A ‘lick and tell’ memoirs written through the eyes of Joanne Roberts’ guide dog is to be turned into an audio book.
Author Joanne, 48, of Armthorpe Drive, Little Sutton, put a canine spin on her adventures with guide dog Uska in Confessions of a Guide Dog. But now the ex-marketing manager is planning an audio version in commemoration of Uska’s lifetime of work because he is about to retire and become a family pet.
Liverpool’s comedian and disabled rights activist Gary Skyner has agreed to voice to the book but Joanne, who is married to childhood friend Dave, needs to raise £5,000 for the studio time. Eventually, it will be available to download from Amazon’s audible.co.uk, for £6.99, with at least 30% of royalties going to Guide Dogs for the Blind, adding to the hundreds of pounds already raised.
Joanne, who will be matched up with a new guide dog within the next 12 months, said: “Whatever dog I’m lucky enough to get, I’ll love like a best, life saving friend. But Uska is my first guide dog and has a deep place in my heart. He really did change my life, giving me back independence and a sense of my old, sighted self.”
The original Confessions of a Guide Dog is still available to download from Amazon Books and Apple iTunes, for £2.99, with 25% of the royalties going to Guide Dogs.
“For other blind people, I’m delighted that the book is available in all accessible formats, thanks to RNIB. These are strictly, only available for their blind members. I want also to reach the ears of people who can see, with the book’s positive messages about loving life, living it blind and simply getting on with it.,” added Joanne.
Joanne, who went blind at 34 due to type 1 diabetes diagnosed at 14, told The Chronicle: “This book that I’ve done, it’s not just a fund-raising thing. Guide Dogs are constantly saying ‘Well, we do this and we help the sightless and we do that’ and this is another way of putting the message across, so people really understand what it’s like rather than just be told the same thing again and again. That’s why I’ve tried to do it with a lot of humour because people learn more from humour.”
Before going blind, Joanne, who hails from County Durham, enjoyed an international marketing career working out of offices in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.
To boost the audio book’s fund-raising potential, Joanne is seeking support from the region’s business community who can pledge donations through the crowd funding section of the Just Giving website which must be made within the next four weeks to hopefully reach the target. Any excess after studio costs will go to Guide Dogs.
