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

Tamara Smith-Kinney tamara.8024 at comcast.net
Wed Feb 25 06:50:33 UTC 2009


Angie,

Too true!  Sad to say, there are still places where there are effectively no
options.  Where I lived the first 6 or 7 years of legal blindness, I only
heard of other blind people in the area -- because someone knew a family
member or spouse of a recently blind person.  That's because the blind
people simply, well, stayed home.  No independent transit, no living skills
training, no mobility training...  So they become dependent on others and
simply stop going anywhere.  Sad, Sad.  You have to cross the state and
attend class at the VR agency's headquarters to get any training at all.  In
order to come across to attend training, you need to have independent
mobility skills and life skills.  In case you're wondering, looking one of
the directors in the eye and pointing that there's a fundamental flaw in
that policy produces an interesting reaction.  /smile/ 
 
Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Angie Matney
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 10:57 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind's guide dog policy
doesnot discriminate

Hi Rebecca,

Your position presupposes that Stephanie did, in fact, have other choices
available to her. I don't know that this is the case. Please, somebody,
correct me if I'm wrong; but if memory serves, she was a day-student. For
her to attend another program would have required leaving her home and
family. 

I'mnot suggesting that she should therefore be able to unilaterally modify
center policies, but the idea that people seeking rehab services always have
other options is one that sounds nice in theory but is often not supported
in reality.

Best,

Angie



-original message-
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind's guide dog policy
doesnot discriminate
From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (IT)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at ngc.com>
Date: 02/20/2009 1:25 PM

Hmm, reading this (and Dan W, your post was the one that got my
attention) I agree with the decition. 
Stephanie chose this program and presumably knew the requirements. Why
did she do that if she couldn't or wouldn't fulfill her end of the deal.

It'd be like taking survival type training and then complaining that you
couldn't go to the grocery store and get a steak when it was dinnertime.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Dan Weiner
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 5:46 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind's guide dog policy
doesnot discriminate

Absolutely shameful verdict, the Iowas Center is wrong.

JMO

Dan W.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Wilson,Joanne (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 5:25 PM
To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] 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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