How to Communicate by John Lee Clark is a poetic anthological collection. Clark is a Deaf-blind poet whose writings are stirred by Braille, perceptive erasures, and paraphrasing from ASL and Protractile languages. The main topics in How to Communicate include the challenges deaf and blind people go through and the capability of disabled people.
The collection's first sections introduce the theme of the problems the deaf and blind people go through. Unlike other people, blind and deaf persons cannot see and hear. Consequently, it is a big challenge for deaf and blind people to interact with people who do not understand their language. For the deaf, they use sign language, which is uncommon to all people. The blind people read using Braille and Projectile, which is a skill that one has to learn throughout his life. Clark shows how people often misinterpret deaf and blind people due to communication barriers. However, Clark's How to Communicate is not only for the deaf and blind people because he simplifies sign language and Braille for an ordinary person to comprehend the basics.
How to Communicate concludes by looking at the capability of deaf and blind people to impact society positively. Clark argues that deaf and blind people can compete favorably with others in various sectors of the economy. Clark does not think it is right for people to assume that blind people cannot do ordinary activities for themselves like cooking and washing. Clark urges readers to encourage deaf and blind people to exploit their potential because disability is not inability.
