[nagdu] Drop-offs

Mon Mar 16 20:48:34 UTC 2009

But can you ask to phone a friend? 
Sorry guys, I couldn't resist that one. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Wayne Merritt
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 6:05 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
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
>>>
>>>
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> --
> Lora
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