[nagdu] Here's your dog!

[Haben Girma]

Awesome annectdotes Ann! Did they ever retrieve these magazines out of 
trash bins? You know, I would really really love to just walk into a 
doctor's office and pick up a random braille magazine to read while I 
waited for my appointment. The thing about braille, you never really get 
to read what you don't want to read. At a doctor's office you're sort of 
forced, out of boredom, to read whatever magazines they have. Braille is 
rarely available like that, you have to order it from the library or go 
to a website, find a particular book, and download it. How about if we 
ask the airport/hotel staff to leave the magazine there for the next 
blind person? They'd probably think the next blind person is as rare as 
a braille magazine in a plane....

Ann Edie wrote:
> No, to your question about the guide harness.  But if you really want 
> to have fun some time, try leaving a Braille magazine that you have 
> finished reading on an airplane, in a hotel lobby, or in any other 
> public place where someone can track you down.
>
> I've had discarded magazines follow me from the plane to the baggage 
> claim area, and I've had them appear on my breakfast table in the 
> hotel restaurant days after being abandoned in the hotel lobby.  I've 
> even had them presented to me on a revisit to a doctor's office, 
> months after I've left them behind after reading them.
>
> It always amazes me that this happens, because all of these places are 
> characterized by stacks of print magazines, read, shared, and 
> discarded by the customers, passengers, patients who spend time mostly 
> waiting in those areas.  Obviously, sighted people see a Braille 
> document of any kind as an object of such rarity and value that they 
> can't imagine it ever being deliberately abandoned.  And just as 
> obviously, they find it easy to believe that the blind person is so 
> scatter-brained or careless that he/she requires others to gather and 
> return his/her prized possessions to him/her.
>
> By the way, they also expect gratitude when the marvelous Braille 
> magazine is placed back in your hands.  They are completely nonplused 
> when I say to them, "Oh, I had discarded that magazine, because I was 
> finished reading it. You're welcome to take it if you wish."
>
> I don't know if anyone else has ever had such experiences.  But it has 
> become something of a game I play with airline and hotel staff--see if 
> you can lose the Braille magazine--Reminds me of the song, "The Cat 
> Came Back."
>
> Best,
> Ann
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Haben Girma" <habnkid at aol.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 3:19 AM
> Subject: [nagdu] Here's your dog!
>
>
>>
>> Sometimes when I'm at the counter at a store or cafe, I"ll 
>> deliberately drop my cane by my feet so I can fish into my backpack 
>> to get my wallet. And sometimes, like today, when I've finished my 
>> purchase and am putting everything away in my backpack, a staff 
>> member will come around to pick up my cane and hand it to me. Now, I 
>> knew exactly where my cane was. In fact, I could feel it by my foot! 
>> I was going to pick it up right after I put my wallet in my backpack. 
>> The staff member was either very eager to help, or worried that I 
>> wouldn't be able to find my cane.
>>
>> Now I"m wondering, do any of you have similar experiences with dogs? 
>> Do people in the public say, "here's his harness!" when you already 
>> know exactly where your guide dog is located?
>>
>> Haben
>>
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>
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