Morrison Heady

James Morrison Heady (July 19, 1829 – December 19, 1915) was an American deafblind author. Heady published multiple volumes of children's books and poetry and was frequently referred to by the contemporary press as the "Blind Bard of Kentucky". He was one of the first advocates for books for the blind in the United States and he invented several devices to facilitate communication and improve quality of life for deaf and blind people.

Early life and education

James Morrison Heady was born July 19, 1829, in Elk Creek, Kentucky. He was blinded in one eye in early childhood by a chip from a woodcutter's axe, and at age sixteen he lost sight in the other eye while playing with a schoolmate. His hearing was damaged after a fall from a horse as a child, worsening until he was completely deaf by the age of forty. He learned to read embossed print and invented a "talking glove", a cotton glove with the letters of the alphabet printed at multiple places on the hand, using this tactile spelling to communicate with friends.

alt=Black and white photo of a gloved hand. All twenty-six letters of the alphabet are printed on the palm side of the glove.

Writing and advocacy for the deaf and blind

Heady developed a number of friendships with other deafblind people, including Helen Keller and Laura Bridgman. He read Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind and other periodicals in embossed print to keep informed about current affairs. In 1854 he began collecting monetary donations for the publication of Milton's Paradise Lost in embossed type. Heady inspired Dempsey Sherrod, a blind man from Mississippi, to raise funds for a national printing house for books for blind people, which was established as the American Printing House for the Blind.

His literary career began when he would gather local schoolchildren to hear his stories about pioneer days; friends encouraged him to write and publish the stories. In the 1860s he built a hydraulic machine for raising water from wells and cisterns. Another of his inventions was the "diplograph", a typewriter that with the flip of a switch would type in one of three different embossed scripts used by the blind: Boston line letter, New York Point, or braille.

He left Spencer County in 1901, moving to Louisville. Heady finished his last two works at age 86, shortly before his death.

Selected publications The Farmer Boy, and How He Became Commander-in-Chief. Boston : Walker, Wise, and Company, 1864 Seen and Heard, Poems or the Like. Baltimore : H.C. Turnbull Jr., 1869 Pleasant Pages and Bible Pictures for Young People. Boston : Henry A. Young and Co., 1869 Burl. Nashville : Southwestern Methodist Publishing House, 1884 The Double Night and Other Poems. Louisville : Courier-Journal Job Printing, 1901 The Red Moccasins: A Story. Louisville : Courier-Journal Job Printing, 1901