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Connecting Dots

A Blind Life

New Release

Contributors

By Joshua A. Miele

With Wendell Jamieson

Formats and Prices

Price

$30.00

Price

$39.00 CAD

In this extraordinary memoir, a scientist who became blind at a young age shares how he navigates the world around him, and how his contributions led to cutting‑edge work in accessibility—packed with humor, adventure, and insights on life and disability.

At the age of four, Joshua Miele was blinded and badly burned when a neighbor poured sulfuric acid over his head. It could have ended his life, but instead, Miele—naturally curious, and a born problem solver—not only recovered, but thrived. Throughout his life, Miele has found increasingly inventive ways to succeed in a world built for the sighted, and to help others to do the same. At first reluctant to even think of himself as blind, he eventually embraced his blindness and became a committed advocate for disability and accessibility. Along the way, he grappled with drugs and addiction, played bass in a rock band, worked for NASA, became a guerilla activist, and married the love of his life and had two children. He chronicles the evolution of a number of revolutionary accessible technologies and his role in shaping them, including screen readers, tactile maps, and audio description.

Connecting Dots delivers a captivating first-person perspective on blindness and disability as incisive as it is entertaining, and ultimately triumphant. Joshua Miele’s story is one of one ordinary blind life with an indelible impact.

  • “An instant classic. Like its author, Connecting Dots is brilliant but approachable; irreverent without losing touch with the seriousness of his subject; and accessible in every sense of the word. Miele's funny, moving, and absorbing account of his life and work demonstrate the truth behind the proverb about innovation and necessity: disabled people are the true mothers of invention.”
    Andrew Leland, author of The Country of the Blind
  • “This is not a single book, but several wonderful books wrapped up into one. It’s a science book, a romance, a riveting history of the disability movement, a book about New York, an advice book. And, of course, it’s a memoir—fascinating, honest, and inspirational in a delightfully un-sappy way.”
    A.J. Jacobs, author of The Know It All and The Year of Living Constitutionally
  • “This is the story of a singular life, one shaped by violence but also by a devoted family, dedicated teachers and an array of fellow blind people who refused to accept the limitations imposed on them by others.”
    Georgina Kleege, author of More Than Meets the Eye: What Blindness Brings to Art
  • “Josh’s journey—from acid-burn survivor to MacArthur Genius—is raw, honest, and unexpectedly funny. I couldn’t put it down, finishing it in a single flight. His storytelling connects dots, literal and figurative, in a way that’s utterly brilliant.”
    Mike May, Paralympian and subject of Crashing Through
  • “Josh Miele gets up close and personal into his life as a blind kid who grew to become a MacArthur ‘Genius.’ His extraordinary journey, teeming with resilience, adaptability, and innovation resonates deeply with my own blindness experience.”
    Lachi Music, singer-songwriter and founder and CEO of RAMPD
  • "I'm absolutely obsessed with this book. Loved. Could not put this down. Loved, loved, Loved."
    Zibby Owens
  • “Written with veteran journalist Wendell Jamieson, this coming-of-age story focuses on the unconventional childhood and young adulthood that led Miele to become an award-winning innovator and disability activist. … With its engaging voice, humor and a little sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, Connecting Dots is an illuminating portrait of a life that’s without sight, but not without vision.”
    Bookpage

On Sale
Mar 4, 2025
Page Count
304 pages
ISBN-13
9780306832789

Photo of author Josh Miele, credit Barbara Butkus

Joshua A. Miele

About the Author

Dr. Joshua A. Miele is a prominent blind scientist, designer, and thought leader in accessible technology and disability. He is a recipient of the 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, an Amazon Design Scholar, and Distinguished Fellow at UC Berkeley’s OBI.  He is known for creating inclusive technologies that address critical needs and challenge societal assumptions, and for speaking with frank humor about the lived disability experience. Dr. Miele helps guide the non-visual customer experience for Amazon devices, and advises widely on accessible design, research methods, and disability inclusion. He is the father of two adult children and lives with his wife in Berkeley, California.
 
Wendell Jamieson worked for four major New York City newspapers during a 32-year journalism career, twice being part of Pulitzer Prize-winning teams. During his tenure as Metro editor of The New York Times, Metro staff members won two Polk Awards and were Pulitzer finalists on four occasions. He is currently the Editorial Director of Nicholas & Lence Communications in Manhattan. He is the author of Father Knows Less (Putnam; 2007) and New York by New York (Assouline; 2018). He grew up in Brooklyn and lives there still, with his wife, Helene Stapinski. They have two grown children, Dean and Paulina.
 

Learn more about this author

Wendell Jamieson

About the Author

Wendell Jamieson worked for four major New York City newspapers during a 32-year journalism career, twice being part of Pulitzer Prize-winning teams. During his tenure as Metro editor of The New York Times, Metro staff members won two Polk Awards and were Pulitzer finalists on four occasions. He is currently the Editorial Director of Nicholas & Lence Communications in Manhattan. He is the author of Father Knows Less (Putnam; 2007) and New York by New York (Assouline; 2018). He grew up in Brooklyn and lives there still, with his wife, Helene Stapinski. They have two grown children, Dean and Paulina.

Learn more about this author