[nagdu] another perspective

[the Pawpower Pack]

Julie,

Thanks for bringing up this topic.  I am blind and profoundly deaf  
with a vestibular disorder which makes it impossible to bend to  
retrieve dropped objects or do things like empty the dryer.  I can't  
use a cane and be safe, and that is just that.  How could someone like  
me attend a center if my dog who is not only my eyes, but my ears and  
my balance and my ability to walk upright in a straight line is forced  
to be in another room away from me?

I depend so much on my dog that I have two.  No they do not work out  
in public together at the same time, yes I switch them out and if one  
has worked with me outside the home all day, the other does things for  
me when I am home.  Things like alerting me to door bells, phones,  
microwave timers, emptying the dryer, retrieving dropped objects,  
helping me in and out of the bath tub.  I can't imagine getting  
through eight hours in a day without a dog.  I wouldn't be very  
independent.  Also it would be very frightening for a D/deaf/HOH  
person to be without a hearing dog to alert to smoke alarms.  People  
may say that of course someone will come and alert the person with  
hearing loss but I have found that this doesn't really work and in the  
rush and hustle to get outside the D/deaf/HOH person is forgotten about.
I wouldn't want to put myself in that kind of situation because I was  
not allowed to use a dog.


Rox and the Kitchen Bitches
Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD and Laveau guide dog, CGC.
Do not meddle in the affaires of dragons, for you are crunchy and  
taste good with ketchup.

  pawpower at cox.net

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