[nagdu] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind'sguidedog policy does notdiscriminate

[Alysha]

As others have mentioned in their posts, I think we need to consider that 
much more than just cane travel is offered at training centers. So say 
there's a guide dog user who is comfortable with mobility but who needs some 
work on cooking or technology or braille. Then, there doesn't seem to be a 
program out there this person could attend to learn the necessary skills 
without risking damage to their relationship with their dog. I do think that 
cane travel is quite important and that all guide dog users should be 
comfortable with it, but it seems like all the training centers I've heard 
about mandate it as the only means of mobility to be used during the time 
one is there. So I suppose I'm wondering why there are no programs (that I 
know of) that accommodate the potential needs of guide dog users instead of 
expecting them to essentially temporarily give up their chosen mobility aid. 
The important thing is that we can get around independently, not whether we 
do so with a dog or a cane. Why is it that people seem to link mobility 
classes only with cane travel? I think a guide dog user could still benefit 
from mobility lessons that aren't focused on the training of the dog. The 
problem solving and orientation skills taught in good mobility programs are 
useful to you no matter what mobility aid you use. So I think it is fair for 
a program to demand competency with a cane, but I do not think that it is 
right to restrict the choices of guide dog users to either doing without 
training in the myriad of skills taught at centers or giving up the use of 
their dogs for a significant fraction of the day.

Alysha