[nagdu] college & guide dogs

Sun May 31 19:49:28 UTC 2009

Having a right to live in a dorm is distinguishable from giving people
options of who and what they live with. It is not uncommon for people to
change roommates in college. It can be anything from an allergy to perfume,
dislike of parties, loud music, dislike of the individual and more. If your
roommate turned out to be a smoker and you were allergic to cigarette smoke
you would request a change. Unless smoking is prohibited the individual
doesn't have to list that they are a smoker, nor does their smoking lessen
their right to live in the dorm. When I use the word "have to" I mean that
you are not required to do so. Sometimes, though less frequently today, it
is better not to raise a flag of any special circumstances because of all of
the baggage that goes with it. For example, if an airline finds out
that you travel with a dog guide they may schedule an assistant to meet you
in security and take you through the airport, deposit you in a chair near
the gate door and have someone walk you down with the other preboarders, and
sit you in a bulk head seat. I do not want any of these accommodations in
general and I never want them thrust on me, so I do not tell them that I am
flying with a dog guide. It's pretty obvious when I arrive and generally, I
have  no problem making the arrangements I am entitled to have, and
accepting or not accepting any of the accommodations or curtesies extended
to me. The important thing is that I'm the paying customer who knows her
needs and abilities better than some well meaning individual. That does not
give me the right to be rude or abusive to anyone who extends those
curtesies or who tries to make arrangements they think are best for me
without discussing them with me. Perhaps another example of the word right
that sometimes makes better sense to people, is that If you are a licensed
driver you have the expectation of being able to drive the roads without
being profiled unnecessarily. Driving is a privilege, not a right, however,
if you drive recklessly or disobey the state laws relating to driving you
will lose that privilege, but you have a right to a fair procedure in having
that privilege revoked. Hope that clarifies my point rather than muddying
it. 

I think that knowing that you have a right to enter a restaurant, live in a
dorm or rent an apartment accompanied by your dog guide means that you
shouldn't feel that you need to apologize to anyone who happens to be
allergic, not that you should be insensitive. So, you change roommates, or
sit at a table a little further away from that individual, but you don't sit
on a patio in the winter or in a corner of the kitchen.  
-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Nicole B. Torcolini
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 11:58 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] college & guide dogs

So, let me just make sure that I'm understanding you.  You expect for the 
roommate to move in without any notice whatsoever and live with the dog. 
Most people would not have a problem with this, but I could imagine just the

wrong situation where this could go wrong.  I view this a little differently

than a hotel or an apartment.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Garry and Joy Relton" <relton30857 at cox.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] college & guide dogs

You don't need to do anything. You have a right to live in the dorms with
your dog and the work with him/her throughout the campus and have him/her
attend class. There isn't any need to notify them about anything. The only
issue that I can think of is if you had a roommate who was allergic to dogs.
As far as parking your dog you have the same responsibilities for clean up
as you would any other public place. That's generally easily worked out. By
that I mean you need to find a safe place and have the ability to locate a
trash can. By safe I am referring to any debree that might not be safe for
the dog as well as late night walking with your dog. I used dogs through all
three of my degrees. I had professors in law school who put my dog on the
seating chart. I even had a professor in undergrads who used to swear that
he could get a reading on how interesting he was by how my dog responded. If
she was sleeping too much he figured it wasn't too interesting. The funny
thing was that he was one of those people who would move around a talk a
bit. Sometimes, he'd put on different hats to role play different people.
One day he did this and put his fist down a little hard on his desk at the
slide projector and sparks came out of one of his hats. That got Vicki's
attention for sure.

I found that my class mates on campus were very friendly toward the dog and
learned easily what the rules were with respect to talking to or petting
her. A lot will depend on your attitude. If you are outgoing friendly and
yet firm about the rules and their need I believe that other students will
respect your needs and wishes.

Best of luck to both of you.

Joy with Belle

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Katrin Andberg
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 7:31 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
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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