The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The title “Artificial Divide” is at the top in large, white print. A white seeing eye cane cuts directly across the cover, from the upper right to lower left corner, replace the last “I” in both words. Directly below the title,on the left side of the cane, are the names of the editors in smaller, white writing. Right of the cane, in the lower right corner, a pair of glasses can be seen. Directly below the glasses is a list of authors who contributed to the anthology. /end]

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Content Warning:

• Rape
• Sexual Assault
• Suicidal Ideation
• Offensive jokes (religion)
• Racism
• Fatphobia
• Ableism
• Internalised ableism
• Bullying
• Parental abandonment
• Workplace Discrimination
• Racism
• Grief
• Depression
• New Diagnosis

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Summary:

Step into a world of rogue screen readers, Braille in fantasy worlds, a friend meeting an acquaintance after several years, and more.
This #OwnVoices anthology features fiction by Blind and visually impaired authors showing readers how they thrive, hurt, get revenge, outsmart bullies, or go on epic adventures. Artificial Divide is an own-voices story collection that captures the many layers of Blindness and, for once, puts visually impaired protagonists in the driver’s seat, letting us glimpse their lives.
When we think about it, we’re not really divided.

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Notes:

This is an “Own Voices” anthology. Kingett and Lacey collected short stories about blind and visually impaired characters, by blind and visually impaired authors, that span multiple genres, settings and scenarios.

Authors involved in the project:

• Eunice Cooper-Matchett
• Anita Haas
• Rebecca Blaevoet
• Tessa Soderberg
• Laurice Alice Eakes
• Melissa Yuan-Innes
• Jamieson Wolf
• Ben Fulton
• Felix Imonti
• Niki White
• M. Leona Godin

You can find other information on Kingett’s website here.

You can find M. Leona Godin’s entry, “Inspiration Porn Star”, here.

There is an audiobook for this book.

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Archivist Comments:

This was the hardest entry so far, but I’m pretty proud of it. I’ve scraped a bunch of information together, and I tried to find a decent list of content warnings but it was difficult. I am certain I have missed quite a few so please be aware of that. However, I think each story (or at least some of them) comes with a content warning anyway.

I’ve read a couple of responses to this book. One was pretty jaded, but I got a lot of information from it. The main thing they talked about was the fact that they felt the stories were a bit anti-climactic, but, again, take it with a pinch of salt.

I think the story by Jamieson Wolf, “The Blood Trees”, is based on his experiences with multiple sclerosis, the fact it sometimes causes temporary blindness, and his experience with getting diagnosed.

I’ve tagged it “Adult” because at least one of the stories I’ve seen has that rating. I’m unsure on the others.

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