Marda.Anderson@f150.n321.z1.fidonet.org (Marda Anderson) (07/21/90)
Index Number: 9389 [This is from the Blink Talk Conference] I went to a school for the blind and I am a guide dog user. The school I was at always had a representative from Seeing Eye come to speak to the students about dogs. Still, I agree with you that there is an attitude problem and lots of times, the worst anti-dog propaganda comes from orientation and mobility instructors. I think this is changing somewhat. When I was at Seeing Eye, they had a group of o and m students in from Western Michigan University. They spent about three days at the school getting educated about guide dogs. At least that's a start in the right direction but I think there still needs to be major attitude change among sighted teachers of the blind who pass along these anti-dog sentiments to their students. marda P.S. Aren't you proud of me? I actually changed the subject line. (grin) -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!321!150!Marda.Anderson Internet: Marda.Anderson@f150.n321.z1.fidonet.org
mcgrew@ichthous.Eng.Sun.COM (Darin McGrew) (07/24/90)
Index Number: 9398 In article <12999@bunker.UUCP> Marda.Anderson@f150.n321.z1.fidonet.org writes: >I went to a school for the blind and I am a guide dog user. The school I >was at always had a representative from Seeing Eye come to speak to the >students about dogs. Still, I agree with you that there is an attitude >problem and lots of times, the worst anti-dog propaganda comes from >orientation and mobility instructors. My wife's experiences with orientation/mobility instructors after she got her guide dog were often frustrating. Many instructors just didn't seem to figure out what she needed, and kept trying to get her to use landmarks that her guide dog was trained to avoid (one man's landmark is another man's obstacle). If her instructors were half as frustrated with the experience as she was, I wouldn't blame them for discouraging other blind people from getting guide dogs. I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both guide dogs and canes. My wife can walk much faster with a guide dog than with a cane, especially in areas that she is only somewhat familiar with. But then, canes never chase squirrels and you don't have to feed them, take them to the vet, groom them, etc. Darin McGrew mcgrew@Eng.Sun.COM Affiliation stated for identification purposes only.