Kevin McDaniel speaks with Chad Allen, creator of the audio comic book Unseen, the story of a blind assassin living in a chaotic world in which she is invisible to society. Chad talks about how a conversation with his doctor shaped his life, and where he believes his character, Afsana, and her story, Unseen, will develop in the future.
When you meet Chad Allen, it's hard not to appreciate his success and journey as an artist. He is the creator of UNSEEN, an audio comic about Afsana, a blind assassin from Afghanistan in 2050. Chad also happens to be blind.
Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP, a genetic disorder that causes the retina of the eye to deteriorate), Chad faced tough decisions when he first lost his sight. In 1988, few people had answers and even fewer had quality guidance for him to navigate a complicated future of living with a disability.
"So, I have this big meeting with the doctor, I'm 15, and after 8 hours of testing, they tell me what my diagnosis is, and ask me if I have any questions. I'm like 'no, I'm 15, I don't have any questions.'"
Still sporting his leather jacket and ripped jeans then, Chad says it was difficult to wrap his head around the diagnosis.
"I'm listening to Metallica at this point while driving back from Mass Eye and Ear with my dad and stepmother. I remember going to the mall and hiding thinking that I have no idea what’s happening to me. It took me thirteen years to figure out how to deal with those heavy questions on my mind that day.”
After spending his early adult years ignoring his disability, at age 28, Chad had yet to meet another blind person.
"At this point, I couldn't cross the street, I couldn't go to the grocery store, it wasn't that I couldn't, I just didn't know how to do it. So, I get this idea in my head, I'm going to try to find one blind person who can show me the ropes. I had several questions, 'How does one find a job? Are they married? Do they have kids? How do they get around without a car?'"
Chad wasn't sure if he needed to use a service dog, learn to read Braille or begin traveling with a White Cane.
He was going to school part-time for a degree in history while working retail as a resident magician at the Wizards Chest in Cherry Creek, Colorado, a popular toy store and costume shop in the Denver Metro area.
“This was the perfect job for the time and fueled my passion for performing magic later in life. I was always happiest when creating. But the RP was progressing and making it impossible to do some of the most basic of things. So, I end up getting connected with Voc Rehab (Vocational Rehabilitation). That's how I was afforded the opportunity to go to the Colorado Center for the Blind.'"
During his time at the Colorado Center for the Blind, Chad learned to travel with a White Cane, how to read Braille, use adaptive technology, the principles of home management, and the philosophy of independence.
"I soaked up everything, we went through training 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for six months. We trained in blindfolds, we wore sleep shades, I took Braille courses, learned to use a cane, took cooking and technology classes, but there was one course that changed me more so than any other, it was called 'The Philosophy of Independence,’ it changed my life," Chad says.
"This is where I learned to bounce back. We discussed as a group how to tolerate living in a sighted world. We were shown the value and importance of reasonable accommodations. We discovered that we could ask for a shopper’s assistant at a grocery store. We found out that we have the right to disclose or not disclose our blindness on our terms. We can request Braille menus in restaurants and advocate for accessibility. This gave me the power to control my own life and live the way I wished to live it as a blind person. It was the greatest thing."
After leaving Colorado, Chad got involved with a local affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind in Burbank, CA. He moved there soon after his graduation from the Colorado Center for the Blind. There he became a legislative representative for the NFB of California and spent much of his time in Sacramento advocating for legislation in favor of blindness-related issues.
"I had an amazing mentor, Don Burns, who taught me a lot about the law, and it looked as if I could join the community of blind lawyers, but art was always in the back of my mind. How would I get back to it? Could I even do it? I was a performing magician in Denver, CO and now living in Los Angeles, I wanted to become a member of the world-famous Magic Castle.”
Not only did Chad achieve his goal to become a performing member but in 2020, he went on to perform on the internationally recognized television show, “Penn and Teller’s Fool Us.”
However, the COVID-19 pandemic put a period on his time as a performer in 2020, which led to Chad’s devotion to writing. This is where we meet Unseen’s main character, Afsana.
In Unseen, Afsana is a blind assassin from Afghanistan in the year 2050. She has no superpowers and relies on her solution-driven skills to accomplish her missions. In episode one, the lingering presence of General Harris (who we hope is a recurring character), promises her money and a special visa to the United States upon successful completion of her mission.
"When I created Afsana, the goal was to build a world where she has to overcome challenges beyond anything one would expect from someone who’s blind [...] She becomes the greatest assassin the world has never seen.”
The story itself is timely. Last October our Publisher John Griffin sat down with Micahel Curran, co-founder of NV Access, who talked about the challenges associated with being a person who is blind in countries that have limited resources and services for people with disabilities. "Look at a place like Afghanistan [...] the situation is pretty dire [...] this is real stuff."
But Chad embraces those challenges and says good storytelling often requires putting your character on the ropes and then some.
"You create all these obstacles for your characters to overcome, that's what makes it interesting."
"That's the story, it isn't one answer, you know, it's not two plus two equals four, you have to read the entire thing to understand the message [...] If for example, you strip away the power on someone like Superman, he’s still a hero because of his passion to protect truth and justice, and not to understand that is missing the point entirely."
On why the comic is audible and where Unseen goes from here, Chad is adamant that this is a product that must be fully accessible.
"My vision for Unseen has always been that we're creating a transmedia product [...] if we're creating a book, it's audible, if we create a movie, a television show, a video game, it's accessible [...] and how do you do that? [...] there's so much insight into a product like Star Wars but, the disability community at large really has no transmedia story of their own [...] this mythology, my writing, this experience, Afsana trying to find a way to become free, the goal is to create a universe that answers these questions."
You can read more about Unseen and hear Episode 1 of Afsana's Journey at Unseencomic.com.