Read on Twitter
Paul Hostovsky has a forthcoming poetry book called DEAF & BLIND. I won’t read it. I don’t think there needs to be another book about hearing gawking. A thread—
In the preface, Hostovsky says, “my perspective is necessarily an outsider’s perspective.” Which is…gross. Here’s why—
The entire literary canon, from McCullers to Vapnyar has a history of hearing, sighted people writing about DeafBlind folk. That writing falls in two camps:
They adopt a POV that isn’t theirs, or they choose to stare, obsessively, at Deaf, Blind, or DeafBlind. A lot of times, ableist views come into play. Hostovsky is no different.
In the preface, Hostovsky also writes about being an outsider, “hands clasped in admiration, empathy, praise.” Which, to me, is a form of inspiration porn. We don’t need admiration for just living.
You may ask: why does this book news matter? It matters because that’s money, time, and production spent on a hearing, sighted poet.
That money and time could have gone to a Deaf poet. A Blind poet. A DeafBlind poet. We need those books, written BY us, out there.
We need is for hearing, sighted people to boost our points-of-view, instead of writing their own. Hostovsky has 15 books. FIFTEEN.
Our most renowned DeafBlind poet working today is still shopping around his manuscript, despite being published in places like the fucking Paris Review.
Anyway—all this to say, please don’t read D&B. Read John Lee Clark. Read Elsa Sjunneson. Read Raymond Antrobus. Read Meg Day. Give THEM your money.
Support Deaf artists. Support Blind artists. Support DeafBlind artists. Our points-of-view should be prioritized over hearing gawking, and the literary industry needs to know that.
Er, I mean “hearing, sighted abled gawking.” Sorry, was tweeting in a firestorm of emotion. 
Also, for the love of fuck, someone show Hostovsky my Electric Literature essay: https://electricliterature.com/writing-fantasy-lets-me-show-the-whole-truth-of-disability/
