by Susan Glass
}Editor's Note: This article first appeared in the Summer 2015 issue of the BC. We reprint it here (with some revisions) in order to celebrate the life
of Teddie-Joy Remhild, who passed away on August 11, 2016.}
Teddie-Joy was a prolific prose writer, blogger, memoirist and poet. A Google search inputting her name brings up her ACB Forum article "How Labels Limit
Us," her Disability and Aging Advocacy blog, and a Classroom Of The Air Access World podcast interview called The Dream of Your Lifetime: Taking a Cruise,
in which Teddie-Joy shares her cruise experiences. Her nonfiction has appeared in the magazine The Writing Disorder. Most of us in CCB were familiar with
her advocacy, but she was a bold writer as well.
To speak with Teddie-joy is to know a voice that sparkles with creativity and spunk. She was born in Los Angeles in 1933, and according to her memoir she
was writing, her beginnings were anything but auspicious.
"First I had to survive my childhood." This is the opening sentence of Teddie-joy's book. She and her baby sister were left alone by their mother in an
apartment for 3 days before Teddie-joy was 3 years old. By the time she was 4, she'd gotten rickets from malnutrition. At one point she was nearly killed
in a car accident. Finally she was rescued by her grandmother and life started improving. She's spent much of her life in Southern California, including
two years in San Diego and two years in Fresno. She'd always had a visual impairment, but at the age of 35, TeddieJoy completely lost her central vision.
Encouraged by a rehab counsellor who was also a friend, Teddie-joy attended an NFB convention in Chicago.
"I walked in, and there were all these blind people, everywhere! Canes! Braille! I burst into tears. I thought, this isn't me; this can't be my life now;
I don't belong here."
Her friend comforted her, and she stayed for the duration of the convention, and even joined NFB, but quit after two years "due to its controlling, only
one way to be blind philosophy."
At around this same time in her life, Teddie-joy met Mitch Pomerantz who told her about CCB. She joined the organization in 1991, and has never left.
Her life's accomplishments were many: At age 54, she earned a degree in Gerontology from USC. In addition to working full-time, she served on the CCB board,
started the ACB Alliance On Aging, and co-founded the ACB Multicultural Concerns Affiliate. She regularly attended ACB conventions, and for a number of
years, hosted the Friends In Art Annual Prose and Poetry Reading. She was legislative chair for the Glendale Burbank chapter as well as its Vice President,
and she also worked with Jeff Thom on the Governmental Affairs Committee. Just recently, she was appointed as a board member to the Public Authority for
In-Home Supportive Services for LOS Angeles County. Years earlier, she worked for this same organization as a paid employee. An acronym for the organization
is PASC, standing for Personal Assistance Services Council.
"I don't know what people mean when they say they've retired," quipped Teddie-joy. "I can't imagine not working."
She talked more about her memoir during a interview.
"Because of my life span, 1933 to now, it's about a lot more than me. In the Sixties when WOMEN'S Lib evolved and Betty Friedan wrote her Feminist Mystique,
I said 'she's talkin to me,."
Teddie-joy participated in a writing workshop that meets regularly in Pasadena. It's taught by a woman from Serbia who has published 39 books.
"If I wanted to, I could enroll in writing workshops taught at the Braille Institute. But for some people there, well, the Braille Institute is their whole
life. I sometimes feel that I don't fit into any one niche. I have some peripheral vision now, albeit marginal. I'm not sighted; I'm not blind. I shouldn't
have to be either of these things; I'm me; I'm both. That in and of itself is an experience worth articulating, worth writing about."
Since all good writers read, I asked Teddie-joy what books and topics intrigued her.
"I'm a big fan of American history and American biographies. Just now I'm in the middle of reading the Fitz Geralds and the Kennedys by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
I like her writing. She lets you get to know her biographical subjects as human beings. Her writing is never dry. I like mysteries also. Just now I'm reading
the latest John Grisham book which is about coal miners, and in set in Appalachia."
I asked Teddie-joy what advice she'd give to other writers.
"Write what matters to you in life. Be personal. Don't gloss over life's realities."
And what advice did she offer young women, both blind and sighted?
"Get in touch with your real self and be who you are. Don't be who you think other people want you to be."
CCB and ACB meant a lot to Teddie-joy.
"I came to these communities after enduring many losses. I like the work I can do here. I like my friends here. And when I go to conventions, I attend
as many mixers as I can. I want to get to know people."
Teddie'-joy is planning to be in Dallas this year [2016], and I, for one, am looking forward to hanging out with her.
Post Script: I did meet Teddie-Joy in Dallas. We ate dinner together, and then sauntered arm in arm around the hotel lobby, discussing everything from
the books we were reading, to the best writing workshops we'd ever attended, to the future of CCB. Teddie-Joy also met and immediately befriended my good
chum Sue Mangis who lives in Sacramento. It was so like her to make friends instantly. Light on her feet and frank in conversation, she brought texture
and determination to our friendship. I miss her, and will miss her for a long time to come.
In an additional tribute to Teddie-Joy, Bonnie Rennie writes:
Teddie-Joy and I once served together on the Seniors with Vision Loss Committee. During one of our chats, we discovered something wonderful that we had
in common, which still brings a smile: our love for the charming seaside resort town of Carlsbad, California. We'd place ourselves in the "feel good" zone
by describing the relaxing places there to stay and eat, especially the multi-sensory splendor of the ocean and the many ways to enjoy it. She lamented
that Carlsbad was fairly inaccessible to people with disabilities as there was no direct train service to the city. Well, Teddie-Joy, it's not direct service,
but train service there is! I wish we could take that train together and bring our friends!
