[nagdu] Introduction

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

David,

Welcome!  And thanks for sharing.  I am not so far past being just where you
are with RP -- and all that goes with that, which it sounds like you know.
I was starting to ask 'real" questions about guide dogs about then, too,
although I believed I had too much vision.  I just wanted to be ready as I
could be when the time came to make a concrete decision about getting one.
I was younger than you (still am, but not as much as I like to think I am!),
but older than many with RP are when they get to that stage.  I was
diagnosed as a child; I think my RP just remained stable below the point of
legal or functional blindness for 10 or 15 years extra before it decided to
get busy and do what it does. /smile/

You're already doing the best thing you can do with RP, BTW.  Stay ahead of
it!  I like to keep my skills, tools, decision-making, etc., at least two
stages ahead of whatever my current level of vision loss is.  That way, I
have some hope of coming through the next one without a whole lot of
disruption to my life and stuff.  It workds pretty well, although I find the
"brain rewiring" part of adapting to a new progression to be, um, well...
Interesting.  Much in the way LSD trips I've read or been told about could
be described as interesting.  /grin/

Anyway, I have a 3-year-old poodle guide named Mitzi, whom I owner-trained.
There are a few other owner trainers on the list, which surprised me at
first, since I couldn't imagine than anyone else could possibly be crazy
enough to do such a thing. /grin/  As it turns out, my fellow owner-trainers
here and elsewhere are some of the sanest people I know.  There are times
I'm not so sure about myself. /smile/

Anyway, feel free to listen in, ask questions, share your comments,
opinions.  This is where I learned to be a guide dog handler, which I needed
to know to be a guide dog trainer.   When you are ready to decide if a guide
dog is what you want, you will know what you're getting into! /grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of David Baker
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:47 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Introduction

Hello, list members.  My name is David Baker and I have been lurking for a
few
days and wanted to introduce myself.

I live in Atlanta, GA.  I am 69, retired, in good health and spend my time
cooking, gardening and web-surfing.   I have very poor night vision and have
become more insecure lately when in stores and around groups of people.  I
have
late onset RP with substantial remaining vision -- just over 10 degrees with
good acuity after cataract surgery.  I have a fairly dominant personality
and
find it hard to let go of things, but realize that my vision has ideas other
than those I might wish for.  I am not ready for a guide dog, because I am
concerned that I have too much vision to let a dog lead and my current
living
situation is such that I may not get out and about often enough to maintain
his
or her training level.  Perhaps I'd get out more with a guide dog, but I'll
have
to think on that.  We currently have an 18 month old female 50 pound lab
husky
mix who is a real sweetheart.

If no one is offended, I'd appreciate just being able to sit back and listen
as
people talk about their guide friends to get a better feel of your/their
world
and an idea of what kinds of things I need to be looking at as I get closer
to
needing help beyond my cane.

Thanks for listening,  David

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