[nagdu] Treatment of People with Guide Dogs

Sheila Leigland sleigland at bresnan.net
Sat Sep 14 13:37:38 UTC 2013


hi when I've needed to use my cane people freak out if it comes in to 
contact with anything. It doesn't even need to be a hard tap. They seem 
to not understand that a cane isn't worth much if idt can't intact an 
object they asume that I'
On 9/13/2013 5:30 PM, Julie McGinnity wrote:
> Hi.  Yes, I have experienced the same thing.  I used to use my cane in
> choir performances, and people were absolutely terrified when the cane
> would hit them.  It was actually kind of entertaining.  People also
> somehow think I am less independent with the cane, which I find very
> interesting.  If they pay attention or know some of my blind friends
> who are cane users, they learn very quickly that this is not the case.
>   But it goes back to that idea that the dogs are somehow smarter than
> we are.
> m going to run in to something so it doesn't seem to matter if I'm using a ccane or my dog. I get comments about
tres running me in to things even though he isn't I guess they don't 
think that he is going to stop or move around something.
> I assure you that anyone who thinks that the dogs take care of the
> poor blind people really don't spend much time with us or don't pay
> any attention when they do.  If my dog took care of me, she would
> never get fed, and neither would I!  Lol
>
> On 9/13/13, Larry D. Keeler <lkeeler at comcast.net> wrote:
>> Tami, I should learn to throw my voice so it sounds like Holly is talking so
>>
>> that I could throw folks off! That would be sort of fun!
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Tami Jarvis" <tami at poodlemutt.com>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 10:25 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Treatment of People with Guide Dogs
>>
>>
>>> Nicole,
>>>
>>> Interesting observations. Human interactions are very different for me
>>> with the dog than with the cane... I was still getting used to different
>>> interactions from the presence of the cane when I started going around
>>> with dog, so I feel like I've been in a crazy sociology experiment. /lol/
>>>
>>> With the dog, people will call her and give her directions, but I have
>>> trained her to ignore them (mostly). With the cane, people give me
>>> directions that are often silly and may be more likely to try to take my
>>> arm or something when I don't want them to. The dog has learned to help me
>>>
>>> out when the directions involve the phrase "over there." Whichever tool I
>>>
>>> am using, people still seem to think they need to tell me about every curb
>>>
>>> and step. People are more likely to talk to me at random when I'm using
>>> the guide dog, but they will often talk to or about the dog. I've kind of
>>>
>>> learned some techniques to then guide conversation into non-dog topics and
>>>
>>> get the focus away from her if I want to. If I'm lazy and not that
>>> interested in connecting, then a nice chat about the dog is fine. /smile/
>>>
>>> It used to bug me that people seemed horrified that the dog might make a
>>> mistake because that would be awful somehow. Then I noticed that people
>>> are terrified I will make a mistake with the cane because that will be
>>> awful somehow. The annoying thing when I'm using the cane is when there
>>> are people around who are terrified the cane might touch something,
>>> especially if they are the type to insist that I watch where I'm going and
>>>
>>> where I'm swinging that thing! This doesn't happen often, but sometimes
>>> there will be gasps of terror or shock when my cane taps a pole or
>>> something. OMG! I ran into it! /lol/ I guess there have been a few times
>>> when I've missed a bit stepping up a curb with my dog and heard the gasps.
>>>
>>> But in general, with the dog, I do not appear to be running into things by
>>>
>>> tapping them with her.
>>>
>>> Hm... Standing at street corners with the dog often means discussing how
>>> she knows how to cross the street since dogs are color blind or something
>>>
>>> like that. I'm trying to remember if I've ever stood at a street corner
>>> trying to explain how I cross with the cane. Seems I have at one time or
>>> another. Maybe it's that Portland friendliness? If you don't say something
>>>
>>> weird to someone standing at the same corner, you're just not with it in
>>> Portland! Refreshingly, people seem as likely to say something outlandish
>>>
>>> and controversial about politics, religion or even the weather as they are
>>>
>>> about the dog or the cane. /lol/
>>>
>>> Tami
>>>
>>> On 09/12/2013 05:42 PM, Nicole Torcolini wrote:
>>>> Some of the recent threads have made me think of something kind of
>>>> interesting. No, you don't interact with someone who has a guide dog the
>>>> same way that you interact with someone who has a cane, but, if people
>>>> would
>>>> treat us more like we were using canes instead of dogs, we would not have
>>>>
>>>> as
>>>> many problems. For example, some people have problems with people trying
>>>>
>>>> to
>>>> give their dog directions. When someone has a cane instead of a dog,
>>>> this
>>>> problem does not happen. The same goes for interacting with the dog. You
>>>> don't hear about people messing with canes as often as you hear about
>>>> people
>>>> messing with dogs. What do people think of this?
>>>>
>>>> Nicole
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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>





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