[nagdu] A disaster of an SD program here in Kansas

Fri Jun 25 12:29:28 UTC 2010

steve,
    Unfortunately, I find that some of the blind people from which CILs get 
their advice and guidance are nearly as clueless as the person making the 
inquiry, present company excluded. For instance, I know of a blind person 
who works for a CIL who believes that a blind person cannot independently 
use public transportation and needs all sorts of special assistance to do 
even the simplest of tasks. I once attended an ADA celebration where the 
meal was served cafeteria style. Blind people were told to stay where they 
were sitting and someone would bring them their food. Over their objections, 
I went through the line like everyone else!

fraternally yours,
Marion


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Johnson" <stevencjohnson at centurytel.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 7:02 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] A disaster of an SD program here in Kansas


> Gail,
>
> I am going to express a personal opinion here regarding the ILC's.  I used
> to work for one, and it is my experience that their knowledge and
> understanding of disability related issues is very broad, not specific.
> With this in mind, they are not required to have any level of 
> certification,
> but just simply 51% of their staff and board need to be comprised of 
> persons
> with disabilities meaning that that they *have been there done that*
> attitude leaving one to believe that they understand your situation.  My
> employment with the ILC was for 11 years, and I saw a lot, but they always
> came to the blind guy to get blind info.  Says a lot.  Honestly, your
> connection to the NFB and NAGDU, through peer contact and communication 
> will
> probably move you to a higher level of independence than where you might 
> be
> heading now with the ILC.
>
> Again, this is just my opinion, and if you have other questions, feel free
> to write me off list at stevencjohnson at centurytel.net
>
> specifically, blindness.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Gail
> Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 6:14 PM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] A disaster of an SD program here in Kansas
>
> Yes, I have several-PTSD, Asperger's Syndrome, Meneries' Disease,and a few
> other things. But this caseworker is from our Independent Living Center,
> over a town or two, and they are *supposed* to have someone help me with
> things around the house I cant manage, but there is never anyone who will
> work for what the ILC pays. At least they were able to help out with the
> situation with our autistic son, to be something of a represinitive for 
> him
> in the meetings with school, school board and such, though the woman knew
> nothing at all about autism, AS, or service dogs for the autistic.
>
> Gail
>
> -------Original Message------- 
>
> From: Cheryl echevarria
> Date: 6/23/2010 6:01:08 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] A disaster of an SD program here in Kansas
>
> Gail:
>
> Am I missing something, do you have other disabilities other than 
> blindness,
>
> Been out of the loop a little bit.
>
> Cheryl Echevarria
> Independent Travel Consultant
> C10-10646
>
> http://Echevarriatravel.com
> 1-866-580-5574
>
> http://blog.echevarriatravel.com
> Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel 
> CST-1018299-10
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Gail" <deerskin at oct.net>
> To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 6:52 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] A disaster of an SD program here in Kansas
>
>
>> Hello!
>>
>> Just got a call from my new IL caseworker, who wants to come tomorrow to
>> do
>> the usual yearly onceover. When I asked if she had found any O&M
>> instructor
>> for me (I had called there a couple weeks ago, asking if they could help,
>> and thought this was a response), she goes, 'oh, I know a wonderful
>> program
>> where you can get a guide dog in just a week or so!' My jaw
>> dropped....there
>> is only one reputable program in Kansas, and I knew it wasnt in 
>> Concordia.
>
>> After I got off the phone, I looked up CARES http://www.caresks.com/index
>> htm and I was right. OMG, I wish I wasnt....
>>
>>
>> I've known about this disaster since the time the SD laws were changed
>> here
>> in KS. The owner of this program raised a stink to get a new definition
>> put
>> in-"Professional Therapy Dog", and despite what you see on their site,
>> these
>> people *do not* know how to train either dogs or people. For years I've
>> had
>> their 'graduates' besiege me when I was out with my own service dogs,
>> pleading for help. You see, CARES 'Professional Therapy Dog" is no more
>> than
>> a pound pup, with no temperament testing, no task training, and absolute
>> minimum of obedience basics, that they hand out to kids with problems 
>> like
>
>> autism. The training the handler gets is only for the Public Access Test,
>> and only a week or so at that, max. By law, a TD is supposed to be 
>> handled
>
>> by an adult trainer, for the benefit of others. If it is working for one
>> person, it is no longer a TD, but some kind of halfbaked SD at best. One
>> of
>> the Board of Directors is a person who was thrown out and banned for life
>> by
>> the American Kennel Club, for abuse of her dogs. The owner and head of
>> CARES
>> is a person I spoke to several times at the time of the hearings, who was
>> trying to pump me for info on how to train dogs! Several members of my 
>> own
>
>> SD group got dogs from there, and all returned the dogs, and trained 
>> their
>
>> own, because the dogs were problems from the start, with no task training
>> whatsoever.
>>
>>
>> I was shocked when my caseworker told me so cheeirly, "oh, we can get you
>> a
>> guide dog from Concordia! I have a blind gentleman who is in a 
>> wheelchair,
>
>> who has a dog from there. And you dont need to bother with a cane, to get
>> a
>> dog from there." Yeah, uh huh. I look at the site....no where have I 
>> found
>
>> that they even list training guides...but they sure train for a lot of
>> other
>> junk, supposedly even bomb and narc dogs.
>>
>>
>> Guess I'm going to be doing a lot of reeducating of this caseworker
>> tomorrow
>> ....d***, I had hoped that place had gone belly up years go, and here it
>> still is.
>>
>> I'm hotter about this than the weather outside, I can tell you!
>>
>> Gail
>>
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