[nagdu] The Process of Getting a Guide

Mon May 21 17:44:12 UTC 2012

I will note one thing about using videos. If you do a video for any school,
please show yourself realistically. Don't show only your perfect moments or
retake things until you are perfect. We've had this happen as have other
schools. People send us a video of them making themselves look much more
skilled, capable, whatever word you want, than they really are, walking
faster than they really do, etc. We then use that to match a dog and when
the person gets to class, oops. 

This is why we'd love to be able to do home interviews with everyone but
economics prohibits that for our program. If the home interview is important
to you, please choose a school that does them routinely. 

When asking for an assessment from an O&M instructor, we often want that
objective, or hopefully objective, third party to assess your skills. Some
people don't realize they may not have the skills they need but think
because they do get from place to place, it will work with a dog. Sometimes
it won't. 

I'm just saying to please oh please be honest with any program you apply to.
Send us video of you walking, and if you have a dog now, show us your work,
good or bad. 

Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com
http://www.twitter.com/jeninems

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tami Kinney
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 1:26 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] The Process of Getting a Guide

Tracy,

The requirement for an O&M instructor to verify that I can travel
independently and safely all by myself is on my list of things to use in
ruling out any program I may apply for. After the whole "really great
vision" fiasco, I'm pretty well over agreeing to jump through that
particular hoop. /smile/

Video or some other form of realistic assessment is one thing. It would show
that I can navigate and find my way hither and yon and judge traffic and all
that. My eye exams show that I do not have really great vision, not even
when I am wearing a sleep shade! So that should cover that problem.... One
would have thought it would clear things up before, but I guess they don't
always look at the medical stuff you send in? I dunno.

The fact that I do travel around and do this and that and live to tell the
tale and everything can also be verified, I suppose, by witnesses to my
comings and goings. I do need to get around to getting some good video of my
owner-trained guide working in various places. I never remember to bring a
camera or person to use it. /lol/

The issue should not be one of dire concern for me in the foreseeable
future, but I am glad that at least some of the programs will accept a
substitute to the requirement to mess around waiting on a state-employed
"Certified O&M Instructor" and then being held hostage to that individual's
assumption that the applicant uses their really great vision to get places
or that when they were traveling all over previously it was because their
husband was helping them... Huh??? /lol/ Where was I when all that help was
going on? And who was that guy I was traveling with instead of my
wonderfully helpful husband? They won't answer those questions for me.... So
I remain mystified. /lol/

So, if/when I do ever apply for a guide dog through a training program, I
may or may not by then have access to an O&M instructor who is capable of
making a reality-based assessment of my skills... The fact that I am almost
entirely self-taught there seems to be something they really can't grapple
with. Sigh. The same is true, I am afraid, with most of my adaptive skills.
I taught myself, then started asking questions of people who actually know
what they are doing. /lol/ But lacking certified instruction... Ah, well.

Adding another layer of patronization and condescension to the process of
acquiring my choice of mobility tool, then, is not something I want to have
to tackle ever again. So any program that insists that it's an assessment by
a certified O&M instructor through the state VR agency or nothing will have
to do no work at all evaluating my skills because I won't apply. /lol/

Tami

On 05/21/2012 09:57 AM, Tracy Carcione wrote:
> If a school insisted on an actual statement from an O&M instructor, I'd
> find that rather patronizing.  Some places seem to assume that every blind
> guy gets cradle-to-grave services, and it just ain't so.  Like Greg, I
> haven't talked to an O&M person for at least 25 years, except for those
> who happen to work for a dog school.  Imagine that.  I've actually been
> rehabilitated, and escaped from the rehab system. And I know for a fact
> that many other blind people have, too.  Isn't that supposed to be what
> rehab is all about?
> Tracy
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
>> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 11:49 AM
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] The Process of Getting a Guide
>>
>>          Bibi makes a great point re mobility.
>> We're all here meaning that however we learned it, we do manage to get
>> around.
>> What do the schools do if someone wants a dog but can't prove via
>> paperwork
>> that they can navigate safely?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf
>> Of Criminal Justice Major
>> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 12:13 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] The Process of Getting a Guide
>>
>> I've been trying to go through that process of getting O&M refresher
>> through
>> Denver Vocational Rehabilitation here in denver, Colorado.
>> No, I didn't get anywhere at all, despite filling out paperwork with an
>> O&M
>> teacher in January, 2012.
>> That same teacher ended up having another baby last month and from that
>> time
>> on despite me contacting my rehab counselor, I never got any calls or
>> emails
>> from her.
>> I was originally going to do O&M in the hopes that GDF would reconsider
me
>> to go through training there as they turned me down last year: claiming I
>> needed more mobility skills.
>> Main reason for wanting to go through GDF is to have a guide dog trained
>> to
>> not only be a guide, but being able to guide me while I do have to use a
>> support cane or walker on the days when I don't have the physical
strength
>> due to arthritis or having a seizure happen.
>> I'd also like to be able to have the dog still be able to guide while I
>> would have to use a power chair.
>> Since I haven't gotten anywhere with DVR, I figure it was best for me to
>> just go train with another guide dog through Pilot Dogs.
>> I definitely understand that mobility is important, but what if a blind
>> individual doesn't have a rehab case, then what are they supposed to do
>> from
>> there?
>> Truth is that there are a lot of other visually impaired individuals who
>> aren't able to get Vocational Rehab to help them out and even with
filling
>> out the necessary paperwork, a person would either end up on a waiting
>> list
>> for probably a year or not be taken in.
>> Yes, I'm aware that SEGDI (Southeastern Guide Dogs Incorporated) does
>> wheelchair training, but I'm way out of their bounds for any follow up.
>> TSE (The Seeing Eye) will do wheelchair training, but I would have
already
>> had to be a graduate in order to receive the training.
>> GDB (Guide Dogs for the Blind) is doing  wheelchair guide do training,
but
>> I'd still would like to know more.
>> A grad is willing to talk to me more on a handler she knows who did go
>> through training there, but I just haven't had a chance to contact her
>> personally as of yet.
>> No, Pilot doesn't do any wheelchair training and I don't think they would
>> plan on going that route either.
>> So, I'd have to teach the next dog myself directly.
>> Back to the mobility thing...
>> I do have an outtpaitient therapist from Denver Health Medical who is
>> willing to help me deal with contacting my rehab counselor and I admitted
>> to
>> her it was better that she'd end up speaking with my rehab counselor on
my
>> behalf so I won't stress that bad.
>> Well, I guess I'll end right here and hide out underneath my quiet rock
>> again.
>> Bibi
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