[nagdu] Critical blind people

Sun Aug 1 02:12:29 UTC 2010

I don't have a guide dog yet, but I know that once I do, the find
command will be invaluable to me, also. I have chronic pain and
chronic fatigue (possibly fibromyalgia), so if I spend extra time
looking for just the right spot, walking back and forth to find the
elevator or office door, going the long way around...these things only
add to my fatigue. Walking with my long white cane, I often end up
going one way only to find out that i have to go back and around
another way. This is such a horrible waste of my energy that sometimes
I tire myself out before i even get to a location. Telling a guide dog
to find an elevator door, a staircase, or a trash can will mean that I
don't go all around the outside of a room just to get to the other
side and find what I wanted would have taken a third of the steps I
took.

I don't have a hearing loss (I had a temporary hearing loss for many
years from an injury, but the last hearing test showed it is back to
full hearing), but I know how it can be to feel frustrated with people
who tell you to listen for something or go toward that sound...I have
a lot of trouble discerning sounds in large crowds. I just get so
distracted by all the sounds that one sound doesn't stand out very
well unless it is a loud one that can't be missed. I wish people would
describe things more tactilely than audibly...I'm a tactile and visual
learner.

For example, instead of saying "Go down this hall until you hear the
fountain on your left" one might say "Go down this hall until you feel
the cold air on the right, and you might feel some mist" or even "Go
down this hall until you come to an open area with a low round wall.
That's the fountain, and you can touch the water if you reach your
hand across the low wall about a foot. Once you reach the fountain and
feel the mist..."

I think that would be a much easier, more tactile-based way of
describing. Sure, it might take a lilttle longer, but not much! I'm
going to try doing this whenever I give directions to another blind
person and see how it works. If I do it for a sighted person, they'll
look at me weird, because they want visual cues and nothing
else...sighted people are so closed off from t heir other senses,
aren't they? *grin*

On 7/31/10, Susan Jones <sblanjones11 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I find the "find" command invaluable, and use it often, especially for trash
> cans, elevator buttons, stairs, doors, etc.
> Susan & Rhoda
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Jenine Stanley
> Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2010 8:18 PM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Critical blind people
>
> Wow, I'm amazed at how many of you have encountered the sentiment that
> having your dog find common things, like entrances, elevators, etc., is too
> hard.
>
> This is not a GDf brag by any means but this concept of using the dog's
> vision and training to help you find things being too much is so foreign to
> how I have been taught for the past 20 years that it boggles my mind.
>
> My first group of instructors at GDf told us that we could teach our dogs to
> find just about anything if we used the method we were taught and started
> slowly. We were encouraged throughout class to have the dog find things and
> finding entrances and exits was part of every day work. Finding stairs,
> elevators, escalators, etc., was as well. During class we have the dogs find
> our rooms, not because GDF thinks we can't  but because it does help to
> instill that find command. I use this constantly in hotels where I want the
> dog to return to my room.
>
> We, and when I say we, I mean students, teach the dogs to find "my seat"
> which is either an assigned seat in the dining room during class, or any
> seat I might vacate and leave things at, such as in a meeting. I don't even
> have to leave my things there necessarily.
>
> The hard part about this type of work is allowing the dog to do it, make
> mistakes and get it right. You do have to offer the dog a little support at
> times and not over correct if he or she gets it wrong, but wow, it's a way
> of working with a dog that maximizes both of your abilities and if you have
> the least problem with hearing or orientation, this skill can be invaluable.
>
>
> I've heard one instructor say that the find command doesn't work because
> people too often misuse it, asking their dogs to find things that aren't
> there or facing one direction and asking the dog to find the door out of a
> room without knowing where it is.
>
> My answer to this is that either the people he has seen don't understand how
> the command works or aren't reading their dogs well, or the dogs have never
> been taught the command and what is expected of them. Dogs and people who
> have been taught the find command and know how to teach it in a variety of
> settings, usually get it. I can be facing the back wall of a room and ask my
> dog to "find outside." He may turn a couple times or do a circuit of the
> room until he recognizes the door out but he will find it. This is
> especially helpful in large open spaces like exhibit halls.
>
> Now, this year in Dallas, Swap found getting out of the exhibit hall very
> challenging some days. So did my wallet but that's another story. <grin>
> There were often crowds, but not necessarily huge crowds, around the
> entrance so when I asked him to find outside, meaning the way out, he would
> do a circuit of the room and end up at a booth we liked, always a different
> one, but usually not necessarily close to the exit.
>
> Well, DUH, Jenine, why not try some positive reinforcement when he does get
> it? A little food reward paired with the GDF praise "Good outside!" worked
> wonders. E
>
> I can't even imagine why other blind people or other handlers would
> criticize using these commands, unless it's for the reasons espoused by the
> instructor. If my dog just isn't finding something, chances are it really
> isn't there or he's confused somehow. That's when I can step in and ask
> others for help, just pointing me in the right direction usually works but
> sometimes the dog figures out that the human knows best and will default to
> that.
>
> The key to really getting the most out of the find command though once it's
> been cemented, is to use it. Expect the dog to find things and reward
> appropriately. You also need at times to use other humans to help when
> learning new things to find, like doors, elevators and such in new places.
> No big deal though. Some dogs are better at words and finding things than
> others too. I've had the spectrum and even the ones who weren't truly word
> oriented were concept and context oriented and caught on quickly.
>
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
>
>
>
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-- 
~Jewel
Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com