[nagdu] cane skills as prerequisite for guide dog

[Jewel S.]

Check out the article "Why do You Want to Make That Child Blind?" from
the October 2009 edition of the Braille Monitor if you're interested
in why/how legally blind children don't get the training they realy
need.

~Jewel

On 4/4/10, Michael Hingson <mhingson at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Actually, for many years the belief was that good TRAVEL skills were
> necessary to get a guide dog as far as the schools were concerned.  This is
> still the case for the most part.
>
> However, with an aging population guide dog schools have come to understand
> that each person's use of a guide should be examined on its own merit.  Some
> people will not use a guide to go further than down the street to the house
> of a friend or to the local store.  Some guide dog schools have realized
> that the needs of the elderly who may not travel as much are just as
> important as those of younger persons.
>
> For the most part schools still wish to see good travel and orientation
> skills.  This does usually go along with good cane skills since the hard
> part is not using the cane but rather having the confidence to use it to go
> anywhere.
>
>
> Mike Hingson
>
>
> The Michael Hingson Group, INC.
>      “Speaking with Vision”
>                  Michael Hingson, President
>                          (415) 827-4084
>                    info at michaelhingson.com
>                    www.michaelhingson.com
>
>
> for info on the new KNFB Reader Mobile, visit:
> http://knfbreader.michaelhingson.com
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of David Andrews
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 8:47 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] cane skills as prerequisite for guide dog
>
> Tracy:
>
> As I understand it -- most of the Dog Guide schools say that people
> need good cane skills in order to be accepted.  It sounds like this
> isn't necessarily true, which I have always suspected.
>
> Dave
>
> At 01:32 PM 4/2/2010, you wrote:
>>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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/mhingson%40sbcglobal.
> net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/herekittykat2%40gmail.com
>