My love of reading

Hi, I’m Lou, and I absolutely love to read. It’s always been a huge part of my life and is one of my biggest interests. I’m completely blind, but I’ve never let that stop me from reading. Thanks to braille, audio books and accessible technology, I can access and enjoy books just like everyone else. I enjoy a wide range of books from children’s fiction to books about autism, ADHD, wellbeing and mental health.

Some of my favourite children’s authors are Jacqueline Wilson, who has this incredible ability to make you feel as though you’re inside the story. Enid Blyton, whose Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mallory Towers and Mystery Series are just great. Tom Fletcher, whose books are hilarious and full of music and songs. There are tons more, I could go on and on. I also really love fantasy, and if you do too, I can 100% recommend a series called Keeper of the Lost Cities. Trust me, it’s amazing and well worth a read.

When I was little, I learned to read braille, just as all the other children were learning to read print. Braille is a tactile system that uses different combinations of raised dots to make the letters, and it enables blind people to read and write.  I read with my fingers and sighted people read with their eyes, but we’re still reading the same stuff, just in a different way.

I’ve been reading from a really early age and I still enjoy reading braille books today.  I have a braille note, which is a type of braille computer, and I can get books on there, which is much better because braille books are brilliant, but they are so big and so heavy. My braille note means that I can read a braille book wherever I am and it’s so cool. But I also love to listen to audiobooks, and I use apps like Borrow Box where I can borrow from the local library and Easy Reader, where I can read books from the RNIB, which is the Royal National Institute for the Blind. They’re a fantastic charity. I’ve also got Audible.

The great thing about books is there’s simply infinite possibilities. It doesn’t matter whether you want to laugh, learn, or feel less alone.  There’s a story out there for you. When life feels stressful or overwhelming, which it often does for me as a disabled and neurodivergent person, reading allows me to completely lose myself in another world, which is a huge relief. It helps me to relax, learn new things, and see the world from different perspectives.

Books can teach us about ourselves, help us understand other people, and introduce us to ideas that we might never have come across otherwise. For me, it’s so much more than a hobby. It’s a source of comfort, learning, and joy. I read every single day and it’s the one thing I can always rely on to make me feel better.

It’s helped me through countless hard times and I can’t imagine my life without it.