Vision
A Memoir of Blindness and Justice
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4.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The "moving, thoughtful, and inspiring memoir" (Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy) by one of America’s most accomplished public servants and legal thinkers—who spent years denying and working around his blindness, before finally embracing it as an essential part of his identity.
David Tatel has served nearly 30 years on America’s second highest court, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where many of our most crucial cases are resolved—or teed up for the Supreme Court. He has championed equal justice for his entire adult life; decided landmark environmental and voting cases; and embodied the ideal of what a great judge should be. Yet he has been blind for the past 50 of his 80-plus years.
Initially, he depended upon aides to read texts to him, and more recently, a suite of hi-tech solutions has allowed him to listen to reams of documents at high speeds. At first, he tried to hide his deteriorating vision, and for years, he denied that it had any impact on his career. Only recently, partly thanks to his first-ever guide dog, Vixen, has he come to fully accept his blindness and the role it's played in his personal and professional lives. His story of fighting for justice over many decades, with and without eyesight, is an inspiration to us all.
"This memoir of a judge of the country’s second highest court, who has been without sight for decades, goes down like a cool drink on a hot day." —Scott Turow, #1 bestselling author of Suspect
“Deeply moving and packed with wisdom.” —Frank Bruni, New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tatel shares in this inspiring debut how he navigated a flourishing legal career while living with the genetic condition that cost him his sight. Born in 1942 in Washington, D.C., Tatel noticed his vision starting to decline as he approached adolescence. In 1958, he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, which causes the retina to break down over time. Shortly before Tatel was diagnosed, his father died of a brain tumor, leaving Tatel in the care of his emotionally distant mother, who urged him to "live a normal life" despite his diagnosis. He followed suit by graduating from law school at the University of Chicago, helping found the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, landing a position in Jimmy Carter's administration, and being appointed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton in 1994. Along the way, Tatel struggled to come to terms with his declining vision, and hid his diagnosis from friends and colleagues. With encouragement from his wife, Edie, however, Tatel grew to accept his condition, accepting help first from a guide dog and then from emerging digital technologies. Throughout, Tatel's humility and tenacity shine. The result is a stirring reflection on an extraordinary life.
