Dr Scott Hollier publishes a memoir with purpose

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Thursday, 1 December 2016 16:39pm

Dr Scott Hollier, Media Access Australia’s Specialist Advisor, Digital Accessibility, has just published an autobiography which he describes as ‘a memoir with purpose’ entitled Outrunning the Night. Its aim is to provide support and encouragement to disadvantaged people and the people supporting them, and he talks about his inspiring new book in a very personal and entertaining podcast.

Image of Dr Scott Hollier

Image of Dr Scott Hollier

Listen to the complete interview where Dr Scott Hollier chats to Philip Jenkinson about his new memoir with purpose... Outrunning the Night.

mp3

Read the transcript of Philip Jenkinson’s interview with Dr Scott Hollier on a memoir with purpose.

Apart from being a passionate world expert on web and digital accessibility and a just-published author, Scott has a degenerative eye condition and is legally blind. However, he has not let his condition define him, but rather his love of family and friends, his pursuit of a great education, his quest to live life to the fullest, and his joy in overcoming the little things to succeed in everyday life.

So what made Scott write the book in the first place?

“It often started in conversations in taxis, talking to drivers about your life story as you do,” recalled Scott Hollier. “And a number of drivers would say, ‘It sounds like you’ve got quite a bit that could help people, have you thought of writing a book?’ It was two years ago when I actually made the formal decision to start writing it, and very happily a colleague, Chris Mikul at Media Access Australia, came on board to help be my editor and so it was a bit of a two-year journey.”

And as a legally blind person, in practical terms, how did he actually write the book?

“I'm fortunate that in this day and age, there's so much great accessibility built into everyday products,” said Scott. “The main thing I used was a Windows 10 computer and I used that through changing the colours to have light coloured text on a dark background. I often typed things into my book and I would zoom in so I could see the text really big on my screen and also I fired up the screen reader from time to time, when my eyes got tired. I could listen back to things and that was often helpful in picking up mistakes, especially as words got pronounced incorrectly so it was a combination of those tools.”

How can people buy a copy of Outrunning the Night and what formats are available?

“There's a few different options,” said Scott. “If people want to see all the options, you can go to on www.outrunningthenight.com depending on where you are in the world there's the paperback available on https://www.amazon.com and https://www.amazon.co.uk and it's also available as a Kindle eBook and an audiobook. I've tried to make it as accessible as possible, and as varied as possible so whatever device you’ve got, you can check it out.”

The audiobook can be purchased either as a download or on a USB stick, and includes four versions in one… the professionally narrated audiobook produced by VisAbility, plus an ePub, PDF and html versions.

"Scott has been a real thought leader for Media Access Australia for many years," says CEO Dr Manisha Amin. "His life story serves as an inspiring reminder that when all is said and done, it's not really about disability, but ability. His ongoing journey of achievement serves as a reminder that anything is possible when people of all abilities can access the latest technology to not only serve everyday needs but make a truly positive impact on society."


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