Rosemary Mahoney tells the story of Braille Without Borders, the first school for the blind in Tibet, and of Sabriye Tenberken, the remarkable blind woman who founded the school. Fascinated and impressed by what she learned from the blind children of Tibet, Mahoney was moved to investigate further the cultural history of blindness. As part of her research, she spent three months teaching at Tenberken's international training center for blind adults in Kerala, India, an experience that reveals both the shocking oppression endured by the world's blind, as well as their great resilience, integrity, ingenuity, and strength. By living among the blind, Mahoney enables us to see them in fascinating close up, revealing their particular "quality of ease that seems to broadcast a fundamental connection to the world.

A remarkable look at the lives of those who are blind. The author worked in several schools for blind and spent a lot of time with them with a great appreciation for their world. Very helpful and encouraging book. "It seemed to me that they knew the city every bit as well as its sighted residents, and I was beginning to wonder whether I too couldn't benefit from knowing my environment from this different perspective." "For most of the blind people I knew, there were sadnesses and tragedies far more painful than the failure of their eyes. For most of them, their blindness was not psychologically, or even practically, their greatest hardship. They were frustrated and disappointed at having been marginalized, scorned, and treated with disrespect because of their blindness. They had chosen to devote their lives to changing that and similar discriminations, to battling ignorance and the hatreds that arise from it."

At the start of For the Benefit of Those Who See, Rosemary Mahoney explores the work of Braille Without Borders, an international organization focused on teaching Braille to learners with blindness in developing countries. After visiting one of the group's founding schools in Tibet, Mahoney is determined to learn more and commits to spending three months teaching English at a Braille Without Borders' adult school in India.

Both in and out of the classroom, Mahoney is regularly surprised by the ways her students are able to adapt in order to thrive in the world around them. Their senses of hearing and smell work overtime, allowing them to recognize their teacher by the speed of her typing on a keyboard or the smell of her beer glass from across the room. Soon, Mahoney comes to appreciate the patience and fearlessness within each of her students, as she begins to question her own.

Between Mahoney's experiences with her students, she recounts a history of the study and social treatment of people with blindness throughout the world. While these sections are filled with wonderful information that often parallels the stories from Mahoney's classroom, as complete chapters removed from the central pulse of the book they feel slightly off. Still, For the Benefit of Those Who See is both a fascinating look into the world of the blind and a reminder of the strength of human spirit.
- See more at: http://www.rivercityreading.com ( )

I almost gave up on this about 2/3rds of the way in just because the author's constant, condescending amazement ("Blind people knew I was in the room! By my smell! Like the can adapt to blindness!") grew wearisome. However, the last bit of the book, when she is teaching English in a school for blind adults focused on social change, redeemed it a bit. Once she stops filtering everything through her condescension, the amazing stories of these blind people, mostly from developing countries with severe prejudice against the blind, really come through. ( )

I had no idea how life was to be blind, and after reading this book, I have a new awareness of what to do and not to do. I am a helper type, and would jump in to help a blind person. Don't do it, I have learned, as they have their world in their head, and anything I do to help only gets in their way. this is a marvelous book and I commend Ms. Mahoney, the author, for a job well done. Her research and living with and as a blind person gives her much research that is believable. I heartily recommend this book to all readers, to not only appreciate your sight, but to enter a world that is so unknown to all of us with sight. ( )