Excerpt

David Bradford is a 28-year-old freelance writer who is gradually losing his sight as a result of the genetic condition retinitis pigmentosa. He was recently approached by Channel 4 about the prospect of making a television documentary on the subject of his sight loss. In weighing up this proposition, David sought the opinion of the blind academic, John Hull. This is a transcript of the emails between David and John, in which they discuss the difficulties of dealing with blindness in a visual medium. Specifically, they share their frustration at the documentary maker’s insistence on representing blindness as a condition of deprivation in which the subject is compelled to seek solace from a nostalgic celebration of sight rather than exploring the phenomenology of blindness itself.

Download DOC