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About the Author

Photo of author and Teela in front of wooden gate

Susan Krieger, a sociologist and writer, teaches in the Program in Feminist Studies at Stanford University. Her previous books are Things No Longer There: A Memoir of Losing Sight and Finding Vision (2005), The Family Silver: Essays on Relationships among Women (1996), Social Science and the Self: Personal Essays on an Art Form (1991), The Mirror Dance: Identity in a Women's Community (1983), and Hip Capitalism (1979).

Interviews with the Author

Listen to a radio interview with Susan Krieger: Tech Nation interview, IT Conversations (May 4, 2010), Forum interview, KQED-FM  (May 14, 2010), North Bay Report, KRCB-FM (May 13, 2010), To the Best of Our Knowledge, WPR (February 6, 2011).

Listen to a Commonwealth Club talk & discussion (February 15, 2011).

Watch a television interview on YouTube: Bay Area Focus, KBCW-TV (January 9, 2011).

Listen to the author discuss How I Write, Stanford University (April 25, 2012)


From the Author

Traveling Blind: Adventures in Vision with a Guide Dog by My Side is a book about a special time in my life–when I first received my guide dog Teela and traveled to the Southwest desert and on city streets discovering the world anew. My partner, Estelle Freedman, whom I call “Hannah” in the book, shared my adventures and this exciting time, exploring not only the intriguing landscapes we visited, but also the issues of vision and interdependence that my failing sight raised for us both. Like me, Estelle was delighted and grateful to have Teela with us as we added new possibilities to our life together, becoming a threesome, learning how to cross streets and to navigate darkness and light, developing new responses to our needs.

The lessons of “traveling blind” are many, quite a few of them represented in this book, and none more important than the sharing of the travel–of the search for a mountain in a vast desert plain, my attempts to see luminarias in the dark of night, or the challenges of navigating through busy airports with poor vision and a large golden dog. With this book, I share the path with the reader, with all those whose lives require new vision–new ways of integrating sight, sound, mind and feeling.

Photo of partner Estelle Freedman with Susan and Teela

Photographs and Audio

The photographs that decorate the pages of this website for Traveling Blind represent some scenes from the book. I have attached detailed image tags to each photo so that blind readers can know what is shown. These pictures were taken by Estelle or by me as I sought with my camera to bring home pieces of the landscape I could often barely see with my unaided eyes. I sought repeatedly to magnify what was before me either with my binoculars or with the telephoto lens of my camera, trying to bring the invisible into sight. Sometimes I met with success, sometimes with failure, but always I wished to know what was there, even if, as often was so, Estelle had to describe it to me, or Teela to lead me around it.

Estelle Freedman has written a song about our travels in southern New Mexico, as affected by my loss of eyesight, that the reader may also enjoy. Please listen to “Desert Images.”

An audiobook of Traveling Blind in mp3 format is now available for general listening. To obtain a copy, please contact the author. Audio versions of several of the chapters are included on this website and used by permission. I am indebted to the work of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and to the excellent reading by voice professional Ann Richardson. I hope readers will enjoy Traveling Blind in one or more formats–print, audio, Braille, or synthesized voice. For further details, visit accessible versions.

Further Author Information

Photo of Hachita roadside scene with signs saying “Gas” and “Home Cooking”

My previous book Things No Longer There: A Memoir of Losing Sight and Finding Vision (University of Wisconsin Press, 2005) contains background on my initial loss of sight as well as stories of earlier adventures.

My other publications and professional background are detailed in a brief professional C.V. for Susan Krieger.

Read a syllabus from my Women and Disabilities course suggesting further references: Seminar in Women’s Health: Women and Disabilities, Stanford University.


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