[nagdu] Guide dog school that offers guide dogs to children between the ages of 11 & 17 years old.
Sheila Leigland
sleigland at bresnan.net
Sun Jun 2 19:20:49 UTC 2013
it should be a case by case decision aas to who should receive a dog and
at what age.
On 6/2/2013 12:10 PM, Ashley Coleman wrote:
> Hi there,
> I received my first guide dog at the age of 20.
>
> In response to this topic I have to say that I have heard nothing but
> negative from this organization. There was a student who attends the
> same University as myself and people were telling me how the handeler
> was treating the dog, and at one point I was told that that was the
> way the dog was supposed to be treated, and I disagree.
>
> The handeler eventually had the dog taken from themself.
>
> Ashley
>
> On 6/2/2013 12:56 PM, Rebecca Sabo wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> I got my first guide dog when I was 18. I thought I was ready for a
>> guide dog at that time. I retired the dog when I was at the Colorado
>> center for the blind in Colorado. I waited a couple of years to get
>> another dog. I am on my fourth dog. I do not no of anyone who got a
>> dog at a young age. You have to be ready to take care of a guide dog
>> . It is like having a child.
>> BeckySabo
>> On Jun 1, 2013, at 8:39 PM, rhonda cruz <rhondaprincess at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> hi i got my dog when i was 22. years old. and it worked out good. i
>>> have never seen a younger person get a dog. from a program. i only
>>> have older friends. that have them. but i think it is up to the person.
>>> it is like taking care of a kid.
>>>
>>> On May 31, 2013, at 8:28 PM, Nicole Torcolini wrote:
>>>
>>>> First, let me say that I know someone who received a dog at a
>>>> young age (I
>>>> cannot remember the exact age) from a Canadian organization,
>>>> probably the
>>>> one mentioned in this article. I cannot remember the whole story,
>>>> but I
>>>> think that, eventually, there was some sort of problem with the
>>>> dog, but it
>>>> was the dog, and not the person. So, although I agree that the
>>>> cases where
>>>> getting a guide dog at a young age may be few, they do exist.
>>>>
>>>> In general I think that it could probably be said that, as you
>>>> lower the
>>>> age, the number of cases were getting a guide dog works out well
>>>> gets lower
>>>> and lower. I agree that eleven is too low, but I also think that
>>>> sixteen is
>>>> also a little to high. I think that people should at least be able
>>>> to be
>>>> evaluated for a guide dog around thirteen or fourteen. Sometimes,
>>>> there can
>>>> be more things that need to be worked out before a person can get a
>>>> dog than
>>>> the person thought, and having a year or two to work those out
>>>> would be
>>>> nice.
>>>>
>>>> I agree that having a dog around other people, especially kids,
>>>> might be
>>>> hard for a child. Most children are still in elementary school at age
>>>> eleven, and elementary schools usually have at least first graders
>>>> if not
>>>> kindergarteners.
>>>>
>>>> The whole thing about people talking about only the dog I think is not
>>>> always a problem. JMHO, if someone wants to talk just about my dog and
>>>> nothing else, then I don't want to talk to them. I have met very
>>>> few people
>>>> who insisted on talking about nothing but the dog, and, for most of
>>>> those
>>>> people, I have gotten it through to them that the dog is not the main
>>>> concern at the moment and that there are other things that need to
>>>> be done.
>>>> Even for those people who start by talking about the dog, they do
>>>> not seem
>>>> to mind when I change the subject; they sometimes change it
>>>> themselves.
>>>> Would this be the same for a child? I really cannot say. I think that
>>>> younger children may want to stick more to the topic of dogs, but I
>>>> think
>>>> that teenagers would not so much.
>>>>
>>>> I definitely agree that good O&M skills are a must before getting a
>>>> guide
>>>> dog. That does not just include knowing how to use a cane but also
>>>> knowing
>>>> where you are and which direction you are pointing relative to your
>>>> surroundings. I do see how a child might try to avoid using a cane
>>>> just
>>>> because having a dog is cooler. No, I don't necessarily like my
>>>> cane, but
>>>> that has nothing to do with the fact that the cane means that I am
>>>> blind.
>>>>
>>>> I don't really know what to say about things not working out with the
>>>> family. I think that there would need to be some kind of
>>>> information for the
>>>> family, and some way for the representatives from the guide dog
>>>> school to
>>>> talk to the child about how things are going without parents
>>>> skewing the
>>>> information. Sometimes, when I have to keep reminding people about
>>>> things
>>>> about my guide dog, I joke about sending them to the guide dog
>>>> training just
>>>> so that they can learn the rules.
>>>>
>>>> I do agree that responsibility for the dog can be a problem, but I
>>>> think
>>>> that it should be considered on a case by case basis. Perhaps a
>>>> strongly
>>>> recommended prerequisite for a child getting a guide dog is that
>>>> the child
>>>> has to be able to take care of a family pet almost independently
>>>> before
>>>> getting a guide dog. When I was eleven, my family got a pet dog, and,
>>>> although I did not do everything, I could do most of the tasks for
>>>> taking
>>>> care of her on my own. Had push come to shove, I would have found a
>>>> way to
>>>> do the other tasks. But my parents have always encouraged my
>>>> independence,
>>>> so I certainly see where it could be more of a problem of parents
>>>> wanting to
>>>> help too much. Perhaps there could be some sort of paperwork for
>>>> the parents
>>>> as well saying that the dog is the responsibility of the child and the
>>>> parents are not supposed to help too much. I do definitely agree
>>>> that this
>>>> is important for a good working relation with the dog, especially
>>>> in the
>>>> first few months.
