[nagdu] looking for research

Thu Apr 22 20:38:41 UTC 2010

She's Sociology/Anthropology.  She does a lot of volunteering abroad during
the summer on disability-related stuff, too.  So I learn a lot from even her
casual e-mails.  /smile/  End up feeling like an ignoramus now and then,
too, but I like people who can make me feel stupid for some reason.  /grin/

Anyway, she's done a couple of things on facets of guide dog use.  She's not
ready to publish yet, so I don't really have her permission to use or share
her work widely.  But I really do enjoy reading her stuff and discussing her
research.  This last term, I just get updates, since it's all crunch time
for her.  /smile/  I have another friend who went back to school under ARRA
back in eastern Oregon who is finishing up this term after taking some
unimaginable number of credits, so I feel deprived but get a vicarious
thrill out of their accomplishments.

Anyway, my younger friends' studies and sharing have given me a lot of
insight while I continue learning where and how I fit in with my new
cultural status.  Which is still changing as my health improves, so I'm
kinda behind in that aspect of adaptation to blindness.  Thinking about some
of the whys and wherefores of how people respond to and interact with me
instead of the other way way around (where it's all about me) seems to give
me better results in having positive interactions.  And, of course, the
Mitzi dog plays her part, too.  /smile/

So, anyway, the different premise of the thesis, and one I've been having
fun observing and thinking about, is why people are friendlier to guide dog
users than cane users.  Thatps a paraphrase, but it gets the gist across.

So much discussion of the social impact of our guide dogs on our lives has
to do with the "guide dogs give us dignity" angle, as well as the sort of
assumption that the dog *is* our social life because the dog provides
companionship and so forth.  In a surface way, those things are pretty much
true -- our dogs are partners in their work and companions when they're not
working.  The giving of dignity concept is more comlex -- some people may
feel more dignified using a guide dog than they do with a cane; some
observers may grant the guide dog user more dignity than the cane user....
But I often get the feeling that the dog is supposed to be giving the inner
resource of personal dignity, so I get all snarky about that notion.  /grin/

Anyway, I enjoy any discussions about how guide users as individuals
perceive the way others perceive them....  Especially since the fundamental
reason why we're going around with either canes or guide dogs in the first
place alters our perceptions of others, since we don't get those tiny visual
social signals and clues from expressions or body language.  I used to
really worry how that would go for me, but now I seem to have figured out to
read people without those visual cues so that I can relate to them in a
positive way.  Unless they believe it is their duty to help me in some way,
in which case I don't respond appropriately in their minds so they get
really hostile.  Oh, well.  In those cases, the so-called help is more often
obstructive and even damaging than not, so I don't really want to do
whatever it is I'm supposed to do let them help me.  So that limits the
interaction.  /evil grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 11:44 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] looking for research

What is her field of study?

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 2:40 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] looking for research

Yeah, she graduates soon.  I'm salivating over a chance to read her
thesis.
She's shared a number of her papers with me over the past couple of
years.
She's a very good writer, and her observations are always interesting
because she's clearly a thinker.  Love it.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf
Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 7:52 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] looking for research

Interesting. Tami, would love to know more when it's ready.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:22 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] looking for research

Julie,

I do have a friend who's finishing up her thesis on the subject, so I
forwarded your message to her.  I'll be getting a copy to read when
she's
done, so I'll ask if I can share it.  I think she's going to post it
online,
too...  Remind me about June if I foret to get back to you.  /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 11:21 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] looking for research

Heya all!

Does anyone know of research done about attitudes toward guide dogs?
I'm looking for anything done in a fairly scientific method that
measures
things like:
the public's attitude about guide dogs in stores or restaurants
attitudes about who most benefits from using a guide dog
perceptions about certification
blind peoples attitudes about owner training

I'm mainly interested in attitudes and perceptions.  I've seen surveys
on
health, access denials, specific guide dog program customer satisfaction
and
the GDUI survey.   None of those is really what I'm after though.

Ideas?
TIA
Julie

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