[Blindtlk] Canes and Dogs, the In-House Checkup

[Peter Donahue]

Good afternoon everyone,

    I'm increasingly becoming convinced that some of this misunderstanding 
is being generated by our own guide dog users and not just those outside the 
federation. This came clear to me judging from the reactions of those 
attending this year's NAGDU Meeting in Dallas last summer concerning several 
issues being discussed.
    For years the NFB has been trying to convince guide dog schools to end 
the practice of retaining ownership of their dogs and adopt a policy similar 
to that of The Seeing Eye. Put simply as Lucas Frank said last summer "We 
have no (Ownership policy)! When students complete training they leave the 
school with their dog and it is there's."We also know that a number of 
schools that retain ownership have wrongfully taken dogs from their handlers 
with no explaination of why. We just picketted Amazon last Wednesday. I'll 
retract this belief concerning the use of guide dogs when NAGDU organizes 
pickets of guide dog programs that wrongfully take dogs from their blind 
handlers to bring public awareness to this shabby practice.

        Likewise I worked with several NAGDU Members to craft a "Guide Dog 
consumer Bill of Rights." During the NAGDU meeting schools at the convention 
were asked to indicate whether or not they would "Sign on" and recognize the 
rights of the blind consumers they serve. Some refused to comment. Others 
side-stepped the issue all together and still others wanted to "Negotiate." 
I shure hope we don't go down the negotiation path and allow these outfits 
to water down this document. As far as I know not one guide dog program has 
signed on to the Guide Dog Consumer Bill of Rights.

    Going back to the matter of ownership retention when Marion Gwizdala and 
a few others spoke out strongly against the beliefs of guide dog programs 
that ownership was necessary pittifully few in attendence applauded. Yet 
these same people joind others to help bring the house down when it came to 
cheering on those that spoke in opposition to the continued payment of 
subminamum wages to blind shop workers! If you asked me something is very 
wrong with that picture!

    If the NFB was more agressive in addressing these matters we would be 
more visible and people would know that we do indeed recognize one's choice 
to use a guide dog for independent travel and are a force in the affairs of 
guide dog users. If folks find this offensive I'll gladly retrack what I 
said when the following conditions are met:

1. Greater publicity is given to the practice of ownership retention of dogs 
by guide dog schools.
2. All schools recognize the NFB'S Guide Dog Consumer Bill of Rights as it 
was originally drafted.
3. More is done to urge all guide dog programs to employ blind persons as 
guide dog trainers and class instructors.
4. (This is the big one.) We entertain discussion concerning the NFB'S 
establishing its own guide dog program; a program operated by guide dog 
users for guide dog users!

    I have repeatedly suggested such a discussion to President Gwizddala but 
to date it has not been an item for discussion during the NAGDU Meeting.

    If there are still folks that think we're anty guide dog we should look 
within our organization to see if there are actions and lack of actions that 
are still perpetuating this myth. Persuing more agressive solutions to the 
issues I've discussed above could put us further down the road to ending 
this misunderstanding. All the best.


Peter Donahue