[nagdu] The California Guide Dog Board

Jenine Stanley jeninems at wowway.com
Tue Mar 24 14:25:59 UTC 2009


I am speaking here completely for myself and with no affiliation to GDF. 

My biggest issue about the California Guide Dog Board is why it only
encompasses guide dog schools. I know the reason. During one of the attempts
to "sunset" this board in the '90's, it was proposed that service dog
schools also be covered. To put it bluntly, they had a good lobby and were
exempt. 

I find this insulting to blind people if one takes as the premise for having
such a board to protect us from fraudulent schools and 1-man operations.
Given the wide range of disabilities and types of training possible to
mitigate them, and given the small nature of most service dog programs, one
would think that the potential for fraud and poor training would be much
higher. Many people, such as parents of autistic children, are desperate for
services and hence potential targets for fraud or poor training and
aftercare. Yet they require no such board, even separate from the guide dog
regulations. 

That's the overriding issue for me and until that issue is addressed at the
state level, the rest of the work of this board is what it is, written into
laws and regulations. 

 Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com





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