[nagdu] Consumer or Beneficiary?

Marion Gwizdala blind411 at verizon.net
Tue Jan 10 23:46:43 UTC 2012 

Nat,
    Let me say that, under the law, a dog is property, albeit living 
property. In dealing with legal issues concerning our guide dogs, the law 
will view our dogs as property in protecting our rights to them. As it 
pertains to the services of the guide dog training program, we are the 
consumers of those services. As another subscriber so eloquently stated, in 
spite of the fact that there is a distance between the funding of the 
service, the provider of the service, and the consumer of the service, the 
guide dog training program would be best to understand our role as consumer 
and the power that role inherently provides.
    I am working on a Braille Monitor article that will go into more detail 
about this and my dinner is ready, so more on this paradigm shift will come 
later!

Fraternally yours,
Marion


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Natalie" <nrorrell at qwest.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 6:21 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Consumer or Beneficiary?


> Hi Tracy,
> I agree with your perception of "guide dog consumer."  I feel that kind of 
> language denotes a hierarchy that leaves the dog as little more than a 
> consumable commodity.
> Best,
> Nat and Liam Joshua
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 9:28 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Consumer or Beneficiary?
>
>
>>I kind of have a problem with being called a guide dog consumer.  Doesn't
>> that sound disgusting?  It's not the ideas expressed that bug me; it's 
>> the
>> language.  But then, I have a problem with being considered a consumer
>> rather than a citizen, in a broader social context.
>> I'd say I'm a guide dog client, customer, or handler.  I'd never call
>> myself a guide dog consumer. I love my dogs; I would never consume them.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
>>>     I agree that most training programs have very paternalistic 
>>> approaches
>>> and policies as it pertains to their relationships with consumers. Many
>>> programs view the blind people with whom they work as beneficiaries and
>>> seem
>>> to tell them they should be grateful for what they get from them. This
>>> sometimes not too subtle message is accepted by the blind person who 
>>> feels
>>> indebted to what has been given them. Adding to this attitude is the 
>>> fact
>>> that most programs do not charge a fee for their services.
>>>     The reality, however, is that we are consumers. Guide dog training
>>> programs solicit funding from the public and from private foundations 
>>> with
>>> the expressed purpose of providing these services to the blind. These
>>> donors
>>> support the work of the training program and those who work for the
>>> training
>>> programs are paid to provide these services. The Chief Executive 
>>> Officers
>>> of
>>> guide dog training programs are paid 6-figure salaries to run these
>>> nonprofit organizations whose sole purpose is to provide guide dogs to
>>> blind
>>> people. As the recipient of these guide dogs, we are the consumers of
>>> these
>>> services, no less powerful than the consumers of the goods and services 
>>> of
>>> any other for-profit corporation. Just as is true with any other 
>>> company,
>>> blind consumers can shape the way a guide dog training program does
>>> business
>>> through our voices.
>>>     A few training programs transfer ownership to the consumer upon
>>> completion of training; most do not. Some of those who do not condition
>>> their custody of the dog upon specific requirements, such as providing
>>> annual vetrinarian reports, and reserve the right to repossess the dog. 
>>> To
>>> the best of my knowledge, none of those programs that retain ownership
>>> and/or the right to repossess the dog have any policies concerning due
>>> process. The failure to adopt due process policies can result in
>>> repossession without cause.
>>>     Lest anyone believe a program would not do such a thing, please read
>>> the
>>> article in the April Braille Monitor about a Fidelco consumer who had 
>>> this
>>> very thing happen. This story is only one of many about Fidelco 
>>> consumers
>>> who have been treated this way and Fidelco is not the only program that
>>> engages in this sort of behavior. I know of consumers who have been
>>> threatened with and actually had their dogs repossessed because of
>>> anonymous
>>> complaints of abuse, neglect, or out of control dogs with absolutely no
>>> objective evidence of such issues. One program that has changed their
>>> policy
>>> from ownership to custody once repossessed the harnesses of a couple in
>>> Florida who obtained their dogs prior to the change in policy based upon
>>> the
>>> allegations of an administrator with the Division of Blind Services who
>>> asserted that the couple had been banned from the Orientation & 
>>> Adjustment
>>> Center because of their dogs' behavior. In a conversation with the
>>> program's
>>> Director of training, I was told that, if they did not have ownership, 
>>> the
>>> dogs would have been repossessed. When I contacted the Director of the 
>>> O&A
>>> center to inquire why the couple was barred, the Director didn't have a
>>> clue
>>> what I was talking about. He told me the couple had not been barred and
>>> they
>>> had no issues with the couple's dogs. The administrator who filed the
>>> complaint was demoted. Due process policies would have prevented this
>>> unjust
>>> action.
>>>     I am currently working on another such issue with a consumer from 
>>> the
>>> same program. Anonymous complaints have been filed that the consumer is
>>> neglecting his dog. The vetrinarian has asserted the dog is healthy and
>>> there is no evidence of abuse or neglect. In spite of this, the program 
>>> is
>>> attempting to remove the dog and has no due process for the consumer.
>>>     The membership of NAGDU has endorsed a guide Dog Consumers' Bill of
>>> Rights to protect us from those who would attempt to deny us our basic
>>> rights without due process. I encourage each of you to read the Bill of
>>> Rights and ask the training program from which you received your dog to
>>> abide by it. You can read this Bill of Rights by going to
>>>
>>> http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm11/bm1106/bm110609.htm
>>>
>>> Fraternally yours,
>>> Marion Gwizdala
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Doug Parisian" <eggmann at shaw.ca>
>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 11:03 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Victim or Advocate?
>>>
>>>
>>>> Lyn, I used to allow my dog the run of the place when I ran a business
>>>> for
>>>> 13 years.  All my dogs new to either return to my office, or go to the
>>>> receptionist's station when folks came in.  There were only two of us 
>>>> in
>>>> the office and all my dogs knew the chain of command--the pecking 
>>>> order,
>>>> me, receptionist, and dog though the latter were reversible.  Most
>>>> customers, if they learned I had a dog guide, would ask to see him/her
>>>> and
>>>> as long as all behaviours were unobtrusive, I would allow it.
>>>>
>>>> Doug: Just another happy tail!
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Lyn Gwizdak" <linda.gwizdak at cox.net>
>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 7:35 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Victim or Advocate?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> The Executive Director of our blind center lets her dog wander around
>>>>> and
>>>>> it even almost went outside alone!  I was tempted to take the dog and
>>>>> put
>>>>> him in a room downstairs and wait for the ED to go nuts looking for 
>>>>> her
>>>>> dog! Hahaha!  Meanie me!
>>>>>
>>>>> I keep Landon in harness and with me or tied to the table if I'm
>>>>> wandering around doing stuff.
>>>>>
>>>>> Lyn and landon
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> From: "Sheila Leigland" <sleigland at bresnan.net>
>>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 11:30 AM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Victim or Advocate?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Doug actually i think you are right on this one. I know of someone
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> would take a guide dog and let it walk around because oh It likes to
>>>>>> see
>>>>>> everyone but I was told by an employee of a buisness that the dog 
>>>>>> took
>>>>>> off out of the door and she had to go catch the dog. They wondered 
>>>>>> why
>>>>>> I
>>>>>> didn't let my dog wander and I told them it was improper behavior and
>>>>>> not to accept improper behavior like that.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sheila Leiglan d
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>
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