Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice — A New York Times Editor’s Pick

When Judge David Tatel began his career as a civil rights lawyer in the 1970s, he had already lost much of his vision to retinitis pigmentosa (RP). At the time, there was little known about RP, let alone research for treatments to slow or halt the disease’s relentless progression. Low vision accommodations were virtually non-existent.

But Tatel’s passion, determination, and ingenuity ultimately led him in 1994 to become a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the nation’s second most powerful court, filling the vacancy left by Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she ascended to the US Supreme Court. By then, Tatel was totally blind. For the next 30 years, Judge Tatel delivered decisions on many of the most pivotal and important legal cases impacting American society.

In his recently published memoir,  Judge Tatel eloquently and poignantly reflects on his prolific career, marriage, beloved German shepherd guide dog, and the myriad setbacks and victories during his remarkable life’s journey. For the first time he writes about his decades of denial, waiting years to get a cane and decades to get a guide dog, how he adapted to life without sight, and the ways his blindness affected his wife, Edie, and their lives together. In a recent interview, he told me how moved he's been by the many people who read “Vision” and told him that “the book tells my story, too.” Packed with compelling anecdotes, the book is equal parts revealing and inspiring. It’s a must-read regardless of your eyesight or ambitions.

Available from Politics and Prose, other independent bookstores, and Amazon (hardback, audio, Kindle).

Review by Ben Shaberman
VP, Science Communications
Foundation Fighting Blindness

 

What reviewers are saying:

“With modesty and wit, this winning memoir recounts the remarkable career of a civil rights lawyer who succeeded Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit — the nation’s second most powerful court — all while battling a disease that left him blind. His book is at once a meditation on his vision of equality under the law and a memorial for it.”

— Editor's Pick (New York Times)

"Vision is charming, wise, and completely engaging. This memoir of a judge of the country’s second highest court, who has been without sight for decades, goes down like a cool drink on a hot day." 

—Scott Turow, #1 bestselling author of Suspect

“The one-word title of this compelling and deeply personal memoir is perfect: his half-century of blindness notwithstanding, Judge David Tatel’s vision of justice has never dimmed. Here he charts a rich and varied life of unwavering commitment, in the face of a formidable obstacle, to use law to achieve a more just and equal society.” 

— Linda Greenhouse, author of Justice on the Brink

 

“David Tatel has written the book that his friends and admirers always hoped he would write but expected he would NOT. One that deals candidly with his “vision” — his blindness, and his years of treating it as an asterisk, all while becoming one of the most prominent judges in the country. Vision is both novelistic and introspective in its treatment of his lack of sight —  from his love affair with his wife and children, to his “cane lessons” and, later in life, his love affair with the new member of his family, his guide dog, Vixen. Along the way, it is also a book about the law, the art of judging, and the current Supreme Court, And it’s fascinating!” 

— Nina Totenberg, author of Dinners with Ruth

 

“The deepest lesson of David Tatel’s journey is that we can’t avoid our challenges but only survive by meeting them. Today, his brilliantly told story isn’t just important for our personal lives but also for our lives as citizens who are called anew to meet the challenges facing our country and to protect and defend our ideal of justice for all.” 

— Timothy Shriver, chairman, Special Olympics

 

“Vision blew my mind. As a son, a husband, a father, a skier, a student, a lawyer, a dog lover, a high-level government official, and one of the most influential jurists in our nation, David Tatel has courageously dedicated his unprecedented career in the law to the pursuit of decency, honor, justice, and equality. Read this book, and you will have a whole new vision of what it means to be a truly remarkable person.” 

— Geoffrey R. Stone, professor, University of Chicago Law School 

 

“The judge’s memoir offers a behind-the-scenes look at the art of judging, his career as a civil rights lawyer working to desegregate public schools and a deeply personal reflection on how he coped with, and initially hid, his declining eyesight… It is also something of a love story, detailing his devotion to the German shepherd guide dog, Vixen, who changed his life in 2019.”

— Ann E. Marimow (Washington Post)

 

“[an] extraordinary memoir… Vision is at once a legal history of the last half-century and a story of blindness and enlightenment… His book is at once a memoir of his vision of equality under the law and a memorial for it — a judgment on a judicial system that has grown blind to its betrayal of the law.”

— Julia S. Peters (New York Times)