[blindlaw] {Spam?} Re: Guidedog verses white cane

[pattischang at gmail.com]

I have used a white cane for almost my entire 28  year career. I agree that it's only an issue for about the first 10 seconds of  meeting someone. In fact I have supervised four or 500 staff members over my career. If you carry yourself confidently and it's a nonissue for you it will not be an issue for others. As to a guy Doug I am not sure why they would be an issue with the baby. Of course some dogs are better with children than others.


Live the life you want.  Every day we raise the expectations of blind  people in the National Federation of the Blind.

Patti S. Gregory-Chang
NFBI Treasurer
NFB Scholarship Comm. Chair
Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 22, 2016, at 6:50 AM, David via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Dear Paul,  I am partially sighted with about 5 degrees of central vision.

1.  I can't help with the crawling baby issue from a personal experience standpoint, but I've seen dogs around babies without issues.  Your question is a good one for your guide dog school.

2.  I used a white cane during the last 9 years of my career as general counsel of an insurance company.  I met with senior executives and general counsel of some of the largest corporations in the U.S.  My white cane was an issue for about the first 10 seconds of first meeting someone.  It is also a non-issue in court.  I traveled as much as 80,000 miles a year.  I did lose two canes to limo drivers in Manhattan.  The only other negative experience I had was one time when meeting a corporate general counsel, he shook my hand with his left hand. I stupidly asked him if he had hurt his right hand.  He raised a leather covered fist prosthesis and said, "Here."  The meeting was toast.

In my opinion, your acceptance of the white cane by others depends entirely upon your attitude, how you feel about it, and how you carry yourself.  I find it is the same with a guide dog, but except for bar association and board meetings I have not used a guide dog in professional settings.

David and Claire Rose in Clearwater, FL

> On 7/21/2016 11:13 PM, Paul Harpur via BlindLaw wrote:
> I have a professional and personal question I wanted to ask for people’s views.
> I am totally blind and went from using a white cane to my first
> guidedog back in law school in 2000.  Since then I have always used a
> guidedog.  I tried for a while to use a white cane when my first baby
> came home and now that he is 1 I put my name down for a dog again.  I
> am not sure how:
> 1.    A guidedog will go with a crawling baby; and
> 2.    How I will be received using a white cane in the profession.
> Has anyone had experiences good or bad they could share with me?

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