Talking Books

Talking Newspapers and Magazines. There are three main national organisations dealing with spoken word cassettes for people with disabilities such as M.E. They all require a doctor’s signature to show that the person has an illness or disability which causes difficulty in reading or holding books/ magazines.

If you can’t listen to very much, try tapes of short stories, children’s books or poetry. Use a tape head cleaner regularly to minimize background noise when playing cassettes. Some tape recorders have a ‘cue and review’ facility. This enables the listener to fast forward audibly and to hear when there is a change or silence. Some recordings take advantage of this possibility so that in, for example, a taped magazine you can find the beginning of the next article. Many local libraries stock talking books, which are available for anyone to borrow. Some also have a delivery service for people who are housebound. InterAction, the magazine of Action for M.E., is available on tape.

Environmental Control Systems : Headaches : Pacing : Plugs : Reading : Television and Radio : Writing