[nagdu] Is Being a "Good Handler" Enough?

Sat Feb 12 05:26:50 UTC 2011

Dan,

Okay, I'll confess.  My knee-jerk reactions on any such issues (PWD vs.
Agency) is pretty much like yours.  Only sometimes a bit rabid.  I manage to
time things so that I got to experience quite a few of those abuses for my
very own self before I had to settle to listen to the charming little
anecdotes of others.  Recovery has been long and is ongoing... Though I'm
close.  Still!  It is incredible what going through all that and then
recovering with no tools and with no financial resources will do to a
person.

Or ...  Is it just that I am a Big Mean Blind Person just making life
miserable for those wonderful people (quaver in your voice there, please!)
who are Dedicated to The Bli-ind...  Don't I know I'm taking valuable
resources away from blind people who need them?  Etc., etc.  The most
amazing part to me is the shocking majority of blind people I meet in this
state who say the same things, even in the same tone.  Even if I just ask
what they know about getting VR...  Apparently, the agency does provide
training...  Or is that called indoctrination?  Breath taking.

So when I hear reports of questionable undertakings, I do leap before I look
in deciding who's the good guy and who's the evil voracious....  Then I have
to take a deep breath and think before I can even think about thinking ...
Sigh.

As for CCI...  Hard to say, from here.  If there was an agreement and it can
be shown definitively that the guy violated the terms of that agreement...
Beyond that they say he did, so that's that.  

If it's not so nicely cut and dried...   Well, I'm not to a place yet where
I can even pretend my own bias doesn't affect how I interpret the limited
detail available to me.  I feel the strong temptation to go on a rant about
it nonetheless, but I think I'll save my rabid rant cards for when I really
need them next time I need to rant about some dang thing or other stupid
someone did to me that irritated me...  /lol/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Dan Weiner
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 10:55 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Is Being a "Good Handler" Enough?

I think those wanting ownership are concerned with the treatment we might
get as blind clients of agencies, the  guide dog schools.
As you may be aware, agencies of all types have been more than a bit
custodial to the blind in the past.
I sometimes question how NFB philosophy can be used, but the basic premise
is sound, that  social attitudes toward blind people in large part determine
how we are treated. False concepts about the blind and our capabilities can
lead to that as well.  
In a contract with a school, I don't really see that you as a consumer have
much in the way of  rights  , and the school can try to repossess a dog with
no judge or jury.
That's why I'm in favor of complete unfettered ownership.;

I'm not so sure I'm going to jump on the CCI bandwagon either, I don't have
all the facts, and usually I am more sympathetic to the consumer than to an
agency.

I don't feel the consumer's point of view was expressed well at all in that
article, except that part saying how he was holding the doggie and sobbing,
something which illustrates to me his deep bond with the hound.

CCI reps  saying, if the quote is accurate,  that they could call the police
if it would make it easier is a veiled threat in my judgment.  
We Federationis talk the big talk about fighting the agencies, but every
time something like this comes up in regard to service animals all of our
friends on the list are so quick to jump to defend service providers  and to
cast some type of implied aspersions on the handler.  I love dogs more than
I can say, but I also am interested in blind peoples' rights and I don't
consider a dog, as much as I am crazy about them, necessarily any more in
need of protection than a badly treated consumer.

If abuse happens, it needs to be dealt with and harshly by agencies such as
animal control whose job it is  explicitly to do so.

Just an alternate approach, my friends.
 I don't have time right this minute to expand on the subject but I'm sure I
will later--smile.

Cordially,

Dan W. and the Carter Nut

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