[nagdu] Blind vet tech. Or other animal careers.

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Deanna,

Welcome!  My name is Tami, and I live in Portland, oregon, where I work a
poodle guide named Mitzi, whom I owner-trained.  She is 3-1/2 now and my
first guide dog, so it's been an adventure.

I could swear I heard mention of someone who was just starting on either an
education or a career as a blind vet tech.  I thought that was way cool and
did not make a mental note of who it was or where.  It may even have been
you!  /smile/  If I remember more -- or where to look -- I will see I can
tell you more.

I grew up on a working cattle ranch with retinitis pigmentosa, although I
did not become legally blind until I was well into adulthood.  With RP, I
had normal central vision but had lost about 60 percent (or was it 40?) of
my peripheral vision by the time I was diagnosed at the age of 7.  This also
meant I was night blind, as they then called it.  Based upon this diagnosis,
which I clearly heard the doctor discuss with them while I followed the
children should be seen and not heard rule of our family, my parents decided
that I did not have RP and I was not going blind.  I strongly disagreed, but
I was 7.  /smile/  My ophthamologists confirmed that first doctor's
diagnosis on a regular basis, so I decided to hold to my heretical beliefs.
/grin/

While working around large animals, heavy machinery, sharp tools, darting in
and out of between sunshine and pitch dark barns and sheds to do so without
being seen by others to be making any effort to try to do so safely as if I
couldn't see or something.  Huh.  I never thought of it that way, so now it
sounds really odd when I read it back.  I've gone on to work with animals,
including horses, as my vision loss progressed, and I know there are others
on the list who continue their lives with large animals as well as the doggy
variety.  If we can do it, you can, too!  /grin/

Frankly, the only situations in which I can see blindness being a
significant negative factor for a vet tech is in those worst case scenarios
that pop up now and then when you're dealing with animals, especially sick
and injured ones.  Even then, how much your vision loss would impede you
would depend entirely on you and your level of adaptation.  A great deal
more would depend on those around you in the same situation and their
attitudes towards blindness in general and yours in particular.

In othe words, when the sweet, gentle creature you're about to take the
temperature of turns into a raging ball of fury without warning, the last
thing you want is someone else in the room trying to keep you from doing
anything dangerous when you need to be dealing with the situation!

Since the raging ball of fury in question will almost certainly be making
plenty of noise, you can use your hearing and other senses, along with your
skill and experience, to control and contain the creature.  Make sense?

I've been living the past couple of years with a rescue dog with anxiety and
aggression issues, as well as good old-fashioned fear aggression.  We've
gotten those settled down so much we almost forget they were ever there, but
when me and my precious poodle guide first moved in, I did gain experience
in stepping straight into two dogs' worth of sound and fury to break it up
before anybody got hurt.

A couple of times, I did that while the sighted people were still gaping and
swearing and had it handled before someone got around to do that before
saying, "Tami! You're going to get hurt!"

I made it a point to learn Daisy's triggers and the subtle signs that her
anxiety was starting to creep up so I could work with her to get calmed back
down before it could get the best of her.  Whew!

There are a growing number of blind nurses and lab technicians and even
chemists, so it is clearly possible to learn adaptive methods of handling
medicines and liquids if you need to given that you have partial vision.

So that's the long way to say, "Cool!  Go for it!"  /grin/  I'm interested
to know what you decide and how it goes for you.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Deanna Lewis
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 11:41 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Blind vet tech. Or other animal careers.

Hi,
I am Deanna and I live in Cincinnati, OH with my guide dog, Pascal. I have
always wanted to be a Veterinary Technician and was wondering if anyone
knows of a blind person who does this? I do have some usable vision and can
use that in the job. Or if you know someone blind who works with animals as
another profession, that would be helpful too. But becoming a vet tech is my
dream and I hope to be able to pursue it. I have searched high and low, but
have not found anyone. So, hopefully someone on here can help me. Thanks so
much for taking the time.

Deanna




      
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