[nagdu] nagdu

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Jennifer,

Ah.  I think it's cool that you are considering their feelings and trying to
communicate with them even though you don't live with them.  Also, family
support never hurts.  /smile/

>From what I've heard and observed, many people are so caught up in the
"guide dog mystique" that the notion of a real blind person with a real
guide dog is just too much for them to cope with right away. /smile

The poop always seems to be the first thing to pop into their heads, and the
association of blind person and dog poop seems pretty hair raising.
Honestly, I didn't think oh, yay, I get to find poop I can't see!  /grin/
And, yes, I have stepped in my share with my bare feet, have accidentally
stuck my hand in it while I was bending down to find it with the bag in my
other hand, and so on and so on.  It is very yucky, but there's this stuff
called soap...  /smile/

I have a dog unenthusiast friend who is still traumatized from the time a
couple of years ago that she came over just as I was cleaning up the results
of tummy trouble...  She literally ran from the apartment retching, then ran
back to worry at me while I continued to attack the mess, then she ran out
retching again.  /lol/  Poor woman!  We're still great friends, but that's
just how she is.  Quite the chronic worrier, which baffles me since it seems
awfully stressful, but I try not to worry about it.  /smile/

Anyway, for the people who know blind people who want to get guide dogs, the
whole poop issue is virtually a classic.  I guess it's understandable, since
poop is yucky stuff and to suddenly imagine oneself trying to find it and
pick it up in the dark brings on great feelings of ooginess and distaste.
It did for me when I first started to planning to get a dog so that I could
actually have poop to pick up.  /smile/

A lot of people also seem to fret about how a blind person can care for a
dog, etc., etc.  I've had total strangers stop me so that they could worry
at me over it.  I just calmly and cheerfully tell them how I do it as if
it's all perfectly natural -- which it is - and this seems to help them
accept the notion and move on to other concerns they've never thought of
before -- vomit, naturally.  What if the dog gets sick?  How do you if the
dog...? What about...?

Actually, it's a nice opportunity to educate people about blindness, not
just guide dogs, now that suddenly curious about it.  Really, we cook for
ourselves.  Yes, blind people often marry each other and maintain clean,
orderly households and raise children and have jobs...  I've even made some
pretty cool friends from those poop talks!

Parents and family, of course, are much more emotionally involved in their
concerns about your potential ability to care for and manage a guide dog.
That's perfectly natural, even if it does make things difficult for you!
The best thing you can do, I guess, is to be patient with them and let them
express their fears and answer in the way you know will tell them you know
what you're doing and expect to have everything under control.  And so on.

Good luck!  I've always wanted to go to The Seeing Eye in the fall, just
haven't gotten around to it yet.  I always get a thrill when I know someone
else who goes, though. /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jennifer L Finley
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 3:30 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] nagdu

Hi Lynn this is Jennifer.  To answer your question no I do not live at home
any more.  It's just that my parents think that I can not handle the
responsability that comes with a guide dog.  I have a cat, so it's not like
I can't handle it.  I think that a lot of it is that they do not know how
guide dogs work.
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