[nagdu] looking for research

Sat Apr 24 14:55:06 UTC 2010

Well, I'm still waiting for her to finish and share or publish.  /smile/

So the premise of the paper is in the form of a question, I think.  Are
people friendlier to guide dog users than to cane users?  Something like
that.  That's how humanities type theses generally are framed.  Since I'm a
math/science geek myself, I love reading other people's theses in some of
the humanities subjects.  I can learn from their hard work there withouth
having to take time to do it myself.  /grin/

Like you say, it's a little hard to define whether people are friendlier,
andd that is a subjective word.  So I'm interested to see how she approaches
it and what her research has come up with.

I know people are friendlier to Mitzi than they are to my cane, because
Mitzi picks out the dog lovers and makes eyes at them.  /smile/

Anyway, will keep you posted.

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: Friday, April 23, 2010 7:22 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] looking for research

Hmm, I'm not sure I agree with the people are friendlier to guide dog
users. How is friendlier defined? 
I say this because I encounter different people when I'm out with Mellie
then I do when I'm not with her. Not better or worse, just different.
When I wear my space shuttle jacket, I encounter different people, not
better or worse, just different. When my husband wears his D.C. United
shirt, he encounters different people. When he's out with Mellie, he
encounters different people. 
So not real sure I agree with that. 
You? 
What else have you learned from your friend?

-----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 4:39 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] looking for research

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

_______________________________________________
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/tamara.8024%40com
cast
.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/rebecca.pickrell%
40tasc.com

_______________________________________________
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/tamara.8024%40com
cast
.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/rebecca.pickrell%
40tasc.com

_______________________________________________
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/tamara.8024%40com
cast
.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/rebecca.pickrell%
40tasc.com

_______________________________________________
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/tamara.8024%40comcast
.net