I’d like to welcome Michael Hingson to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Sometimes coming up with the words to express a thought. Coming up with appropriate ideas about concepts especially about blindness so that readers will really understand

Easiest thing about being a writer: telling personal stories. Once I have ideas fixed in my mind, putting them down. Making people laugh.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Quiet time. Help from others to make ideas real. Making myself smile.

Things that hamper your writing: Outside noises. Interruptions. Suggestions from others that simply don’t fit into the story.

A few of your favorite things: Garlic bread. Chocolate. Good clean comedy. Quiet time to ponder everything.

Things you need to throw out: Old papers. Old electronics that doesn’t work any more. Negative thoughts since they only hurt me and not others.

Favorite foods: Garlic bread. Rib eye steak. Chocolate chip cookies. PG Tips tea.

Things that make you want to gag: Tomatoes. Kiwi fruit.

Something you’re really good at: Laughing at myself. Public speaking. Working with dogs.

Something you’re really bad at: Creating visuals for videos. Quickly coming up with ideas to include in books I am writing, but I do get there.

Favorite music or song: Swing and big band music. Michael Buble. Classical pops music like from the Boston Pops.

Music that drives you crazy: Rap. Hip hop. Heavy metal.

The last thing you ordered online: USB cables. Pizza. Treats for my guide dog.

The last thing you regret buying: A ladder that didn’t meet my needs. USB cables that were wrong because the online description didn’t give me enough information to reject them. An audio book I didn’t like.

Things you always put in your books: True snippets about me. Some relevant bible verses to emphasize a point. Stories about my late wife.

Things you never put in your books: Swear words. Negative things about people, even terrorists.

Favorite places you’ve been: New Zealand. Hawaii. San Francisco. New York. Boston.

Places you never want to go to again: Any hotel that is inaccessible to blind persons. Any restaurant that serves only fried food, (too much isn’t that good).

Favorite things to do: Cruising. Talking with people. Traveling with others.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Cruising alone. Listening to any politician that isn’t interested in listening back. Not being able to have calm conversations with others because they won’t share respectfully. Sitting through a speech where the speaker spends most of their time simply pointing to items on a screen

Best thing you’ve ever done: Married my wife. Escaped from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Began my public speaking career and continuing it after the pandemic. Starting my podcast, “Unstoppable Mindset”.

Biggest mistake: Not starting an IRA earlier. Starting my speaking career later than I should have. Not learning to play Chess well.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Larry King. Peter Falk. My wife.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: I wouldn’t know about that, needless to say. However, Adam West, (TV’s Batman), who was quite unfriendly.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: Your book changed my life. I have a whole new perspective on blindness because of your books.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: At a book club meeting where everyone swore they had read Thunder Dog, “What were you doing in the World Trade Center anyway?”. “How do blind people have sex?”

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: Helped perfect Ray Kurzweil’s Reading Machine. Helping to bring assistive technology products to the blindness market. Teach people about accessibility. Opened a New York office in the World Trade Center.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: Constructing a Braille computer terminal. Running my own business from 1985-1988, we didn’t get the revenue we wanted.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: Escaping from the World Trade Center. Talking about public speaking. Lessons I learned from my eight guide dogs that are in “Live Like A Guide Dog”.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: I personally lead 30 people out of the World Trade Center. I was lead out of the World Trade Center by my guide dog, (guide dogs don’t lead, they guide). Others wrote my books, not I.

About Michael:

Michael Hingson, blind since birth, was born in Chicago to sighted parents who believed in raising their son with a can-do attitude. Treated like all other children in his family, Michael rode a bike did advanced math in his head and learn to read and write – Braille that is!

Michael’s family relocated to the warm Palmdale area of California when he was five years old. It is here that Hingson had his first adventure with Guide Dogs for the Blind and received his first guide dog. He later went to college receiving a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Physics along with a secondary teaching credential from the University of California at Irvine.

Michael then enjoyed a nearly-30-year career working for high tech companies spending most of his time in management roles.

Michael Hingson’s life changed dramatically on September 11, 2001 when he and his guide dog, Roselle, escaped from the 78th floor of Tower One in the World Trade Center moments before it collapsed. Soon after, Michael and Roselle were thrust into the international limelight where Michael began to share his unique survival story and 9-11 lessons of trust, courage, heroism, and teamwork.

Mike has served as The National Public Affairs Director for one of the largest Nonprofit organizations in the nation: Guide Dogs for the Blind; He has served as the vice president of the National Association of Guide Dog Users; Michael has held a seat on the Fort Worth Lighthouse for the Blind. He is the chair of the board of directors of the Earle Baum Center for the Blind and is the vice chair of the Colorado Center for the Blind; Michael is The National Ambassador for the Braille Literacy Campaign of the National Federation of the Blind.

Until October 2019 he worked as the CEO of the Do More Foundation, the non-profit arm of Aira Tech Corp, a manufacturer of assistive technology which makes a revolutionary visual interpreter for blind people. In January 2021 Mike joined accessiBe as its Chief Vision Officer to help advance the company goal of making the entire internet fully inclusive. AccessiBe provides an artificial intelligence-based product that makes web sites accessible to many persons with disabilities.

He is the author of the #1 New York Times Best Seller: “Thunder dog –The True Story of a Blind Man, a Guide Dog & the Triumph of Trust” – selling over 2.5 million copies Worldwide. In 2014 Mr. Hingson published his 2nd book “Running with Roselle”- which Is the first of its kind- A story for our youth shedding light on one of Americas Darkest Days. Mr. Hingson’s third book, “Live Like A Guide Dog”, was released on August 20, 2024. This book shows readers how they can learn to control fear and not, as Mike would say, “become blinded by fear in the face of crisis”.

Aside from his talents and advocacies, Mr. Hingson has traveled the Globe from Japan to New Zealand, the Netherlands to his hometown, Chicago. Speaking to some of the world’s most elite: from former President, George W. Bush to Larry King, to Fortune 500 companies and colleges and Universities Nationwide. After sharing his story of survival on hundreds of TV and Radio programs, Michael is now an Expert hired by many of today’s major corporations and organizations. Speaking and consulting on the importance of Teamwork and Trust, Moving from Diversity to Inclusion, as well as offering Adaptive Technology Training – spearheading innovation for ALL! - Thus, bringing organizations to the forefront of the ever-changing competitive modern world.

In June, 2024 Mike was inducted as an alumni member into the honors Fraternity Phi Beta Kappa.