"Blind reading" vs "anonymous reading," from a blind SF editor

[jesse_the_k]

Elsa Sjunneson-Henry is the Managing Editor of Fireside Fiction, a literary magazine which publishes a variety of things, lots of which are SF.

Her essay on the task, and the metaphor, of "blind reading," does a great job explaining why the phrase "blind reading" is unhelpful

http://firesidefiction.com/blind-reading

Here's a taste:

begin quote
Within an industry such as this where words are our trade and pens our weapons of choice, I ride into battle against the language of ableism on an almost daily basis.

Fireside has had several submissions periods so far this year, and I’m the blind assistant editor administering something the business has a name for: blind reading.

Except the only person who’s reading blind is me.

Everyone else is anonymously reading submissions.

If you think this shift in language doesn’t matter, let’s consider some other examples.

Blind to information.

Blind to the truth.

Blind to their pain.

Blind to the names of the writers.quote ends

Comments

[sasha_feather]

*thumbs up*

[jazzyjj]

Thanks for posting this. I'd say this editor is right on. I had not heard nor read the phrase "blind reading" prior to reading this piece, but I find it very unhelpful and a bit misleading as well. For instance my brother and I--who are both blind--would often take Braille books or magazines with us to bed at night growing up and be reading them. I'm tweeting this out later today for my job.