[nagdu] stairs

[harold leigland]

hi julie, a few years ago I missteptt and fell down a flight of marble stairs all the way bump bump etc on my knees my guidedog anna did not do anything wrong but I could hardly get up. After that I always used a rail for balance still do. good luck and practice stairs helped. best, hal

----- Original Message -----
From: Julie J. <julielj at neb.rr.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Date: Wednesday, Nov 23, 2011 08:45:31 AM
Subject: [nagdu] stairs

>
>
> Hello all!
> 
> My recovery from my broken foot is continuing to go very well.  I am up 
> to walking short distances with no weight support help.  I'm working 
> Monty on my left with either the mobility harness or his regular guide 
> harness depending on which I feel is best for me at the time.   He is 
> doing really, really well.  His guide work is excellent, like he didn't 
> just have an almost four month break.  Of course we are not walking in 
> complicated areas either, which makes a difference.
> 
> Anyway I'm writing to ask for help with a problem I'm having.  Yesterday 
> I worked Monty into a building where I had a meeting to attend.  There 
> were two sets of stairs, both only a few steps each.  Going up wasn't 
> too bad, but down was very stressful.  Monty is very good at stopping at 
> the top of steps.  I cannot remember a time in the past two years that 
> he has run a flight of stairs going down.  I have also taught him to 
> take the steps one at a time which he is doing perfectly.  The problem 
> is not him, it's me.  I'm very nervous when approaching a set of stairs 
> I know are coming up.
> 
> I'm pulling back on the harness handle, tensing and walking much more 
> slowly.  I know this is not good and I need to fix it before my problem 
> becomes a Monty problem too.
> 
> Has anyone had difficulty  with nervousness around stairs?  What helped 
> you get past it?   It's hard to share this, but I know talking about it 
> will help me think through my fear  logically and rationally. Any ideas 
> or similar experiences would help a lot.
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> Julie
> 
> 
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