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

Tue Jul 26 21:04:31 UTC 2016

I just retired my second guide after 8.5 years of service. She was
semi-retired before that, though, because I found that she was getting
more easily stressed in certain situations. I don't plan to get
another dog right away because of my busy work schedule, and also
because I have a young son who recently has developed a dog allergy.
Shelley is absolutely right--lots of people get dogs when they have
young kids, and things are fine; but at this point in my life, after
having used dogs continuously for 15.5 years, I'm just not ready to go
through the process of getting a new dog.

As for professional events, your dog certainly can make you stand out!
Once, John Grisham came to speak on a panel while I was in law school.
My German Shepherd and I were sitting in the front row, and apparently
she and Mr. Grisham made eyes at each other through the entire
presentation.

I have also been to professional events where I decided not to take my
dog, such as industry conferences with thousands of attendees. I might
have taken my first dog to such events (I did take her to an NFB
national convention, and she did quite well), but my last dog would
have gotten stressed in those situations. Of course, I had the option
to retire her and hope for a dog that could better deal with such
events, but I chose to keep working with her because in many
situations she really was a great guide.

Basically, it all depends on your schedule and your dog. I am going to
see how cane use will work for me at this point. Maybe in a couple of
years, after I've been promoted and my son is a little older, I'll
look into a hypoallergenic successor to my shepherd.

Best,

Angie

On 7/26/16, Shelley Richards via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello,
> I have used a guide dog for 13 years now.  Whether I chose to use my
> dog or cane never seemed to matter professionally either in law school
> or while working as a lawyer.  The only difference is that I find I
> meet more people with my dog at events because people are curious and
> want to come over and ask questions.  For me this is wonderful, since
> I am shy about approaching people myself.  Neither my dog nor my cane
> has ever caused any inappropriate disruptions in any professional
> setting though.
> I also have a child, and a second one on the way.  My dog never had
> any trouble with the baby, and hopefully she will still be with me in
> 6 months when number 2 comes.  She got a little jellous at first
> because I spent so much time with the baby, but I found that she got
> over it quickly once I let her hang out with me and the baby.  I also
> know several other handlers who have children, and I have never heard
> of any of them having had problems with their dog and the babies or
> older children.  Also, if the school knows you have small children
> they will usually keep that in mind when choosing your match.  Of
> course there are dogs out there who do not like children, but I have
> not yet met a guide dog who is bad with children.  Just a guess, but I
> have always figured that they need to be at least very tolerant of all
> types of people including children in order to properly do their jobs
> in public, so guide dogs are probably less likely than other dogs to
> have a problem with children.
> Good luck working it all out
> Shelley
>
>
> On 7/22/16, 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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>
>
> --
> Thank You
> Shelley Palmadessa
> shelleyrichards9 at gmail.com
>
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