Touch the Future

A Manifesto in Essays

By: John Lee Clark

Narrated by: Perry Daniels

A revelatory collection of essays on the DeafBlind experience, and a manifesto on the power and untapped potential of touch.

Born Deaf into an ASL-speaking family and blind by adolescence, John Lee Clark learned to embrace the possibilities of his tactile world. He is on the frontlines of the Protactile movement, which gave birth to an unprecedented tactile language and a way of life based on physical connection.

In a series of paradigm-shifting essays, Clark reports on seismic developments within the DeafBlind community. In "Against Access," he interrogates the prevailing advocacy for "accessibility" that recreates a shadow of a hearing-sighted experience. In the National Magazine Award-winning "Tactile Art," he describes his relationship to visual art and encounters with tactile sculpture. He advocates for "Co-Navigation," a new way of guiding that respects DeafBlind agency and offers a brief history of the term "DeafBlind." As warm and witty as he is radical and inspiring, Clark welcomes listeners into the exciting Protactile landscape and celebrates the hidden knowledge that can be gained through touch.

©2023 John Lee Clark (P)2023 Tantor

Everyone needs to read this book

This book not only taught me so much about the DeafBlind community and culture, but it opened my mind as a ASL interpreter who works with the DeafBlind and how to improve those connections.