[nagdu] Centers for the Blind and others with additional disabilities

Mardi Hadfield wolfsinger.lakota at gmail.com
Mon Feb 23 00:02:44 UTC 2009


Hi every one,   Julie, thanks for bringing up the subject of people with
additional disabilities besides blindness. While reading this thread, I
thought of Rox as well as my self and put off posting and decided to keep
reading to see what views came up. I fully agree ,that it would be very
difficult and in some cases impossible to function with out the use of a
dog.Rox's situation more so than mine. For the most part ,my dogs have not
retrieved dropped items for me, except my first guide as she was a service
dog before she was a guide.  I do however depend on my dog to tell me which
direction sound is coming from, as I can not tell that on my own . Even
though I do hear sound, being deaf in one ear,I can not tell what direction
that sound is coming from and do rely on my dog to tell me this. I for the
most part do not use my dogs to lean on, even though they are strong,they
are not tall dogs and I prefer to use my crutch for that. Now that I have a
Shepherd that is bigger, I will probably lean on him to transfer from my
wheelchair. Shaman is also a natural retriever so I have been teaching him
to retrieve dropped items for me.I am able to use a cane but I feel so much
safer using my dog because of the hearing factor. I do wish I had gotten
more cane traveling instruction when I went to our Tucson center. I have
since gotten additional instruction through Vocational Rehab,but I still
feel safer with my dog. I do not always agree with all aspects of NFB, but
there are alot of things I do agree with. It is nice to be able to have a
place to voice these opinions and disagree on some things and still respect
those people with other opinions than mine.  I do respect every one on this
list and enjoy hearing every one's opinions  and who knows, I might just
change my opinion after hearing some thing from some one else.  This is a
great list and I feel like we are like a family , that can come to the table
and discuss things with each other, like this.  Have a great day, Mardi and
Nala,semi-retired and Shaman,gdit



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