I spend a lot of time working with words. But listening to R. David New describe the illness that nearly killed him and left him without sight, I struggled to find the right ones. David, meanwhile, spoke with the perspective of someone who has spent the years since rebuilding his life and helping ot hers participate more fully in theirs. On Episode 29 of The Miami Book Hub, we discussed his memoir, The Unthinkable: Turning Tragedy into Triumph, and the experiences that led him to become an accessibility advocate and founder of the South Beach Jazz Festival. David recounted an AIDS diagnosis followed by spinal meningitis, months in hospitals, and the loss of his sight, hearing and ability to walk. His mother saw the word “terminal” on his chart. Eventually, his hearing returned and—through grueling therapy—he learned to walk again. His blindness remained. “When you’re in it, when you’re in the thick of it, you are just thinking about survival,” he told me. His family helped him through that ordeal. Describing his parents’ complementary strengths, David said, “My mother was fire, my father was foundation.” She pushed for his care; he remained steadfast at his bedside. His mother also spent years urging him to write his story. He finally listened. That support became a thread running through our conversation. “You’ve had all these advocates fighting for you and now you fight for others through your advocacy work,” I told him. After returning to South Beach, David found that crossing busy streets could be a challenge. He contacted City Hall, became involved with its disability access committee and eventually chaired it. His advocacy helped bring audible pedestrian signals to Miami Beach. A disability awareness event also gave elected officials a guided experience of navigating the city with a disability. As an urban planner, I tend to think about accessibility through places: sidewalks, intersections and buildings. David encouraged me to think more broadly about the experiences those places make possible. Through his organization, Power Access, and the South Beach Jazz Festival, he works to make performances accessible to musicians and audiences alike. He described live audio descriptions that convey what is happening onstage for people with visual impairments. A developing program, “Feel the Music,” would let people who are deaf or hard of hearing experience musical vibrations through a specially equipped box. For those of us organizing literary events, his advice was direct: “It’s always good to ask a person with a disability, what is it that they need.” That is a useful place to begin before making assumptions about someone else’s experience. We also found common ground as independent authors. After struggling to get a response from agents and publishers, David chose to publish the book himself. I understood that frustration, along with the freedom and considerable work that come with taking that route. We both expressed gratitude to Books Books—where we each have upcoming book talks—for welcoming local, self-published authors. I came away thinking about how much Miami gains when people like David have the opportunity to contribute. His story asks us to consider what we can do to make those opportunities available to more people. Visit RDavidNew.com to learn about David, purchase The Unthinkable, and register for his book talk at Books Books on November 30th. For the full conversation—and to explore the wider world of The Miami Book Hub—visit TheMiamiBookHub.com. Please like, share and subscribe. Until next time… keep reading, keep writing, and stay curious, Miami!The post David New Turns Survival into a More Accessible Miami first appeared on Miami’s Community News.The post David New Turns Survival into a More Accessible Miami appeared first on Miami’s Community News. ...read more read less