[nagdu] Drop-offs

Margo and Elmo margo.downey at verizon.net
Sat Mar 14 16:04:39 UTC 2009


Wayne, I find your explanation very thorough and I would love to do the drop 
offs and monster routes.  They sound exciting.  I love to explore new places 
and don't mind getting lost because I learn new things that way--new 
locations, new stores, and so on.

margo and Elmo
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wayne Merritt" <wcmerritt at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 6:05 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Drop-offs


> AS for if you're being monitored, no. In reality, when you're out you
> could ask as many questions as you wanted, since it's just your word
> against what they know. And no, the question can't be "Can I call a
> cab?" I'm not sure if this is still done at the Centers, but probably
> so. At the end of your program, after 6-9 months, there are a series
> of travel related tests you have to complete. The drop is only one of
> them. The other is to compose and plan a route that takes you to 4
> cities/towns in your given area, going to one place in particular in
> each city/town. This is referred to as the "monster route." This task
> took me all day and into the night to complete and I was one tired
> puppy when I got back to my apartment. I actually got off the bus at
> the wrong stop but fortunately the bus came back to get me. I think
> someone was watching out for me during that process. I was doing good
> just staying awake while on the bus, much less getting off at the
> right stop. You're allowed to ask as many questions as you want on the
> monster route, which I did. For me, the monster was the day after my
> drop, so I felt like the monster made up for the drop, at least in
> terms of number of questions asked. The goal here is to plan trips to
> and visit places you've never been to before. We had to write out our
> trips and routes in Braile ahead of time, and we had to be specific
> too, such as catch the number 23 on the northeast corner of Main and
> Second at 12:34. The good thing was that after all was planned and we
> had our O&M person check it, we took the Braille agenda with us on the
> route, which was also good given all the details that I had to keep
> track of and bus times.
>
> I remember getting back to my apartment after the monster route at
> 8:30 at night, finding a message from a family member on my answering
> machine requesting me to call them right away when I got back, and my
> thought was, "Heck no, I'm going to bed," which I did. The only thing
> that's monitored on the drop is if you take the blindfold off if
> you're low vision, after being dropped off. There were stories among
> students that the staff person who dropped you off, drove off a ways
> and sat there initially jus to  see if you'd whip the blindfold off. I
> don't know if the staff person did anything in that event, since that
> didn't apply to me, but nonetheless that's the extent of their
> monitoring. It was quite humbling for me to hear the car rapidly drive
> away and then have the thought of, "I'm out in the middle of nowhere,
> what do I do?" I stood there getting more and more upset at this
> prospect, until finally the thought crossed my mind, "Well, I can
> either go that way, or that way," and I suddenly drinned and struck
> out in one direction.
>
> These are standard things at the NFB Centers and are not likely to
> change anytime soon. I know the drop sounds daunting, but believe me,
> by that point in your training, you can handle it. And the one
> question rule really doesn't matter, since one of the ideas of being
> at an NFB Center in the first place is learning how to travel in any
> circumstance, whetehr it be city, country, sidewalks or no, etc.
>
> Wayne
>
> On 3/13/09, Lora <blindhistory at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Marty-
>> I think it depends on the trainer because I never had to do thatand I 
>> went
>> to class in July of last year.
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 6:25 PM, Marty Rahn <marty.rahn at juno.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello everyone,
>>> What AnnaLisa says is true about Leader.  When I went in June of last 
>>> year
>>> to get Monty, we were dropped off in pairs to find our way back to the
>>> downtown training center toward the end of the last week of class.  They
>>> drop you off in an area where you've previously worked, so you have some
>>> familiarity with where you are.
>>> MartyWith Leader Dog Monty
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "AnnaLisa Anderson" <
>>> annalisa at sector14.net>
>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" <
>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 10:51 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Drop-offs
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi Jenine and all,
>>>>
>>>> Some of the trainers at Leader do drop offs for the new students.  I
>>>> think
>>>> they did in my team after we retrains, or whatever you call us, left. 
>>>> I
>>>> believe if they're going to do it, it's something they do the very last
>>>> week
>>>> of class, and the students do it in pairs, as I understand it.  We 
>>>> didn't
>>>> have that in my first class there in 1991 though.  I think it depends 
>>>> on
>>>> the
>>>> training team.  I don't think they make it too difficult though, 
>>>> meaning
>>>> they are dropped off in a familiar area where they have worked before,
>>>> and
>>>> they work their way back to the training center downtown.  I think they
>>>> do
>>>> post trainers along the route back, but they keep their distance, 
>>>> however
>>>> they will help if you get in a real jam or if a problem comes up with 
>>>> the
>>>> dog or something.  Don't quote me on this, I've heard about it 
>>>> secondhand
>>>> from students who did have drop offs, and I'm probably not remembering 
>>>> it
>>>> accurately.  It's getting late too and my brain isn't functioning at 
>>>> full
>>>> capacity right now either. <smile>
>>>>
>>>> AnnaLisa and Sundance
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>>>> Checked by AVG.
>>>> Version: 7.5.557 / Virus Database: 270.11.10/1995 - Release Date: 
>>>> 3/11/09
>>>> 8:28 AM
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nagdu mailing list
>>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>>> nagdu:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/marty.rahn%40juno.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> Version: 8.0.237 / Virus Database: 270.11.12/1998 - Release Date: 
>>> 03/12/09
>>> 18:23:00
>>>
>>> ____________________________________________________________
>>> Looking for insurance? Compare and save today. Click here.
>>>
>>> http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTInoNn1WxS0v8wb4ncA81RxTtvuYH7gTPF085eaDyaQTQ4isavBLq/
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nagdu mailing list
>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> nagdu:
>>>
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/blindhistory%40gmail.com
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Lora
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> nagdu:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/wcmerritt%40gmail.com
>>
>
>
> -- 
> My blog:
> http://wayneism.blogspot.com
> My websites:
> www.wayneism.com
> www.whitecaneday.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/margo.downey%40verizon.net 





More information about the NAGDU mailing list