction writing

Annie Shares News Volume 2 Issue 7.5 July/August 2022

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www.annchiappetta.com

 

Hello Readers and followers, a blessed and belated Independence Day to everyone.  🎆 🎇 🧨

I wanted to get this out before we break for a vacation. I’ll share our adventures upon our return. Even the cats are coming with us, so it should be interesting.

 

The ever-expanding tribe of writers and readers means so much to me and I want to share a bit about them in each newsletter moving forward.

 

I had a great time being a guest blogger for a June Word Crafter blog tour for Hope For the Tarnished. It was a fun five days of getting to know the host bloggers and exposing my novel to new readers. To find out more about Kay Lynne’s newsletter, book blog tours and her excellent blog, Writing To Be Read, go here.

Leon Stevens writes: Looking for my first review for my second poetry collection. Readers can get a review copy through Story Origin or read on KU (Kindle Unlimited).

 

Receive a free review copy through Story Origin here: Review copy link

Read with Kindle Unlimited: Amazon link

 

 

I caught this great review of my novel, Hope for the Tarnished, from mystery writer and author, Trish Hubschman. Check it out:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1134230

m

☕ 🍵

Ms. Liz and I shared some TEA on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/IsfJTH_wDEc

Please like and share it and follow Miss Liz, she’s the best and she is making a difference one cup of spiritually-infused Tea at a time!

 

Since I’ve been sharing audio clips of my writing, I thought I’d share one of my short stories, Trolley Ride from A String of Stories from the Heart to the Future © 2020 and narrated by Lilian Yves.

 

 

May the summer breeze and warm winds propel your imagination and soothe your spirits!

Dreya the book dragon floating amid books and music notes. She is smiling.

Dreya the book dragon

 

Celebrate July with freedom and Free books 🎇

| Filed under blindness Fiction Guide dogs nonfiction Poem

Celebrate July with freedom and Free books

📕  📖  📘  📙  📗

The 14th Annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale has begun, running now through July 31. Visit my author’s page to order your free eBooks from Smashwords during the Summer sale!

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AnnChiappetta

 All my titles are free, a gift to readers everywhere.

 

Thousands of titles are discounted or free —  so why not go to Smashwords and go shopping for your summer reading collection? Visit the sale at https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos

 

Why Smashwords? Electronic choices, of course. It’s simple and get the book delivered to your inbox.  Transfer it to your favorite book reading app. It’s great, kindle isn’t the only eBook reading app in town. 😉

Words of life book cover

Tranquil photo of stacked stones beside circular pattern in the sand.

 

Listen to  a Tale of Two Species 🐱 🐶 🌌

| Filed under blindness Fiction Writing Life

Those of you who know I am blind might be curious about the assistive technology and software I rely upon to  operate my pc and  mobile devices. This recording will demonstrate what I hear when writing and editing stories and other written correspondence. Since this story  is a mini-space drama  —  I thought why not record it being read by a synthesized voice?  Enjoy!

 

The Print Barrier

| Filed under blindness Relationships

💻  ⌨

The day-in-day-out goings on of electronic correspondence has become part of our lives. It’s a given and expected piece of the daily routine like brewing the morning coffee and checking out the news. We read and reply to email, text messages, manage tasks in calendars, and so on. Some of us still like to immerse themselves in the printed pages. I can still recall the guilty pleasure of pouring over a tabloid while waiting at the grocery store check-out line or writing a letter adding the stamp and dropping it in the mailbox.

 

But this is 2022 not 1982. In the twenty first century we depend on electronic exchanges, it keeps us connected like the newspaper and print magazines used to do.

 

Years ago, when I first begin losing my vision from retinal disease, I learned how to acquire the ability to hear text with artificial speech with a program called JAWS using a computer. I’ve since lost all my vision and have been using devices like a smart phone with voice over and can choose from a dozen accents from US English to South African.  My family tells me I listen to the rapid speech at such a level that it’s hard to understand it. I laugh and think, oh, I take pity on you light-dependent people. I speed-listen like the old   Evelyn Wood speed-reading advertisements on TV.

 

One day last week was an exception. A lapse of reliability, what I think of as “cyber gremlins”, struck and a week later, it still remains a problem. The origin of the barrier isn’t clear but the end result is the same: I cannot access a document Germain to my work. This means I either have to spend up to an hour of troubleshooting or give up and print it so I can scan and read it with another device.  This isn’t the frustrating thing, either – I am fortunate to have a back-up plan. The frustration appeared at the beginning; I could not click on the PDF attachment and read and reply like my peers. Because I am blind, the process of proficiency and fluidity in a task that should only take five minutes, for me, hasn’t even been accomplished.  I experienced this fairly often when I was employed, and it effected my overall productivity.

 

The overheard conversation would go like this: “Well why can’t she read it?”

