News
My Name is Jemima is a delightful new picture book by disability advocate and blind person Olivia Muscat.
This is Olivia’s debut book, and it offers a thoughtful and engaging way to teach both children and adults how to interact respectfully with guide dogs—whether on public transport or out in the city. The book is beautifully illustrated by Allison Colpoys, adding warmth and charm to its important message.
Olivia lives in Melbourne with her guide dog, Jemima. When she's not writing, she teaches children and occasionally performs on stage.
My Name is Jemima
Olivia Muscat 00:00
It's called, My name is Jemima, and it's a children's picture book, and it is about a guide dog. It's a day in the life from her perspective, and what being a guide dog means, and why when we say, oh, that that dog's working, some reasons why we don't talk to them and look at them lovingly in the eyes or give them a pat when they're on harness, but it, I hope, is done in like a fun, geeky kind of way that's an enjoyable story to read, as well as doing some sneaky educating.
Emma Myers 00:42
Did you think about putting Braille in the book itself, like we do on money?
Olivia Muscat 00:50
I did think about it. I thought about it a lot. I went back and forth on it a few times. And I just want to point out that this book like I'm going to have some alternative format Braille copies made. But in terms of I've been doing disability stuff in the art space, in the book space, for quite a while, and I'm still not seeing the types of representation and the rate of change that I really want, and I think a lot of people really want, and to me, putting Braille in every edition of a book That's about a guide dog and is about blindness, pretty much. That's not the step forward in terms of representation and accessibility that I want it to be. I don't want my book to have Braille in it just because it's tangentially linked, and I'm also blind and that sort of saddens me, in a way, but I stand by that choice. I've it does come with an alternative format in that it has an audio book in every edition. But Braille is still this weird, mysterious thing to a lot of people. And I didn't think this was the right book for that.
Emma Myers 02:25
What experiences have you had of children coming up to you with Jemima? I think
Olivia Muscat 02:34
kids are much more understanding. I think a lot of adults ignore what I ask of them. Oh, please don't you can't chat to her or give her a patch. She's working. There are lots of adults who seem to think that doesn't apply to them. When I ask kids are actually better at that, but I think the experience I have more often and what inspired the book is that kids will ask, because, of course, they will ask. Jemima is adorable, and usually I'm like, trying to get somewhere or trying to talk to someone. And this is like an aside that I'm just like, oh, sorry, thanks for asking, but she's working right now, and that's the end of that conversation. And they don't really get the follow up as to, what do you mean? She's working. What does that mean, and but why can't I pat her, or why can't I say hello? And usually don't have time to give all those reasons. Which is what I've tried to put into the book, is that conversation that I rarely get to have with
Emma Myers 03:39
kids. How long have you had? Jeremiah? We
Olivia Muscat 03:43
will have been together for eight years, which is a long time. And yes, so the guide dogs, they go off and they get puppy raised for a year, and then they go do their training, which from what I can gather is five or six months, and then there's a matching process. And that can be long, or that can be really quick. Mine was really quick, and I think because I'd been on the waiting list for a while, and I think that as Jemima was going through her training, they already had me in mind as a match for her, and then we had to do four weeks of full time training together. She's my first dog, so I had to learn guide dog mobility as a skill, as well as bond with her and create that bond that makes her want to make sure I don't run into a pole or something. So it's very much about team building. What's
Emma Myers 04:48
something that you'd want everyone to know about? Guide Dogs.
Olivia Muscat 04:53
I think the thing to remember is the blind person is actually in charge of what's happening. Thing, guide dogs aren't a GPS that you actually have to be aware and on the ball and know where you're going as the person attached to the dog dogs are there to make sure you get there safely, you still have to know how to cross a road. And I think that's a really common misconception. I.