Discourse around whether audiobooks count as reading ticks me off. Like, obviously, someone who listens to the audiobook is still taking in the story as it is written, and they are just as capable of understanding the story (and thus developing a cogent analysis of the work.)
The only thing "missing" is objectively, they aren't actively developing the specific skill of using their eyes to read words off the page...that undeniably is a useful skill and a benefit you can get from reading, but it's not some inextricable part of the process that makes audiobooks invalid as a way of taking in a story
Like clearly it's not the same exact thing, but people are also weirdly ableist talking about audiobooks not counting. They absolutely do
