[nagdu] Leader's Accelerated mobility program

[Julie J]

Interesting, thank you for sharing!

I've also had an experience with a test guide dog that was way too slow and 
too light of a pull for me.  It is hard to get a good idea of what a guide 
is like when you are trying out a guide that is pretty far from what you are 
comfortable with.       The trainer did immediately pick up on that, which 
means that if you do decide to get a guide, another trainer will probably 
also figure out what pace and pull you prefer pretty easily.

I agree with Rebecca that a longer cane will be better.  In my experience 
how much it catches depends on a couple of things in your control.  first 
the angle of the cane to the ground.  shorter canes have more of an angle 
and are going to get caught more.  A longer cane will have less of an angle 
when it touches the ground and will tend to get caught less.  the other 
thing is to pick up the cane a bit more in the center of your arc.  One to 
two inches is optimum, more than that and you'll miss things that will catch 
your toes, less and your cane will get caught on everything.    There are 
other factors like the condition of the sidewalk and weather conditions that 
can affect ease of travel, but you can't do a whole lot about those! *smile* 
the instructor is right, it does take practice.

I'm not sure what to think about the totally blind folks being taken out for 
practice first.  Coincidence?  I don't know.  I think it's an unfortunate 
misconception that totally blind folks are somehow in need of more 
assistance or training or whatever.  I think if you are accepted into the 
program that should be enough to show that you need the training they are 
offering.

JMO
Julie