[nagdu] Consumer report

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Rebecca,

What you say is all true and I agree with your philosophy there.

However, I have discovered over the past years that when it comes to finding
information having to do with resources to mitigate the effects of
blindness, getting good information seems to require a private investigator,
a good attorney and a ouija board.  Or perhaps a magic eight-ball?  It is
really, really frustrating.  And I have learned the hard way that trusting
the people who provide the resources to do what they're supposed to -- even
if they're required to by law -- can be a life-changing mistake that you
have to spend years recovering from.

There is much more available information by now, but sifting through it can
still be a nightmare, and half the time I can't find the information I need
or want.  Or I find it after hours of searching, then go back to look it up
the next day and can't remember which involved series of links I followed in
my late night journey, even though I was sure I would...  /smile/  Really,
did that over the past three days.  Grrr!  So I tried some other search
strategies to find that information where I had read it, or perhaps to find
what I needed to know at another site...  Nope!  Pretty pictures and lots of
graphic design telling me how wonderful this thingy is and all...  Price for
the new and improved gizmo?  Finally found it, and it's actually not too
unfriendly.  Useful specs?  Ha!  Heaven forbid I make an informed choice
about whether and when to spend that kind of money!  This is why it would be
nice to have a functioning VR system here in Oregon so that I could
actually, say, take a look at it and talk to someone who is paid to provide
information so that I can make good choices...  

Anyway, Mark's strategy of asking questions is a very good one, and a public
list is the best place to ask.  However, with this being a public list for
an official organization, members, especially the board and those in other
leadership positions, are right to choose their words carefully and
responsibly.

Then there are the rest of us, who can just spill the beans without having
it come back on the entire organization or impact the work we're doing as an
organization.  Make sense?

That being siad, I listen intently to what I learn about the schools so that
I am informed ahead of time if I make the choice to apply to one down the
road...  For now, the School of Tami works for me, but I wouldn't recommend
it to anyone else.  /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: Friday, August 20, 2010 8:24 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Consumer report

Why not treat it like any other business? When Mark asked what schools
people liked, we all can say "I like Seeing Eye because..." or "I don't
like Seeing Eye because..." and trust that Mark will figure out what he
wants. Like anything else, he isn't stuck for life with the school he
picks today. The school that is right for him as a late teen may not be
right for him as a mid twenties adult. 
Just sounds like we're making this way harder then it should be. Tracy
is right, statistics don't cut it, and she's also right about folks with
an ax to grind, but why can't we trust Mark to figure out what he wants?

We have a concert venue my parents hate due to something that happened
some 30 years ago. They refuse to go back there and if you asked the if
this was a good venue, they'd say "hell no" and go into why. I've been
to this venue and love it. It has its flaws, but so does everything. Why
not use the same approach for schools?

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 10:47 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Consumer report

I think some kind of consumer report would be great, though I don't know
how it could be done right.
When I read "A Guide to Guide Dog Schools", it made some schools who
have
a bad reputation sound great, and some with a good reputation sound bad,
so plain statistics don't really do the job.
Then you have those who think their school can do no wrong, and those
who
have an axe to grind from something school X did 20 or 30 years ago.
And
those who are reluctant to talk about problems.  I find myself sometimes
hesitant to "air dirty laundry in public."  But, if someone can figure
out
how to get around those problems, a consumer report would be a very good
thing.
Though of course it would have to be updated from time to time, as
schools' policies and training change.
Tracy



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