[nagdu] Got a question for the list

Sat May 1 01:36:33 UTC 2010

Mark,

Hm....  Are random, nonaffiliated (officially, anyway) owner-trainers (so
not affiliated with a proram) qualified third parties in your parents'
opinion.  Don't need to mention that I'm only officially unaffiliated with
NAGD because I can't seem to scrape together that extra spare few dollars
from one month to the next.  /grin/

I like your attitude that it is important to convince them rather than go
around.  Despite coming from a family where, well....  Never mind!  Best
option there is to just get away and stay away, but that's not the best way
to go if you have a family you can stay part of without...  Well...  Sorry,
having a fight with laptop in which JAWS won't talk to me.  Baaaaaad mood
going on!

Anyway, As a guide dog user who took the trouble to train my own guide dog
for one reason and another because I thought it was worth it, I can say a
thing or two about whether the "work" is worth the payoff.  I'm starting to
write up that sort of thing for myself anyway off and on to formalize my
thoughts on that matter and others related to owner-training and my
experience as a guide dog user.  I will not mention in anything I might
communicate for your parents that, as an owner-trainer with a now nearly
4-year-old working guide, I need to do all that writing for myself because
I'm not always sure what the heck happened to cause all of that.  Kidding!
Sort of...  /grin/

BTW, may I compliment you on your spelling and grammar and general writing
ability.  Not because you're blind, but because you're young.  Sheesh!  I'm
currently in an entirely different bad mood from dealing with long-time
career adults being paid quite a bit of money with quite a few benefits that
in these days are out of sight -- who are simply not literate.  Weird, but
true.  I know a few youngsters about in your general age range who are not
without brains or ability to think, but their grammar and spelling is a bit
frightening.

Love it that it's the blind kid I know who is excellent with the language
skills!  Next best with the English language skill in kids still in high
school that I know?  The ASL family.  Huh.  Not making a point there, but I
wish people who grew up speaking English could use the language.  Most
people I know do, but I've been sort of communicating with an element I
normally don't and I now have an issue with the whole thing.

That being said, would be willing to contacting me off list on the topic of
Braille literacy?  Would love your input.  Tamara.8024 at comcast.net.

Now to go back to evaluating whether throwing the laptop violently out of
the window would be satisfying enough to justify the expense of replacing
the window.  Because of Window.  /lol/  I used the person people call for
that sort of problem.  But, no!  I'm going to have to go out and *hire*
somebody to do for me what I used to do for a living....  Sorry to digress.
Off to fume!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Mark J. Cadigan
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 2:31 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Got a question for the list

In response to the points made on this list in no particular order:

I am an 18 year old cane user. My parents haven't stated a valid reason for 
not wanting me to have a dog. The only things they say are, the famous "I 
said so" and more recently they have clamed that the work of a dog outways 
it's usefulnis. My question about the last statement is how they would know 
how useful a guide dog is.

I think it is important to convince them rather than going around them 
because I am currently living with them, and will be for the next year or 
so. I will also be living at home over vacations and possibly for a brief 
time after college.

The type of report I was looking for is a study on effectiveness of varying 
mobility aides that clearly states that a dog is superior in certain 
situations or quantifies the added work to additional benefit.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ioana Gandrabur" <igandrabur at gmx.de>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 11:44 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Got a question for the list

> HI Mark,
>
> Many good points have been made and I have nothing much to add. I do think
> that if you had to live with your parents as you are getting the dog them
> not being for it might cause problems with the dog and also between you 
> and
> them and maybe even you and the dog because of tensions. But since you are
> going away it should be easier and they might even accept the dog better
> once they see how you are doing together. That being said, I also would be
> interested if you would want to share what your parents concerns against
> getting a dog might be.
>
> Good luck in finding what's right for you!
>
> Ioana
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cheryl Osborn" <chapalacheryl at gmail.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 10:05 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Got a question for the list
>
>
>> Hi Mark,
>>
>> I think that the answers given to you on this list are very good.  But
>> I have a couple of questions for you.  Do you currently use a white
>> cane?  And what are the reasons your parents give for not wanting you
>> to get a guide dog?  Perhaps they have valid reasoning.  I would think
>> that this is a good time for you to get a dog, but I am not familiar
>> with your situation.
>>
>> On 4/30/10, William ODonnell <william.odonnell1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> Colleges and Universities are required to except or deny you based on
>>> your
>>> academic credentials only.  In regard to your parents, a boundary issue
>>> can
>>> come up if you are going to be living at home with them.  If you are
>>> going
>>> away to school, both the school has to permit you to have that dog and
>>> your
>>> parents do not really have a voice in what decision you make about
>>> getting
>>> the dog especially when you are of the legal age 18.
>>>
>>> --- On Fri, 4/30/10, Mark J. Cadigan <kramc11 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> From: Mark J. Cadigan <kramc11 at gmail.com>
>>>> Subject: [nagdu] Got a question for the list
>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Date: Friday, April 30, 2010, 8:03 AM
>>>> Got a question for the list
>>>> I am still working on convincing my parents to allow me to
>>>> get a guide dog. I think I am going to apply and let the
>>>> parents know once I am accepted and already going to a
>>>> class. I will be leaving for college soon, and believe the
>>>> only way to get a guide dog is to just go do it. What
>>>> potential problems are there with this approach? By this I
>>>> mean, will schools accept me without talking to my parents?
>>>>
>>>> I have not given up on convincing my parents. I think the
>>>> process will be so much smoother with them supporting it.
>>>> However there support is not a necessity. I will be living
>>>> away at college and won't be seeing them regularly.
>>>>
>>>> Another question I have is, is there any literature out
>>>> there promoting the use of a guide dog. Most of the
>>>> literature published by organizations not affiliated with
>>>> the guide dog schools is either against dogs, or neutral on
>>>> the subject. Information published by the schools is biased
>>>> in favor of dogs. My parents highly value the opinions of
>>>> experts, so I think the key is to find a neutral expert that
>>>> agrees with me.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for all your help
>>>> Mark
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nagdu mailing list
>>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your
>>>> account info for nagdu:
>>>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/william.odonnell1%40y
ahoo.com
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nagdu mailing list
>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> nagdu:
>>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/chapalacheryl%40gmail
.com
>>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Cheryl in Mexico
>> chapalacheryl at gmail.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/igandrabur%40gmx.de
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/kramc11%40gmail.com

_______________________________________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast
.net