by Diana Hockley
& Robert Bennett

Not only do we have a review of mystery/thriller novel Blind Traveler’s Blues, but we have a guest article by the author Robert Bennett about the obstacles of navigating life in a wheelchair. Blind Traveler’s Blues is available as an e-book for only $2.99 on Amazon!

Blind Traveler’s Blues by Robert Bennett
review by Diana Hockley

Genetically modified food is already causing concern in the western world. The plot begins in 2021 at an archaeological dig in Mexico, where a vase is discovered and misappropriated and then accidentally broken by its finder. In true Pandora’s Box mode, a plague is released which threatens the world’s corn crops.

Blind vacationer, Douglas Abledan, meets an attractive woman on the flight to Chicago, but before they can get to know each other, tragedy strikes, throwing Douglas into danger.

The novel moves a little slowly at the start, where Abledan checks out some architecture, and this could have been shortened to enable the story to move faster. However after the first murder, the action heats up and the investigation gains depth.

The main characters–Douglas Abledan and Sergeant Granger– are likeable and convincing; the crook just convincing! Overall, the novel is well written and the author obviously knows his subject.

The pace of the latter part of the novel produces two more murders and brings the strands of the investigation together, as each of the scientific protagonists strive to gain their personal glory from the corn disaster.

The ending is satisfying and appears to indicate that Douglas Abledan is going to re-appear at some, hopefully, not too distant future.

Diana Hockley is an Australian mystery author who lives in a southeast Queensland country town. She is the devoted slave of five ratties & usually finds an excuse to mention them in her writing, including her recent novel, The Naked Room. Since retiring from running a traveling mouse circus for 10 years, she is now the mouse judge for the Queensland Rat & Mouse Club shows. To learn more, check out her website.

Navigating Life in a Wheelchair
by Robert Bennett

What do disabilities and the environment have in common? Quite a bit actually. As a person who uses a wheelchair to navigate through the world, I naturally pay close attention to accessible pathways from point A to point B. I’m often disappointed in the lack of consideration environmental designers pay to wheelers. Like many in the disabled community, I had high hopes for change when the Americans with Disability Act was passed in 1990. But, while the legislation has produced many changes, it has not created a barrier-free world. Far from it in fact.

Sure, rules and regulations have been put in place to increase access in the man-made world, but, that access lags far behind what most of us experience in the natural world. Even without ‘accommodations’ most of us navigate outdoors much easier than we can indoors. One has to ask why that still is the case over twenty years after ‘accessibility’ legislation was enacted.

Robert Bennett

To give you an example, yesterday I went to check out the place that my brother and his fiancée are getting married in July. What I found was both pleasurable and disappointing at the same time. Outdoors, where the main part of the celebration will occur, was lovely and well thought out, with paths that made rolling around easy. Indoors, where the ceremony itself would take place, was a problem. The bathroom required a bit of gymnastics to get into the stall.

Unfortunately I have often found this to be the case. Architects either don’t know what the accessibility regulations are, which doesn’t require much research to learn, or think they can do them ‘better’ and they fail. Wouldn’t it be nice if architects paid as much attention to designing indoor accommodations as grounds keepers do in designing outdoor environments?

I’ve been writing about disability issues for over twenty years now so my interest in accessibility is not limited to my own disability. In my Blind Traveler mystery novels, for example, the protagonist is a blind man who uses auditory cues, through his navigator device, to interact with his world. Though my stories take place in a not too distant future, such a device is just now entering the market place. Wouldn’t it be nice if today’s architects and environmental planners took better advantage of visual, auditory and touch-sensitive cues to make both natural and man-made environments more accessible to those in the disabled community?

Former social worker turned writer, Robert Bennett, focuses on the needs of society’s disenfranchised. His articles span a wide range of topics. His fiction is grounded in real world events and technologies and his own philosophical concerns.He’s spoken to physical therapy students, church members and senior citizens, and appeared on several radio programs.You can ontact him through his website.