Being Seen

One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism

By: Elsa Sjunneson

Narrated by: Elsa Sjunneson

A deafblind writer and professor explores how the misrepresentation of disability in books, movies, and TV harms both the disabled community and everyone else.

As a deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness—much to the confusion of the world around her. While she cannot see well enough to operate without a guide dog or cane, she can see enough to know when someone is reacting to the visible signs of her blindness and can hear when they’re whispering behind her back. And she certainly knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be.

As a media studies professor, she’s also seen the full range of blind and deaf portrayals on film, and here she deconstructs their impact, following common tropes through horror, romance, and everything in between. Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history of the deafblind experience, Being Seen explores how our cultural concept of disability is more myth than fact, and the damage it does to us all.

©2021 Elsa Sjunneson. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Fascinating and important!

This autobiography is not only an important story that everyone should read, but it is also engaging and exciting.
Disabled people develop extraordinary resilience and adaptability skills that bring tremendous value to society when people can overcome their fears of a disabled body and open themselves to learning about them.

As a deaf person with a rare disease, this book helped me see and contend with my internalised ableism which is an ongoing battle. Living in an ableist world with disabilities is exhausting and sometimes terrifying. It's great to hear another voice clearly articulate all of the issues at hand.
Thank you, Elsa Sjuneson!

The story of my life

I found myself in so many part of this book.. the good, the bad and in between.
Thank you for this amazing book!
I cant wait for more books!

Did not resonate with me

I wanted and tried wholeheartedly to LOVE this book the whole time, but unfortunately I just cannot say that it resonated with me. I can’t quite pinpoint the exact reasons, there were some things that she says blind people do not do that I know the members of my family who are blind do in-fact do, I think that’s a generational thing. There were things she explains away that my disabled students believe are way bigger deals, and she is definitely entitled to her own opinions and obviously her life experiences have shaped those things. I personally believe this book is less about disability and ableism and more about LGBTQIA and how those beliefs and upbringing affected the author as a disabled woman. I wouldn’t say to not read it, but it definitely was not my favorite.

To Open Your Eyes, Read This Book

As a blind person myself, I absolutely loved this book. While listening to it, I almost constantly felt like reacting to it in the same way one might react to a tweet they agreed with. By that I mean my reaction to nearly every sentence was "Yes! This!" Being Seen is a harsh, real, necessary confrontation as well as being a memoir. Everyone should read this book, disabled or not, because to be honest, we all have a lot to learn. I know I did.

Great book!

This book is tightly written and interesting from start to finish. It encourages all of us to examine our preconceptions about disability, and Elsa reads this with warmth and passion so it feels like listening to a friend. Highly recommended!

A Must-Listen

Illuminating, infuriating, illusion-breaking and essential. As read by the author, full of wry honesty.

So true

I loved this book! It brought up so many ableist points that go unheard. For instance most employers need employees with drivers licences, public transportation is not a priority, elevators are not maintained, sometimes handicapped parking is not at good locations, TV is not real life and we are easily “blocked” from attending/denied services. Don’t get me started at the cost of technology specifically for the disabled. This book is awesome!