October 4, 2020 - 16:17
The author brings up the idea that most blind stories adhere to a linear storyline where blindness is seen as the conflict that needs to be conquered. If these narratives are the norm, then this most likely facilitates the creation of supercrips. It sets up a standard of success in which blind people feel pressured to fulfill out of fear of being seen as inadequate in society. What's particularly interesting in this novel is Kleege's own relationship with supercripping, and how it extends to her relationship with her father and her personal aspirations. During her childhood, Kleege explicitly avoided asking for help and mentioning her developing blindness because of her father's disdain for his mother's blindness. In a sense, she was supercripping herself by minimizing her disability and presenting as sighted in order to reach the standard of success her father implicitly enacted. Later in life, she breaks free from her father's standards by pursuing her passion of writing for the sole reason that it's something she enjoys. Despite the fact that she grew up completely engulfed in art and that her father consistently encouraged it, Kleege found her own standard of success and began to pursue it for herself.