[nagdu] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind's guide dog policydoesnot discriminate

[Dan Weiner]

The Iowa Center, I presume, is in the United States and there is an ADA and
state laws here, it's not an island unto itself.

If the Iowa Center were called the Iowa Cane Center, and only cane training
and no other skill were offered, than maybe I could see it.  Still I would
advocate for the dog being allowed to accompany the individual on the
premises.

Laws aren't just made for the rest of the world, blind training centers must
abide by them, too.

Referring to the dog as a visual aid  is misleading.  Obviously, the dog
sees, if the dogs were b lined we probably wouldn't be using them--smile.
Every guide dog program teaches us that we're supposed to give commands to
our dogs, I assume.

The guide dog issue, or rather what I perceive the NFB leadership's approach
to the guide dog issue, is the one serious divergence I have with the
Federation.  This is from someone who got involved when he was a teen-ager.

Well, also I'm not favorably inclined to the NFB's position on audible
pedestrian signals, also, but that's another subject.

The obsession with white cane travel and the tacit implication that those
who don't use a cane are somehow less capable, together with what I've seen
as a tendency to discourage people from saying anything glowing about the
dog while glorifying the cane doesn't sit well with me.

The guide dog and the cane are different mobility aids.  I personally
believe the dog to be superior for my situation and my type of travel,
There are things I can do easily with a dog that I would be hard-pressed to
do with a cane, such as cross streets in a straight  line.
Anyway, I've gone a bit beyond the question you posed, Rebecca.  My short
answer is that, as I said state rehab centers and even NFB centers should,
and in my opinion, must accommodate access with a guide dog.  I view it as
an access issue and access denial.  Could it be  that some people discourage
the use of guide dogs because they, the dogs,  see and for no other reason?
I'm not sure that's true, but I'm posing the question to stir up the pot a
bit.
My personal approach to life isn't to prove that I'm able to do things all
the time independently, I mean without help. 

I would say that as an adult, I do have some idea of what my skills are and
if I felt my cane skills are adequate, wanted to work my dog, and received a
closed-minded  access denial, I would be loathe to patronize such a program.
What would happen if I just wanted to attend such a program, for say, my
computer skills?

Now, for the record, nothing in this post is meant to cast aspersions on any
of my list friends, these are just my opinions, strongly held ones, of
course. 

Cordially,

Dan W.