Audiovision Volunteer Spreads word about Macular Degeneration

By Gary Cooper, Marketing Department, NJ State Library

James Degnen has spent most of his day-job career in the Information Technology and consumer/professional audio fields.  Currently, as IT Research Manager for a large organization, he also does voice-overs and videos in the PSA, educational and training areas.  For the past five years, Degnen has been doing volunteer voice-overs for the NJ State Library Talking Book and Braille Center (audiobooks, magazines, newsletters).  He feels a personal connection with TBBC and its customers, as his maternal grandmother, Beatrice Carter, could not read for the last 20 years or so of her life due to very poor vision.  In fact, it was his “Boston Nana” who often said, beginning while he was in high school, “James, you must do something with your voice.”  This planted the seed of inspiration that finally bore fruit when he began reading for TBBC.  Another connection to TBBC, and especially to his reading of “Sunset… A Macular Journey,” by Roy Garrabrant, is that Degnen’s mother, Brunya W. Degnen, had macular degeneration in the later years of her life. He dedicates his reading of “Sunset… A Macular Journey” to his Boston Nana and mother. He was particularly touched by author Roy Garrabrant’s generosity of spirit in offering his candid and inspiring experience with macular degeneration in the hopes that it might help those with the disease, as well as their family, friends and caregivers.