Thunder Dog - Michael Hingson [0]
THUNDER DOG
THE TRUE STORY OF
A BLIND MAN, HIS GUIDE DOG,
AND THE TRIUMPH OF
TRUST AT GROUND ZERO
MICHAEL HINGSON
with SUSY FLORY
© 2011 by Michael Hingson
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hingson, Michael, 1950–
Thunder dog : the true story of a blind man, his guide dog, and the triumph of trust at ground zero/ by Michael Hingson with Susy Flory.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-4002-0304-8
1. Hingson, Michael, 1950– 2. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001—Personal narratives. 3. Blind—United States—Biography. 4. Human-animal relationships. I. Flory, Susy, 1965– II. Title.
HV6432.7.H54 2011
974.7'1044092—dc22
[B]
2010052479
Printed in the United States of America
11 12 13 14 15 16 QGF 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Karen, my best friend, my world, and the rock who kept me grounded after 9/11.
For Hazel tenBroek. Hazel, I never got to meet Chick, but through you and your stories, I got to know and admire him and his teachings. For a guy who university intellectuals said could never be a law student due to blindness, he certainly went on to become one of the most respected constitutional law scholars in the U.S. And to think he put his wisdom to work founding and building the National Federation of the Blind. Thank you for sharing him with me and so many others over the past quarter century.
—Michael
For Gini Monroe, my favorite cowgirl, friend, and mentor.
—Susy
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
The Real Story
ONE Day of Thunder
TWO 1,463 Stairs
THREE My Other Soul Mate
FOUR Hearing the Coffee Table
FIVE Kicked off the Bus
SIX Driving in the Dark
SEVEN Warriors with Guide Dogs
EIGHT I Forgot You Are Blind
NINE Running with Roselle
TEN We Are Pretty Much Just Like You
ELEVEN Woman on Wheels
TWELVE A Brush and a Booda Bone
THIRTEEN Shake Off the Dust
FOURTEEN It’s All Worth It
Acknowledgments
Timeline for September 11, 2001
The Courtesy Rules for Blindness
Blindness: A Left-Handed Dissertation
by Kenneth Jernigan
Resources for Blindness
Notes
Glossary of Terms Related to Blindness
For Further Reading
About the Authors
FOREWORD
by Larry King
The sighted can only imagine what it is like to be blind. Close your eyes for a minute or two and walk through your house. For a moment, imagine it for a lifetime. Then specifically imagine being with your trusted guide dog, Roselle, working seventy-eight floors above the ground at the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001.
Thunder Dog is an incredible story of Michael Hingson and Roselle as they descend down those seventy-eight floors, helping dozens of others to escape a collapsing building. Down a stairway, desperate but calm at the same time. You will read of unforgettable moments, reflecting the blind experience with the emphasis on the senses rather than the visual. You will live again the tragedy and triumph of September 11.
Thunder Dog celebrates the power of the human and animal bond. And, we all can learn life lessons from this incredible story.
I had the honor of hosting Michael on Larry King Live five different times, and each time, he brought his guide dog with him. Viewers relived the story over and over again