[nagdu] My concerns about getting a guide dog.....

[Pauline Berger]

Thanks so much for your reply, Doug.  You do make sense and you are right,
I never do know when to trust what I see.  And, I have had my doubts about
whether I could trust a dog.  I did have some mobility training where my
instructor had me close my eyes and walk around the city with my cane.  We
didn't get very far and I was scared to death.  I think that I could have
overcome that with time, but my mobility trainer who was the only one in my
area kind of flaked out and stopped answering my messages and calls.  The
guide dog school I would be going to would be helping me with this.  I do
have reservations  about how well it would go.

But you helped describe my situation to a T.  Because I have been looking
at things like a 14 point font and say to myself.....see you can see--who
are you kidding and then walk outside and not see a step or some other
thing.  I really am gonna have to get to the point of not caring about what
others will think and start doing what is best for me.



On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 3:46 PM, Doug Parisian <eggmann at shaw.ca> wrote:

> Pauline, so-called legal blindness, as I don't have to tell you, is
> sometimes a very fluid creature.  I have met at least two folks who would
> seem on the surface to have adequate self-guiding vision but both had
> conditions which made this kind of fluctuating eyesight unreliable.  Both
> often became virtually totally blind while waiting to adjust to a change in
> lighting and struggled even more than I do with being totally blind during
> such lengthy "non-enlightening"periods.
>
> One fellow at TSE was even able to read me a product key for a piece of
> software I was installing saving me endless grief ind struggling to read
> the
> number with my opticon, entering it on the puter using speech, and checking
> to see it was accurate.  Five minutes later, he nearly crashed into me
> because we had moved to a different lighting situation.
>
> The only issue I noticed is that folks with this wicked kind of vision
> experienced more difficulties than those of us with more predictable vision
> issues in trusting their dogs.  One fellow paid dearly for this issue by
> almost not finding our hotel because he thought he saw something he didn't
> and his dog remembered from where we had come.  My dog, no better than his,
> took us back since I had no reason not to trust.
>
> Doug: blind folks are so delightful; they can't see through me!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pauline Berger" <sispberger at gmail.com>
> To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2012 4:59 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] My concerns about getting a guide dog.....
>
>
> : Hello everyone,
> :
> : I just found this list last night and I am hoping to chat with someone
> who
> : might be in the same situation that I am in.  I am legally blind but just
> : barely.  I have a lot of functional vision left and for the most part
> : people around me do not even realize that I have vision problems.
> : Especially if I am in a familiar area, my visual handicaps could not even
> : be noticed.  Lighting is what makes the difference in me.  Either too
> much
> : or not enough can really blind me.  I have trouble with any printed text
> : unless it is blown up to about 6 or 7x.
> :
> : So my concern is this:  I do have enough functional vision that may get
> in
> : the way of training a dog to see for me.  Sometimes I do see the cracks
> in
> : a sidewalk or sometimes I don't.  I have walked off a set of stairs twice
> : in my life that I did not see.  So, my hubby and daughter would like me
> to
> : get a dog for my own protection.  It is not just them, I would love one
> : too.  What I am afraid of is that the people at the guide dog training
> : place will wonder if I am faking...I know.... you may think this is
> silly,
> : but I do wonder if they will be able to work with me since I do have the
> : ability to see more than others that need a dog.  I would be able to go
> : around town on the bus and such with him and to go to my volunteer job at
> : the hospital with him and not feel vulnerable like I do with my cane
> which
> : advertises to everyone that I am visually impaired.
> :
> : Any thoughts for me???
> :
> : Thanks
> :
> : --
> : When you are at the edge of a cliff........*a step back* is progress!
> : .....heard at Pacific Coast Camp
> :
> : *Knowledge* is knowing that a tomato is classified as a fruit....
> : *Wisdom* is knowing not to put it into a fruit salad!
> : .....author unknown
> :
> : Two things in life you should never scrimp on.......
> : *Mattresses* and *shoes*.......you will spend your lifetime in one or the
> : other!
> : author unknown
> :
> : Talk to yourself.......you will be guaranteed at least *ONE* listener!
> : by Pauline Berger
> : _______________________________________________
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>
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-- 
When you are at the edge of a cliff........*a step back* is progress!
.....heard at Pacific Coast Camp

*Knowledge* is knowing that a tomato is classified as a fruit....
*Wisdom* is knowing not to put it into a fruit salad!
.....author unknown

Two things in life you should never scrimp on.......
*Mattresses* and *shoes*.......you will spend your lifetime in one or the
other!
author unknown

Talk to yourself.......you will be guaranteed at least *ONE* listener!
by Pauline Berger