Cover Photo: Tallulah Pomeroy
Tallulah Pomeroy

Cancer Vs. Blindness

Blindness can be a pain in the ass, and infantilizing, even depressing sometimes, but it is not cancer.

This is A Blind Writer’s Notebook, a monthly column by M. Leona Godin about her experiences as a writer and the monolithic trope of blindness.

You’d think worries about cancer would be your number one preoccupation when you visit the radiologist for a biopsy on your boob, but if you’re blind, not so much. Last August, I had my first mammogram, my first abnormality, my first biopsy, my first cancer scare. The radiology appointments came in quick succession and each time, the receptionist refused to talk to me directly. Each time, he said to my partner Alabaster, “What’s her name?”

Eye and Brain.

settings,general,accessibility,

New York Times

Touching the Rock,

M. Leona Godin is a writer, actor, artist, and educator who is blind.

She is currently working on Seeing & Not-Seeing: A Personal and

Cultural History of Blindness with Pantheon Books. Godin founded

Aromatica Poetica as a venue for exploring the arts and sciences of

smell and taste, an online magazine not specifically for, but

welcoming to, blind readers and writers. She is proud to be a 2019

Logan Nonfiction Fellow.