[Blindtlk] A Response to Matlida Ziegler magazine

[Marion Gwizdala]

Dear All,
    Below are comments that appeared in the May 2 issue of the Matilda Ziegler Magazine and my response.

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala


In response to Feature Writer Alena Roberts - Deciding When to Take Your Guide Dog With You 

I would like to express my opinion on the question posed by Alena Roberts; namely, when to take and when not to take your guide dog. I come at this from a point of view which Alena may not have expected--I am a blind person who has always used a cane and does not want a guide dog. I have sometimes not understood why my dog using friends drag their dog along. Here is a scenario which is difficult for me to understand. 

You are taking a cab to a restaurant, maybe by yourself, maybe to meet a friend. You will then take a cab home. 

1. You go from the door of your house to the cab. 

2. You go from the cab to the door of the restaurant, where the host or a waiter/waitress helps you find a table. 

3. You repeat the process in reverse, restaurant to cab, cab to home. 

You are not really doing any independent travel. Why, then, do you need your dog? It seems to me that it's a lot of trouble and hassle to take a dog on such an occasion, not to mention that the dog may be in the way at the table, or in the cab. Why not use your cane? 

I don't even understand why Ms. Roberts says she "dislikes using a cane. A cane is merely a tool, like a hammer or screw driver. I use it when I need it, and I'm glad to have it. I can't even imagine wanting a dog. 

Tim Hendel 

Huntsville, Alabama 

Dear Editor,

 

            I am writing in response to the comments made by Tim Hendel in your Readers' Forum of May 2. Mr. Hendel seems to contradict himself several times, leading me to believe he has not critically examined his own position. On the one hand, he asserts that blind people, when traveling to a restaurant by cab, are not doing any independent traveling. He supports this position by stating that, once a blind person gets inside the restaurant, the host or waiter helps them find a table. And how does the person get inside the restaurant, if not independently? Though Mr. Hendel does not specifically state so, am I to assume that the "help" to which he refers might be a sighted guide? Are we to also assume that, should the blind person wish to use the bathroom while at the restaurant, this should also be accomplished using sighted guide? Furthermore, when Mr. Hendel takes a cab to the restaurant, does he leave his cane behind like he contends guide dog users should their dogs? After all, what need has he of a cane, since he is not doing any independent traveling? 

Mr. Hendel engages in sanctimonious rhetoric when asserting that the cane is a tool, "like a hammer or a screwdriver. He fails to recognize that the same is true of a guide dog. I wonder if Mr. Hendel drives screws with a hammer and pounds nails with a screwdriver!

If Mr. Hendel uses his cane when traveling by cab to a restaurant, his assertion that a guide dog user has no need for a guide dog is fallacious! I appreciate his statement that he cannot imagine wanting a dog. Likewise, I cannot imagine not wanting a dog. I have had a dog in my life since I was four years old. When I lost my sight, a guide dog made perfect sense to me! I also use a white cane and travel just as independently as with my dog. It's all a matter of choice which tool I use. Should I use a claw hammer or a rubber mallet? The choice is based upon which is most effective for the job to be done. I also have a sledge hammer but I only use it when beating others over their heads with self-righteous indignation!

 

Marion Gwizdala, President

National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU)

National Federation of the Blind

President at NAGDU.ORG

Tampa, Florida