>>>>
>>>> I agree that it needs to be the choice of the child to get a guide
>>>> dog. It
>>>> most certainly was me, not my parents, who decided that I would get
>>>> a guide
>>>> dog. They most certainly were not against it, but it was my
>>>> decision, and
>>>> they have always been mostly supportive of letting make my own
>>>> personal
>>>> choices.
>>>>
>>>> I also agree that having a child get a guide dog because the child is
>>>> supposedly safer is not a valid reason for a child to get a guide dog,
>>>> especially if the parents expect the dog to protect the child.
>>>>
>>>> I do agree that some people are probably not mature enough at
>>>> thirteen or
>>>> fourteen to get a guide dog, but I am sure that some do exist.
>>>> Again, it is
>>>> something that needs to be considered differently for each situation.
>>>>
>>>> It is not *horrible* to wait till you are sixteen, but I certainly
>>>> would
>>>> have enjoyed a guide dog a little sooner than I got one. I find
>>>> travel that
>>>> much easier and more enjoyable with a dog rather than a cane.
>>>>
>>>> Perhaps one way of trying to make sure that the dog was actually
>>>> used as a
>>>> guide dog and did not just become a pet would be to have stricter
>>>> vision
>>>> requirements for younger children as I feel that younger children
>>>> are more
>>>> likely to use (or try to use) any remaining vision that they have.
>>>> This gets
>>>> back to that a person needs to have accepted his/her blindness before
>>>> getting a guide dog.
>>>>
>>>> I also don't like that people think that children can be more
>>>> independent
>>>> just because they have a guide dog. There is nothing that keeps a
>>>> parent
>>>> from reaching over and holding on to his/her child if the child has
>>>> a dog
>>>> any more than if the child has a cane. I am an adult, and people
>>>> still try
>>>> to hold onto and direct me when I am using my dog.
>>>>
>>>> Returning to the point about children having to tell people, including
>>>> people older than him/her, not to pet the dog, I can definitely
>>>> tell where
>>>> this would be a problem. However, if it is junior high and not
>>>> elementary
>>>> school, I would think that the school staff could come to
>>>> understand the
>>>> rules, even if it had to come from someone other than the child,
>>>> such as a
>>>> rep from the guide dog school.
>>>>
>>>> As a closing case, I will say that, although I reference my
>>>> experiences in
>>>> this email, my experiences certainly are not those of every blind
>>>> child.
>>>>
>>>> Nicole
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Deanna
>>>> Lewis
>>>> Sent: Friday, May 31, 2013 5:05 AM
>>>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog
>>>> Users(nagdu at nfbnet.org)
>>>> Subject: [nagdu] Guide dog school that offers guide dogs to
>>>> children between
>>>> the ages of 11 & 17 years old.
>>>>
>>>> What do you all think about this...
>>>> Deanna and Pascal
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> MIRA - The only organization in the United States dedicated to
>>>> providing
>>>> guide dogs to blind children and youth between the ages of 11-17.
>>>>
>>>> MIRA: from the Spanish "look", "to have one's sights set on", was the
>>>> nickname of a favorite guide dog trained by Eric St. Pierre,
>>>> founder of MIRA
>>>> Canada. MIRA Foundation USA takes its name from its collaboration
>>>> with MIRA
>>>> Canada, a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 upon the belief
>>>> that all
>>>> individuals, regardless of their physical challenges, should be
>>>> able to set
>>>> their sights on the same goals as those people born without handicaps.
>>>>
>>>> Today, MIRA Canada is recognized as a global leader in the breeding,
>>>> selection, and training of guide and service dogs. MIRA USA was
>>>> created in
>>>>
>>>> 2008 as a legally separate entity, but with close ties to MIRA
>>>> Canada, where
>>>> our dogs are currently trained.
>>>>
>>>> Our mission is to offer blind children in the United States between
>>>> the ages
>>>> of 11-17 the opportunity to receive guide dogs free of charge, to
>>>> provide
>>>> targeted educational outreach to promote public awareness, and, as we
>>>> continue to grow, to offer support services to the adult population
>>>> of blind
>>>> and their families.
>>>>
>>>> It is our experience that blind children, for the most part, are
>>>> highly
>>>> adaptive, fiercely determined, and seek to have many of the same
>>>> opportunities as their sighted peers. Although a cane provides an
>>>> adequate
>>>> degree of mobility for the blind and severely visually impaired, there
>>>> remain some serious limitations. For example, it is impossible to
>>>> navigate
>>>> with a cane when there is no tactical information such as what is
>>>> provided
>>>> by sidewalks. A child living in a rural area is severely challenged
>>>> by this
>>>> restriction.
>>>>
>>>> Furthermore, a cane tends to be isolating, whereas a dog provides a
>>>> social
>>>> bridge to the sighted community. Not only are dogs social
>>>> creatures, they
>>>> also provide stability and a level of protection through their visual
>>>> awareness training that a cane could never replicate.
>>>>
>>>> Finally, a guide dog provides a young blind person with a greater
>>>> level of
>>>> self-reliance at an early age. Although a very young student is not
>>>> going to
>>>> be out on the streets alone with their dog, having the ability to
>>>> navigate
>>>> without holding a parent's hand is crucial to developing maturity and
>>>> confidence. The student's freedom and mobility are especially
>>>> enhanced in
>>>> the school environment with the assistance of a guide dog. Although
>>>> there is
>>>> no cure for blindness, there can be hope, and we at MIRA witness it
>>>> every
>>>> day through the service of a MIRA guide dog.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.mirausa.org/
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>>
>>
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