[Ccb-alumni] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind's guide dog policydoes not discriminate

Fri Feb 20 06:38:39 UTC 2009

This is a correct verdict.  I know that CCb has had guide dog users go 
through the center.  I was a student there when the first person who was a 
guide dog user came to the center.  Once some of the kinks were ironed out. 
It went well.  The student didn't use her dog on travel.  This student and 
the staff worked to make her training a success.

Melissa R. Green
Someone's opinion of you does not have to become your reality.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George McDermith" <george.mcdermith at gmail.com>
To: "Colorado Center for the Blind mailing list" <ccb-alumni at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 5:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Ccb-alumni] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind's guide dog 
policydoes not discriminate

>    Great to see this being upheld. Thanks for sharing.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Wilson,Joanne (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)"
> <JWilson at nfb.org>
> To: <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:24 PM
> Subject: [Ccb-alumni] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind's guide dog policy 
> does
> not discriminate
>
>
>
> ----------
> From: Brammer, Robert [AG] [mailto:rbrammer at ag.state.ia.us]
> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:53 PM
> To: Brammer, Robert [AG]
> Subject: Atty. Gen. release: Jury finds IA Dept.
> for Blind's guide dog policy does not discriminate
>
> To News Editors.   From Bob Brammer (Iowa
> Attorney General's Office - 515-281-6699.)
> Please find a release pasted below.  This will be
> posted soon at
> <http://www.iowaattorneygeneral.org/>www.IowaAttorneyGeneral.org
> .  A jury entered a verdict Wednesday in this
> case in Polk County District Court.
> Best regards,  Bram
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> For immediate release - Thursday, February 19, 2009.
> Contact Bob Brammer - 515-281-6699
>
> Jury finds Iowa Department for the Blind's
> Guide Dog Policy Does Not Discriminate
>
>             Des Moines.  A Polk County jury has
> rejected a Des Moines woman's claim that the
> State of Iowa Department for the Blind
> discriminated against her by refusing her request
> to use a guide dog while she attended the
> Department's orientation and adjustment training program.
>
>             The Department for the Blind
> orientation and training program is a
> comprehensive program that utilizes a totally
> non-visual approach to teaching blindness
> skills.  Students with partial vision are
> required to wear eyeshades to prevent reliance
> upon any visual cues during training.  Department
> policies prohibit the use of any visual aids
> within the orientation and training program,
> including guide dogs.  The Department has no
> objection to guide dogs in other situations.
>
>             Stephanie Dohmen, who is legally
> blind, attended the program for several months
> beginning in September 2000 and sought to
> re-enter the program in June 2002 accompanied by her guide dog.
>
>             Dohmen claimed in her lawsuit that
> the Department's policy violated her rights under
> the Iowa Civil Rights Act and under federal laws
> that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability.
>
>             After a six-day trial, the
> eight-person jury rejected Dohmen's claims in a verdict entered Wednesday.
>
>
>             The Department for the Blind, which
> was represented in the trial by the Iowa Attorney
> General's Office, argued that a totally
> non-visual approach - and training without
> assistance of a guide-dog or other visual aids -
> is the most effective approach for
> visually-impaired persons who are learning skills
> and techniques for dealing with blindness.
>
>             The Department places no limitations
> upon the use of guide dogs in other settings,
> including in the Department for the Blind
> building in downtown Des Moines.   For example,
> Karen Keninger, the Director of the Department,
> uses a guide dog, and the dog accompanied
> Keninger during her testimony at the trial.
>
>             The orientation program typically
> includes about six months of full-time training
> in various problem-solving skills, such as
> cane-travel on public streets, using Braille,
> using computers, and dealing with many other situations.
>
>             The Department for the Blind's
> orientation and adjustment program was
> established in 1959 and is considered by many to
> be one of the most effective in the country.
>
>             During the trial, the State
> Department for the Blind presented testimony from
> Joanne Wilson and Frederic K. Schroeder, each a
> former Commissioner of the U.S. Rehabilitation
> Services Administration, which oversees programs
> for the blind around the country.
>
>             "Iowa's orientation program
> profoundly changes lives," said Wilson, who also
> is Executive Director of the National Federation
> of the Blind.  "It works.  It's a cutting-edge
> program and a model for other states."  Wilson is
> a Webster City native and ISU graduate who went
> through the Iowa Department for the Blind's orientation program herself.
>
>             Schroeder said:  "To me the central
> point is that individuals have a choice in the
> type of training they take.  While programs must
> and should make reasonable accommodations, they
> cannot be required to alter the fundamentals of the program."
>
> - 30 -
>
>
>
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