“something about the document not being sent the way she needs it,”

“Send it again,”

“We did that yesterday, it didn’t help,”

“Maybe she needs more training with her software?”

“She says that’s not the problem, the problem is how the document was formatted,”

“What does she mean by that?”

“I don’t know, something about text and no pictures or something like that,”

“Go back and ask her if we can print it out instead,”

“Okay but you do know she won’t be able to read it,”

“Have someone read it to her, then,”

And so on …

 

Going back to the PDF, I’d like to be the first person to respond and not the last one because I had to undergo assistive technology calisthenics in order to attempt reading it. At times like this, I think I’ve traveled to an alternate reality; having to ask for help and educate the sender of the document is my burden and there isn’t even one glimmer of hope in the vacuum of space.

 

It is a bit unsettling to know the world is set upon a highly visually-driven stage and if you can’t see, it is inevitable one will miss out on what drives the masses.   Sure we have increased the intelligence and proficiency of assistive technology and tools like improvements of computer software and hardware, audio description in the movie theater, streaming services and on major television networks; people with print disabilities have even made a significant contribution in the audio book industry, which is experiencing exponential growth.

, but the reality is it will take many more years, sweat equity and advocacy dollars to mind the accessibility gap for people who are blind and continue closing it. Changing attitudes is slow. People who can see don’t think about people who cannot. It may be, to some, a gross generalization but to someone like me, it’s a reality.

I state all this to sum up the personal experience: I was the only one in a committee who could not respond to a document sent to the group because I could not read it visually. This is why I ranted and now it’s over and I just feel sad, let down and a little guilty I even had to ask for an accommodation in the first place.

I wonder if these folks assume someone like me either couldn’t or worse, wouldn’t be able to manage civic responsibilities and therefore the documents didn’t need to be formatted responsibly?

 

Five years ago I stepped down from a local board of directors because despite asking for accessible documents, I received excuses instead. When I mentioned the ADA and that I felt discriminated against, I was suddenly treated differently and I left because of feeling like the accommodations were somehow a burden to those who had to make them.

I know life isn’t fair, I know we all struggle with issues based upon our lives, health, relationships, and finances or employment status, racial or gender biases, and so on. I would like the accommodation process to be better, to be more fluid, part   of the norm. If you are reding this and would like to build upon your knowledge of accessibility for people with print disabilities, drop a question like, “how do I make a blind-friendly adobe document?” in the search engine of your choice and you will be rewarded with a plethora of resources.  Your efforts won’t cure the world of the ongoing accessibility gaps but it could help someone else be able to access a document and be the first person to respond to a group email and not be left behind.

 

Annie sitting at desk showing laptop and other equipment.

Annie and her office and equipment.

 

 

Annie on Dream Young Arts & Media 🎥🎤

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs writing

Want to check out what I’ve been up to ? Thanks to Dream Young Arts and Media co-founders Nicky and Otis, I shared parts of my life, struggles and successes before and after blindness.

After watching it on YouTube, why not like and share it?

https://youtu.be/ftQOT-6Yc-I

 

More about DYAM:

Dream Young Arts & Media (DYAM) focuses on helping people with disabilities to develop social and fundamental skills. DYAM will support our member’s goals and help them co-exist in their communities through the use of educational and social skills, music, and media creation with our Podcast (@dreamyoungmedia on YouTube).

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Photo of Ann at Harbor Island Park, Mamaroneck, NY West Basin. She is with her  first guide dog, Verona and is smiling.

Photo of Ann at Harbor Island Park, Mamaroneck, NY West Basin. She is with her guide dog, Verona and is smiling.

Benefit Concert for Blind Ukrainians

| Filed under blindness

Hello all-

I am taking part in this fundraising event — supporting a benefit concert for blind Ukrainians during this unstable time in their country. The event is legitimate and  I am asking each of you to share it with your tribe.

My local blindness advocacy group, WCBNY did not even hesitate to agree to donate dollars. If blind folks don’t help other blind folks, what’s the point?

We all shared the same thought: what if this was our Country and we needed help? Every bit counts towards supporting the people who will need it.

 

Please direct your questions to the persons mentioned in the message below, not back to me.

From: https://mushroomfm.com/withyou

 

We’re With U. Blind performing artists’ Virtual Benefit Concert for blind Ukrainians on 16 April

Welcome

On 24 February, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. The death toll is mounting. Families have been torn apart as some seek refuge in other countries, while others stay to fight for their country’s freedom.

One of the consequences of war is that it results in life-changing impairments, including blindness. Another is that war leaves those who are already blind vulnerable and at risk.

The situation has made many of us feel helpless and heartsick. But there are things we can do, ways we can help.

