[nagdu] cane skills as prerequisite for guide dog

[cheryl echevarria]

Albert you have never been to a convention, there are tons of blind kids 
using canes.

Cheryl Echevarria
Independent Travel Consultant
http://Echevarriatravel.com
1-866-580-5574

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Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Albert J Rizzi" <albert at myblindspot.org>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] cane skills as prerequisite for guide dog


> Why is it a requirement for being considered getting a guide dog anyway? I
> would like to understand the rationale. I am not agreeing or disagreeing
> just wondering about the reasons. Then too, if cane mobility is so 
> integral
> to independence, why are there some schools of thought on not introducing
> the cane to toddlers or blind youth as soon as they can hold one?
>
> Albert J. Rizzi, M.Ed.
> CEO/Founder
> My Blind Spot, Inc.
> 90 Broad Street - 18th Fl.
> New York, New York  10004
> www.myblindspot.org
> PH: 917-553-0347
> Fax: 212-858-5759
> "The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one who is
> doing it."
>
>
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Tracy Carcione
> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 2:33 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: [nagdu] cane skills as prerequisite for guide dog
>
> Marion, I don't necessarily agree that good cane skills should be a
> prerequisite for getting a guide dog.  It's a nice theory.  It would
> certainly be helpful.  But I know too many people who don't have
> spectacular cane skills, but do great with a dog.  Some of them are older
> people, who started getting dogs when cane training was not very
> available.  Some of them are from places where services for blind people
> are not very good.  Some of them went blind as senior citizens, and quite
> a few agencies don't serve that population very well, since they won't be
> employed.  Should we tell these people they have to wait until they can
> somehow get cane training?  I don't think so. I've met enough people for
> whom the dog was the thing that got them back out, living their lives, and
> I think getting out and living one's life is a great thing. I'm not
> willing to stand in someone's way over whether or not their cane skills
> measure up to some philosophical mark.
>
> Should we take good orientation as good enough?  Or should the guide dog
> schools offer cane training to prospective applicants who they feel should
> have it? They seem like reasonable approaches to me, and I believe they
> are
> the ones being carried out. Encouraging good cane skills is fine, but I
> wouldn't make it a prerequisite for a guide dog.
> Tracy
>
>
>
>
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