[nagdu] Soul Searching

[Larry D. Keeler]

I am bragging!  I learned to travel when I was still in elementary school. 
I think what you missed is that some folks had a bad time at convention. 
These days, those issues are fewer than they used to be but they are still 
out there!  I use both cane and dog.  I do well with both and of the things 
I can brag about traveling is one.  But, I remember going to my first NFB 
chapter meeting.  Me and another guy came. He left his dog at home and I 
braught mine.  I stayed and he didn't because he believed the myth that we 
don't approve of dogs.  Some folks don't bother to dissuade those with dogs. 
It still happenssometimes!
----- 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>
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2012 8:40 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Soul Searching


>I wasn't at convention this year so maybe I'm missing something.  I've been 
>to several other national conventions and a fair number of state ones. 
>There are loads and loads of people with canes, dogs, human guides and 
>people who need some sort of mobility tool but aren't quite ready to admit 
>that yet.  Each of these persons has a different background, differing 
>access to training, varying capacity to utilize that training and a wide 
>range of abilities to handle the unique stress that comes from a national 
>convention environment.
>
> Jeez, I consider myself a very good traveler with either cane or dog.  I'm 
> not bragging, I've had access to excellent training and was able to 
> receive that training in my early 20's.  I've had good role models and a 
> superb support system.  For a long time I thought this was the case for 
> everyone.  I was very intolerant of blind folks who couldn't walk from the 
> curb to the front door without precision directions and a lot of verbal 
> support. At my first national convention I was truly horrified at the 
> trains of 3 to 5 people that would be strung along behind one sighted 
> guide.  I was embarrassed by the people who would call out directions to 
> the various meeting rooms.  Then I began talking to some of these people 
> in the exhibit hall, while waiting in the lunch line or on the way to a 
> meeting.  These were people doing their very best with the resources they 
> had.  Many of them came from places where training isn't readily 
> available.  Or perhaps their training only lasted a few weeks.  Or they 
> were only told to travel routes they had worked on with their mobility 
> instructor.  Or maybe they were older when they became blind and couldn't 
> physically handle the demands of a residential program.  Or perhaps they 
> chose other things more important to them than going away for residential 
> training, like young children, career or caring for an elderly parent.
>
> I began to rethink every assumption about blind people and travel I had 
> ever made.  What gave me the right to decide that blindness training is 
> more important than caring for an elderly parent?  What gave me the right 
> to expect that everyone would be able to understand and implement cane 
> travel in the same way?   Why did I think that everyone would be crazy 
> about the idea of giving up 6 months to a year of their life in order to 
> get training?  Why did I have the audacity to think the decisions I had 
> made were the right decisions for all blind people?
>
> Not all cane users are the same.  I see a lot of comments about cane users 
> not liking guide dogs, like every blind person that uses a cane is a clone 
> or something.  I haven't read one comment that said Joe Smith who happens 
> to use a cane was rude to me because of my guide dog.  It's the cane users 
> were rude because of my dog.  We are never going to fully accept blind 
> people who use canes if we don't stop lumping them all together.  There 
> are a lot of complaints about the separation between guide dog users and 
> cane users and each group not respecting the decisions of the other group. 
> That needs to stop.  We are not cookie cutter people out of some mold.  We 
> are all different.  The first thing we need to do is to recognize that it 
> is not all cane users that don't like guide dogs.  Sure there are specific 
> blind people that use canes that may not be super excited about guide 
> dogs, but it is most certainly not the entire group.
>
> The second thing that needs to happen is that people have to realize "You 
> must be the change you want to see in the world".  Yes that's a quote from 
> Gandhi.  It's absolutely spot on true.  If you want respect, you have to 
> give respect.  If you want people to be polite, you must be polite to 
> them. Yes, sometimes that's hard.  Yes, sometimes it isn't going to work. 
> Yes, sometimes people are asses and no matter how polite and respectful 
> you are they are still going to be nasty.  Get over it.  Acting horrid 
> back only contributes to the bigger problem.
>
> This was written as a general commentary about the rift between cane users 
> and guide dog users that I have seen evidence of over many years of being 
> on this list, attending state and national conventions and other first 
> hand experiences.  It is in no way meant to single out any particular 
> person.
>
> Julie
>
>
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