Born at the right time / Professor Ron McCallum.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCallum, R. C. (Ronald Clive), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

McCallum, R. C. (Ronald Clive).

McCallum, R. C.

Lawyers--Australia--Biography.

Lawyers.

Law teachers--Australia--New South Wales--Sydney--Biography.

Law teachers.

People with visual disabilities.

New South Wales.

Australia.

People with visual disabilities--Biography.

New South Wales--Sydney.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

226 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

regular print

Place of Publication:

Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2019.

Summary:

Blind since birth, Ron regards himself as fortunate to have been born at a time when ever improving technology has enabled him to live a rich and full life, and to become a professor of law at one of Australia's most prestigious universities. Ron McCallum has been blind from birth. When he was a child, many blind people spent their lives making baskets in sheltered workshops, but Ron's mother had other ideas for her son. She insisted on treating him as normally as possible.In this endearing memoir, Ron recounts his social awkwardness and physical mishaps, and shares his early fears that he might never manage to have a proper career, find love or become a parent. He has achieved all this and more, becoming a professor of law at a prestigious university, and chairing a committee at the United Nations. Ron's glass is always half full. He has taken advantage of every new assistive technology and is in awe of what is now available to allow him and other blind people to realise their potential. His is a life richly lived, by a man who remains open to all people from all walks of life.

Contents:

Less than auspicious beginnings

Early school years, discovering Beethoven and playing cricket

A normal high school, and the magic of tape recorders

The boy goes to law school

Studying overseas, and being helped by prisoners

Learning to be a law teacher

Dinner parties, and the world outside academia

Performing superhuman acts, and rediscovering spirituality

Losing my beloved mother, and falling in love with Mary

Marriage

Becoming a father

Assistive technology, new futures and painful pasts

Independence

A professor in Sydney

The United Nations

Later on

Epilogue : the colour blue.

Notes:

"A memoir"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-226).

ISBN:

9781760875015

1760875015

OCLC:

1107631237