[nagdu] college & guide dogs

[Linda Gwizdak]

Hi Katrin,
I didn't have a guide dog when I was in college - my vision was still quite 
good and I could travel without a cane or dog.

I had a friend at college in Boston who had her first guide. She and I were 
roommates and I sure enjoyed having a dog in our room! She started out with 
a single room but later we decided to move in together.  We had our first 
apartment together after graduation and we lived together for several years. 
By that time, my own vision deteriorated and I got my first guide a year 
after we graduated from college.  I got my Associates Degree.

I helped my roommate teach her dog to ignore squirrels and birds by alerting 
my roommate to the dog's looking at the animals and I had a code word to 
tell my friend when to correct the dog. Several sessions of this resulted in 
the dog giving up on that and it was better for her to concentrate on her 
work (grin!).

My roommate used to leave her dog in the room when she went to the cafeteria 
because back then other students weren't as respectful towards a working 
dog - they'd drop stuff for the dog to snarf up off the floor.  So, life's 
too short. I could see pretty well myself so I was the sighted guide for my 
roommate and another blind friend and it all worked out fine.  I'm sure 
things are different now in college cafeterias so just work your dog in 
there as you would any restaurant setting.

Many years later, I did return to college to finish my BA degree and I had a 
dog there.  Everyone loved my dog. I doubt you'll have any problems. If you 
do, you always know that you can come to us to help you out!

What are you going to study?  There's so much now to assist blind and 
disabled students in their college experience that were unheard of when I 
went.

Good for you to do this and good luck!

Linda and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Katrin Andberg" <katrin at maplewooddog.com>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 4:31 PM
Subject: [nagdu] college & guide dogs


>I have been thinking for some time about going back to school and was
> wondering if anyone on the list had any helpful hints about going through
> the college process with a guide.  What did you have to do to notify the
> school you have a guide?  Were there any problems navigating a campus with
> your guide?  Did you run into problems with professors or other staff or
> students because of your guide?  Anything else that was helpful or not
> helpful to you?
>
>
>
> I remember last time I tried university it was 7 years ago before I had 
> any
> supports and to this day I have no clue what that campus looked like or 
> how
> to get around it.  I knew how to get to 1 building and then sort of 
> navigate
> in that building, usually ended up at the wrong place and needed someone 
> to
> help me back to class.  Needless to say my college experience was fairly
> limited and I didn't last 2 semesters.  Now with James and other supports 
> I
> hope to try again and have more success.
>
>
>
> Thanks for any discussion.
>
>
>
> Katrin & James
>
>
>
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