This book has six major goals:
One: The book presents a new way to think about the development of human consciousness.
Two: The book presents a new category of special education called "navigational disability."
Three: The book presents a philosophical and evolutionary new way to define the author's profession "orientation and mobility."
Four: The book honors the lives of remarkable blind individuals. The author has created a title for people on a mission called "Knights for the Blind in the Battle Against Darkness."
Five: The book features the ideas and the mission of Daniel Kish and his organization World Access for the Blind.
Six: The book contains vignettes that reflect the authors interests and passions. It is, therefore, (and in retrospect), a kind of memoir.
Perhaps most importantly, this book is a source of inspiration for anyone who reads it. Stories about amazing figures, such as Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, bring to life the unusual energy and dedication of the Knights for the Blind. The accompanying exploration of consciousness is new and fascinating and is a valuable contribution to this complex subject.
The first in a series of connected works, Bugs, Blindness, and the Pursuit of Happiness is about the meaning of life and our desire to be happy-despite all obstacles. Get ready for a new understanding of human spiritual makeup and consciousness that will forever change your view of those with disabilities.
About the Author: Doug Baldwin is a retired orientation and mobility specialist who taught for thirty-three years at the Millet Learning Center in Saginaw, Michigan-a public school for handicapped children. He is founder of the mid-Michigan Special Needs Vision Clinic and the Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation, two nonprofit organizations devoted to serving children in special education.
Dr. Baldwin was educated as an optometrist and later as a blind rehabilitation specialist. Bugs, Blindness, and the Pursuit of Happiness is his first book and an introduction to three additional upcoming companions: Consciousness: A New Slant on an Old Conundrum, The Confusion Caused by Being Your Own Twin, and Knights for the Blind in the Battle Against Darkness.
Dr. Baldwin coined the terms "navigational disability," "environmental literacy," (as it relates to special education), and "allocentric and egocentric disabilities." He has spent decades studying consciousness and navigation, specifically as it relates to children with special needs. He derived a "dual process theory of consciousness," after he retired from teaching in 2010.
