# Audiobooks for the blind **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [April 8, 2022, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audiobooks-for-the-blind/962520 "2022-04-08T14:13:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audiobooks-for-the-blind/962520/21 "2022-04-09T14:48:15Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > This was a plot point of an episode of Seinfeld, where George claimed to be blind in order to get a risk management textbook recorded on tape. Holy crap, I think _that_ is where I heard of it, and not a more authoratative source. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audiobooks-for-the-blind/962520/22 "2022-04-09T15:00:37Z")
For a year or so, back in the '90s, I was a volunteer reader with [Chicagoland Radio Information Service](https://chicagolighthouse.org/radio/), which provided a similar sort of service, but we read newspaper and magazine articles over the air. We’d do a one-or-two hour shift; depending on the time slot, we might be reading articles from the Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, etc. (One of my fellow volunteers told me that he loved working the time slot where they would read the comics section; he’d describe the visuals in each strip as well as the dialogue.) At the time, our listeners had to use a special radio to listen to the broadcasts. Today, while those radios still exist, one can also listen online, or through a smartphone app. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audiobooks-for-the-blind/962520/23 "2022-04-09T16:10:17Z")
That link mentions Cecil saying it. I couldn’t find the actual column itself-- It might have gotten lost in some site update or migration. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audiobooks-for-the-blind/962520/24 "2022-04-09T16:21:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@digs](#): > > > > Speaking from my limited experience (the times I’ve borrowed a neighbor’s dog, painted a cane, and stumbled into a New Releases display or two), the librarians are trained to stick their tongues out and wiggle their ears. I had to train myself not to giggle. > > So jokes aside, the program is administered through libraries? I guess I was thinking it worked off the internet. Seems kind of unfair to require blind people to have to travel somewhere to have access to a service like this. Yes, the program is administered through libraries and not the internet for the simple reason that it predates the internet by decades. ([Wikipedia says](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_for_the_Blind) the Books for the Blind program started in 1931, first with books in Braille and shortly thereafter audio books.) And my guess is the books could be provided via the postal service so no travel is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audiobooks-for-the-blind/962520/25 "2022-04-09T16:22:35Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > This is what I had … years and years ago: > > [Talking Books Cassette Player: Maine State Library Outreach](https://www.maine.gov/msl/outreach/lbph/talkingbooks/player.htm) > > You had to be certified as visually impaired (or blind) by a physician. This is what my mother had as well. The [NLS is the federal service](https://www.loc.gov/nls/) that provides these things at no cost to the user. My mom had her account set up so that once she returned a set of tapes, new ones would be mailed to her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audiobooks-for-the-blind/962520.md?page=1)