[nagdu] What would you do?

Steven Johnson blinddog3 at charter.net
Thu Apr 5 04:08:05 UTC 2012


All,

Well, it was the man with the dog, and the bus driver actually saw them
walking down the sidewalk, and without regard to the traffic, continued to
walk perpendicular to it creating a possible scenario for someone to get
seriously hurt, or even killed especially when this is a 4-lane main
arterial road.  As a fellow guide dog user, it is much like the concept of
those who choose to show their ID's when asked as it makes it difficult for
the rest of us who know and understand the laws, to be questioned when
entering a place of public accommodation, and similarly, reflect on other
handlers in a potentially negative way.  Much like in this scenario, and
especially in a small town of about 50000, there are not many of us with
guide dogs, and I can actually count on one hand how many of us there are.
So, as a person who is known and recognized in our community as a leader,
and when I have people coming to me and asking why someone may have done
this, or asked if they are properly trained, I do, feel that I do have a
responsibility at the very least, to report this to the school.  Now, let me
back up just a bit, as if this were a first time issue, I would blow it off,
but this is not the first time I have heard this, and most certainly not
from the same person.  I hope that if I am a questionable handler, that
someone would ask one of my peers what is the correct way to cross the
street, as obviously, this was not potentially done correctly.  The thing
here, is that I only fed you pieces of information, and it is also important
to know, that the driver also has this on video tape from the bus as all
buses are equipped with security cameras that also are able to see what is
going on around the bus.  This driver, said that he almost hit this man and
his dog, and based on his description, it could have been either one's
fault, but something was not right.  He saw them coming down that sidewalk
from a distance, and they continued to walk without stopping, into the flow
of traffic.  I did report this to the school.  I also left my name, phone
number and asked if they had any other questions to contact me as more
information was available.  From some perspectives, I am certain that some
will feel that I have interfered, while with others, they will feel I acted
appropriately, but from my perspective, I know I did the right thing, and
really don't feel I have to justify this at all.  I simply am looking out
for the best interest of my guide dog peer and hope that it is something
that the training program will be able to identify, get involved and resolve
the possible concerns at hand.

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 10:03 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] What would you do?

Who wandered out into the traffic, the dog, the man, both? Was the dog
working at the time?
How do we know he wandered v. chose to be there?  I am not saying the choice
was a smart one, but it's worth considering.
What did the driver do?
Why were you told about this?
Why do you feel you should do anything?



-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Steven Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 7:44 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: [nagdu] What would you do?

I have a question for all of you.  I was approached by one of our Municipal
Transit drivers today in regards to a gentleman who has a guide dog, and I
will not mention the school, who apparently had wondered out into 4 lanes of
traffic making everyone stop for him.  The question, what would you do?

Steve



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