[nagdu] Bill of Rights statement Concerning Health, Temperment, & Behavior

Wed Apr 20 05:31:51 UTC 2011

It's healing to share my story. For years I beat my self up about what I 
didn't do for my dog.  And yes, the school's response played into how I 
internalized things.

When I called the school to inquire about my guide dog, I recall the 
individual being icy and formal. I think this is a part of her personality 
and not meant to be personal. However, it was personal for some years.
 Some affirmations and re assurances would have gone a very long way had 
they been genuinely conveyed; or conveyed at all.
Lisa and Bernie
was that
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 10:46 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Bill of Rights statement Concerning Health, 
Temperment,& Behavior

> Lisa,
>
> Painful story.  I'm sorry you had to go through it but am glad you have 
> the
> courage to share.  Others may be going through the same thing -- or 
> will --
> and knowing they're not alone may give them both comfort and strenghth. 
> And
> perhaps more information they can use to resolve their own issues/problems
> before it's also too late.
>
> If I may ask, since you mentioned your guilt feelings -- do you recall how
> many times, if any, the program trainer and/or staff told you that you 
> were
> the one doing things wrong.  I confess to being overly cynical in
> automatically assuming that that was their first response to your concerns
> about the behavior.  I just have noticed that those involved in resources
> for PWDs, the consumer is always wrong and should be informed of that in 
> the
> most demeaning and even cruel way possible.  As many times as possible.  I
> don't understand this phenomenon, and I don't know if my understanding 
> will
> do anything at all for anybody on the receiving end, but ...  I still 
> would
> like to understand it in case I can figure out how to do something useful 
> in
> some way to prevent those same people carrying on doing that to the folks
> they're being paid to serve.
>
> Which is why I'm happy NAGDU is following through on the creation of the
> Bill of Rights.  Guide dogs are a resource -- provided by the charitable
> donors known as funding sources -- so for all the really good people who 
> do
> as they should with character and intelligence and diligence to strong
> ethics, there do appear to be an unfortunate percentage of bad apples. 
> I'm
> coming to the conclusion, based on consistent behavioral patterns across
> organizations and resource types, that there's some sort of, I dunno,
> personality type or something like that which is drawn into that sort of
> work which has nothing to do with a desire to help anyone at all.  These
> same personalities seem to be the first ones to go on about how grateful 
> we
> should be for the wonderful things they're doing for us, etc., etc., we've
> all heard the whole spiel, when they're so clearly putting forth their 
> best
> efforts to ensure we don't receive the help they're being paid to give 
> us...
>
> So I think it's important to share our individual stories and to 
> communicate
> our ideas with the increased freedom we have on the internet.  That's been
> happening more and more, as a result of the earlier work of organizations
> like the NFB -- primarily that of the NFB in our cases -- and that power 
> to
> interact and communicate gives us more power to add to those very
> organizations.
>
> We can also communicate that the bad behavior is not okay and then work
> collectively to make it more difficult for the bad apples to spread the 
> rot.
> Whew!
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Lisa Irving
> Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 11:36 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Bill of Rights statement Concerning Health,
> Temperment,& Behavior
>
> Marion,
>
> Without making things too complex, is there some way to include verbiage
> about disclosing observations made by the puppy raiser family(s)? Here's 
> the
>
> context to my question.
>
> The puppy raiser family informed  me about the dog allergies. The school
> didn't know, or disregarded the puppy raiser's observations. I don't want 
> to
>
> confuse "observations" with "opinions". One is measureable and can be
> validated; observations. Again, it was the puppy raiser family that 
> informed
>
> me, after my guide dog was released, of the school's findings and medical
> intervention for the infections.
>
> Lisa and Bernie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
> To: "NAGDU List" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 4:10 AM
> Subject: [nagdu] Bill of Rights statement Concerning Health, Temperment,&
> Behavior
>
>
>> Dear All,
>>    Here is the proposed language for the Bill of Rights, Please offer any
>> input or suggestions you may have.
>>
>> The training program shall fully disclose to the consumer, in writing and
>> in the accessible format of the consumer's choice, all known issues
>> concerning the dog's health, temperament, behavior, and training prior to
>> placement.
>>
>>
>>
>> Fraternally yours,
>>
>> Marion
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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