[nagdu] Question

Tue Oct 18 22:46:33 UTC 2011

Brenda,
Hey, didn'tya know that the disabled are public property??? LOL!  So are 
transsexuals, for that matter with all the inappropriate questions asked 
them.

Really, it does seem that if a person is different in any way, they are open 
for anything others (read Normal) people seem to take a fancey to do or say 
to us.

One day years ago, I was near my city's "red light district" where I worked 
at the time - no I did assembly work in a sheltered workshop - and someone 
came up behaind me and grabbed me thinking I was going to just walk out into 
traffic and get creamed.  Well, I let a punch fly at the person not knowing 
what his intention was and didn't want to find out first.  Wwell, the person 
turned out to be a guy who worked with me and he laughed and said, "Great 
punch!"  We then walked to work together laughing about the incident.  He 
said that after he got the punch he wwent, Duh!  I should have said 
something first and realized the area wwe were in!

People don't have the right to toouch other people in a grabbing way - 
unless they were saving you from getting hit by a car or something.  I think 
a gentle touch is OK to get someone's attention - most people seem to do 
this.  But touching your property like your purse or blindness equipment - 
no NEVER appropriate.  Did someone actually do this to you?  I'd whirl on 
them and in a srong voice tell them to get lost.

It seems to be different rules when it comes to kids and animals although I 
consider it rude to touch an animal or kid without permission from the 
parent or owner.  This is how I was raised.  Nowadays, it is definately 
uncool to touoch a kid you don't know - you might get accused of molestation 
and don't wanna go there!  But everyone seems to feel it is fine to touch 
strange dogs without asking - this is true for pet dogs as well.

I treat this as a distraction that you have no more control over than you do 
the actions of a squirrel.  If Landon pays attention to the person while 
working, I correct him like it was a loose dog and say, "Leave it" in a 
stern voice.  If it was a person, they may get the hint.  If they get mad, 
too bad.  I don't generally have too much problems in this area and most 
people are more respectful than say, 20 years ago in this regard.  I hear 
parents say to their kids, "No you can't pet that dog, it is a helper dog." 
But, you'll always have your jerks aroound no matter where you are.

I don't know where you live, but they have alot of hutzpah to actually touch 
your stuff.   Hey, if they want to know about your Victor Stream, they're 
curious and tell them about it.  They'll have learned about something about 
blindness and how we function - and that could be a good thing.  Bottom 
line - folks need to be respectful of each other.

Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brenda" <bjnite at windstream.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 6:20 PM
Subject: [nagdu] Question

> Is it illegal to just come up to someone and touch them?  What happens if 
> someone grabs me and I push them away?  How do I know they really want to 
> guide me somewhere, maybe they want to pick my pocket.
>
> Can someone just come up and start fondling my purse or my umbrella or 
> whatever they see on my person that they would like to examine further? 
> Or my guide dog if I had one?  If someone grabs my purse, what happens if 
> I snatch it away from them and yell at them ?  True, I might think they 
> are trying to steel my purse, but what about my Victor Stream, maybe they 
> just want to look at it?
>
> If it is wrong for people to come up to me and touch my things, why is it 
> not a crime to touch a guide dog.  It is not theirs - leave it alone.
>
> Once at work I had someone start fidgeting with my monocular which was 
> sitting on my CCTV.  I told them to leave it alone and they got mad. 
> Later, they took my typing stand after I left for the day so they could 
> use it and didn't put it back.  I put a sign on it after that and they 
> left it alone.  They probably would have pet my  guide dog had I one at 
> the time.
>
> I just don't understand why people think they can just pet a guide dog and 
> then get indignant when they are told  not to by the handler.  Are there 
> laws that can be applied to someone touching me or my umbrella or my 
> victor or my (someday) guide.
>
> I'm just annoyed at the unfortunate crazy stories people have had the 
> occasion to tell of late on this list.  Nothing against the tellers, just 
> the perpetrators.
>
> Brenda
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 10/16/2011 7:23 PM, Larry D. Keeler wrote:
>> Julie, no, this was resorted to twice.  In both cases the persons were 
>> being overly aggressive.  They were blocking my way and were not 
>> listening to anything I was trying to tell them.  One person jumped in 
>> front of me and began to pet Holly.  I explained to him the usual and he 
>> told me he was a vet and basically in more colorful terms he'd do 
>> whatever he wanted!  He then threatened to kill my dog if he couldn't pet 
>> her so that's why he got the response he got!  The other was a woman who 
>> was being so persistant that I couldn't shake her.  Everywhere I turned 
>> she kept trying to touch Holly and get in my way.  I did have another 
>> woman who didn't touch Holly but kneeled down in front of us and would 
>> move every time we did so we couldn't get around her.  She wouldn't let 
>> me pass until I told her what kind of dog Holly was.  When I did she 
>> called me a liar and I actually had to step in the street to go around 
>> her!  No, that one only got some really goofy looks!
>> Intelligence is always claimed but rarely proven!
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