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

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Alysha,

Well said!  I've been trying to think of a way to express the same thing,
especially about wanting O&M using the dog.  I guess I think of O&M as
having to do with my skills at orientation and my ability to be mobile.  The
tool I use is just to keep me from running into things while I'm going where
I'm going.  So I want the instruction to be about problem solving, with
maybe a bit of observation and discussion -- or coaching, if appropriate --
on how I can better use the tool itself.  Does that make sense?

I always feel guilty referring to my dog as a tool.  /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Alysha
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:08 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Jury finds IA Dept. forBlind'sguidedog policy does
notdiscriminate

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 


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