On Saturday 16 April at 2 PM Eastern time in North America, 7 PM in the UK, that’s Sunday morning at 4 AM in Eastern Australia, 6 AM in New Zealand, the global online blind community is joining together for We’re With U, a benefit concert to help blind people who have been affected by the atrocities in Ukraine.

If you’re a blind performing artist, you know that music has power. This is your chance to perform to a worldwide audience while lending a helping hand to those who desperately need your help. If you appreciate great music in a range of styles, this is your chance to listen to some of the best the blind community has to offer, while also donating to support blind Ukrainians.

Every cent raised will reach organisations assisting blind Ukrainians, thanks to our partnership with the World Blind Union’s Unity Fund. World Blind Union is the global organisation representing the estimated 253 million persons who are blind or partially sighted worldwide. They are working actively with organizations in the area who are providing support to Ukraine. With their support, you can be sure that the generous donation you make will go to a project that makes a difference.

We also thank the National Federation of the Blind for their considerable moral, infrastructural and communications support for this project.

The below sections of this page have further information and is being updated regularly.

How can I listen

In the spirit of working together that has been the hallmark of this event, many Internet radio stations and channels in the blind community will broadcast the We’re With U concert. Chances are that if you listen to an Internet radio service of and for the blind community, you will hear the event there. Please check with your favourite station, and encourage them to carry We’re With U if they are not yet signed up to do so.

You can of course hear We’re With U right here on Mushroom FM. Mushroom FM has an accessible online player on this website. It is available in all radio directories including Apple Music. It has its own Alexa skill and Google Home action. You can also tell Siri to Play Mushroom FM.

How long is We’re With U set to run for?

We don’t yet know. Artists have until 8 April at 11:59 PM North American Eastern time to send in a contribution, but what we can say is that it is shaping up to be a showcase of talent that will last for some hours. So, be prepared to settle back with your best speakers, a beverage or two, and a keyboard to type in your credit card number to donate to Ukraine. Consider your kind donation the price of your virtual ticket to this event.

How do I donate?

Throughout the We’re With U concert and a little ahead of the event, we will give you a URL where you can donate securely with all major credit cards. Everything you give goes to blind Ukrainians who need our help.

Is there a social media hashtag?

You bet! It is #BlindWithU. Note that the U is an uppercase U, and not the world Y O U. Since we can’t bring everyone together in a stadium for this event, we encourage you to use the hashtag #BlindWithU during the event, and right now if you want, to discuss the concert.

I really want to donate to this, but I have trouble with credit card forms. Is there some other way?

We are working on the possibility of taking donations via phone and hope to have more to say ahead of the concert.

I want to perform. How do I register my interest?

That’s fantastic! The more the merrier. The event is being produced by Jaffar Sidek Ahmad, who came up with the brilliant idea of the We’re With U event and has seen it expand into the international concert it has become.

You will need to provide Jaffar with a high quality recording of your performance by 11:59 PM North American Eastern time on 8 April. We also ask that you preface your performance with a brief message that introduces yourself and tells us about why supporting blind Ukrainians is important to you.

If you have heard well-remembered past events in this genre, such as Live Aid, you know that happy music is OK, as are cover versions. Our aim is to raise as much money as we can by giving people excellent entertainment, so your contribution neither has to be original nor does it have to have a war theme. The key thing is that we entertain people, encourage them to stick around, and give what they can. So, whether you’ve written an original composition or you’re singing to a backing track, you are welcome to share your talent with the world for this important cause.

Please discuss what you’d like to do, by sending an email to jaffar.

I am part of an Internet radio station/YouTube channel/Other platform that can stream. Can we rebroadcast the event?

We welcome approaches from any partner who would like to carry We’re With U. The event is audio-only, and you will need to be able to relay a stream in MP3 format.

For more information or to express your interest, please contact Jonathan Mosen, who will be the MC for We’re With U, jonathan@MushroomFM.com  . This will also ensure you get important updates relevant to those who are carrying We’re With U.

Copyright © Mushroom FM 2022.

 

Reactions like this are Real

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs Relationships

We walked into the holiday party. I was already anticipating a good time with friends after the imposed bouts of social isolation as a result of Covid.

 

We were greeted and directed to our table by a pleasant staff person. Bailey, my guide dog, was excited to see our good friends and greeted one of them. I pulled out my chair, settled my coat and bag and asked Bailey to lay down under the table when the two women to my right became hysterical upon noticing him.

“I can’t stay here, the dog will eat all my food,” and “That dog is going to bite me,” and “I can’t relax with that dog so close,”.

My heart sunk and I put on the blank face.  The face that tries to hide the disappointment and frustration brought on by ignorance and fear of my guide dog by others.

 

My friend tells them the dog won’t do that, it’s trained. Still they go on and I feel the anxiety build. Will I have to leave? I do my best to ignore them, but one person continued to go on about “that dog, will bite me,” “I can’t stay here with that dog,”, etc.

I grope for my water glass and wait it out.

I don’t want to be here, don’t want to eat, I feel like these people just stole it all from me.  I almost got up to leave, was close to tears but I refused to let them see me cry. I had a right to be there, too, and because I am blind, my guide dog did, too.

 

a person sitting on the other side of our table spoke to the person who was now almost yelling about “that dog,” — and quieted them.   It took me some time to refocus on my meal and my friends. My guide dog curled up for a nap under the table.

The rest of the afternoon was fun thanks to a stranger who knew how to handle another stranger’s fear of dogs.

 

The thing is even though I stayed quiet, I was angry. Being subjected to reactions like this, while infrequent, still happen and still affect me in a powerful way. I felt confused and hurt by their reactions.    I hope they will remember how “that woman with the dog,” kept her cool and shared a meal. I hope they will one day understand how much it cost me personally to shelf the feelings and get past their outburst.

Annie with pink mask and Bailey close up

Ann and Bailey on bench: Both looking straight on

 

 

New Fiction Book Released

| Filed under blindness Fiction Relationships

Hope for the Tarnished is here!

📖   🌻   📕

About the book

 

Young Abbie struggles to cope with the traumatic experiences in her life. Ripped from everything familiar after her parents’ divorce, she is dropped into an unknown neighborhood and is emotionally abandoned by her mentally unstable mother. Abbie is caught up in the cruel nature   of one sister’s addictions and often rescued by her other sister’s sense of familial responsibility and love.

The story takes place in the 1970s, revealing family secrets   and the shift of cultural norms as Abbie leaves her doubts in the past, embracing a bright future.

 

“Well-known in disabled writers’ circles, Chiappetta is that rare novelist who is able to incorporate a character’s disability into her story without making it the focus of her narrative.  She lets her audience realize that a disability, like hair color or a personality quirk, is merely one aspect of a human being, not the person’s defining feature.”

  • Sally Rosenthal, author of Peonies in Winter

 

 

Purchase it now in your choice of hard or soft cover and Kindle eBook

© 2022 Ann Chiappetta

Description of book cover: silhouette of two people standing on a beach watching a brilliant and colorful sunset over the water. Title of book is printed at the top.

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Year in Review

| Filed under blindness nonfiction writing Writing Life

Annie Shares News Issue 2.2 February 2022

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Everything Annie: www.annchiappetta.com

Here’s to palindromes, 2.2.2022! There are ten palindrome dates during 2022 and in 2021 there were twenty-two.  Hm. 💭

 

I wasn’t going to do it, wasn’t going to give into the year-in-review, fan the rolodex of personal and literary accomplishments and ego-boosting feats and phantasms claiming it is imperative for others to read it and feign being impressed. What can I say? I gave in like a cheap pair of dollar store flip-flops.

 

Here’s a year in review. I’ll attempt to complete it in quarters and leave the unmentionables unmentioned.

  1. Two of my books on Audible.com.
  2. Narrating part of the book, Words of Life: Poems and Essays. Gads of winks to Lilly and Graydon for encouraging me to even do it.
  3. Completing my YA novel, Hope for the Tarnished and getting it to my editor, Leonore.
  4. Submitting to more journals and article writing opportunities in paying markets to benefit my craft and visibility in the writing community.
  5. Collaborating and developing two podcasts.
  6. Being a guest on two international podcasts to promote my books.
  7. Posting a monthly newsletter and making it a routine.
  8. Stepping back from stressful volunteer responsibilities and healing my overstressed mind, body and spirit.
  9. Joining a private weekly poetry writing and critique group that I adore.
  10. Embracing my talents in both the physical, creative, and metaphysical places and forms.
  11. Accepting the aging process and working with what I’ve been given.

I am sure I could go on to number over twenty items but won’t belabor it, folks. I am good and find the place where I am now one of wonder, learning, and balanced with stubbornness necessary to push through the challenges.

Peace and health for you, friends. I value the connections and the free exchange of support and care we’ve shared over the past year and hope we continue the connections into the future.

Dreya the book dragon wants to wish you all well and continued flights of creativity to come your way.

 

 

1Red and green dragon floating amid books and musical notes. She is smiling and Ann’s  name and the words “Making meaningful connections with others through writing” is to the right of the dragon.

 

 

 

 

 

Smashing prices, not Pumpkins

| Filed under blindness Fiction Guide dogs nonfiction paranormal Poem writing

📚 You won’t want to miss out on these discounts

All my titles are on sale until January 1, 2022. Save 50% at the Smashwords year-end sale.

Or visit my author’s page to find out more and read a preview:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AnnChiappetta

 

Why Smashwords? Electronic choices, of course. Simple and get the book delivered to your inbox.  Transfer it to your favorite book reading app. It’s great, kindle isn’t the only eBook reading app in town. 😉