[nagdu] Guide Dogs and childcare centers

[Nicole Torcolini]

Different people have different opinions  on both disclosing your disability
and disclosing that you have a service dog. For me, I had to disclose that I
was blind before a job interview because the job interview involved using a
computer, so not disclosing my blindness meant that there would not be a
screen reader on the computer. Also, the potential employer already knew
through other sources that I was blind, and they were not the type of
company that would discriminate based on blindness. For a situation like
this, it depends. There are pros and cons to both. Frankly, if it was me, I
would disclose my blindness ahead of time. I highly doubt that they would
have any type of policy that prohibits people who are blind from
volunteering there, and, even if they do, it probably is not legal. Usually,
you can tell when something is an actual policy and when it is just a bunch
of crap that they have made up. Sometimes, you can get people to back down
when they try to pull that kind of stuff on you and sometimes you cannot. If
it was me, I would rather know ahead of time what kind of people with whom I
would be working, and, if it turned out that they were going to give you a
hard time about everything, then I would probably not volunteer there. I do
think that you should tell them that you are bringing your guide dog. That
way, you can work out any potential problems with allergies and/or fear of
dogs. As has already been mentioned, depending on the age of the kids, it
might be a great opportunity to educate the kids. You could even turn it
into some kind of a game for them where sometimes your dog is in harness and
sometimes she is not, and the kids are or are not allowed to pet your dog.
And one final note about your dog. I know that all dogs are different, but,
for my female black lab, I found that she found it very hard to resist
giving the little kids doggy kisses one time that I was around little kids.

Nicole and Lexia

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Joanne Michelle
Stark via nagdu
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2014 1:29 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Guide Dogs and childcare centers

Okay, this is going to be a rather lengthy message, so hang onto your hats
...
Next week, I am starting a volunteer position with a local childcare center.
This was probably a bad move on my part, but I let my fear of rejection
solely based on disability dictate whether or not I should disclose my
disability, and ultimately, I went against it. they do not know I have a
service dog, and I have never visited this place before, so I don't know
what it's like. I am not going to bring my black labrador retriever for the
first day, at least until I've checked with staff to make sure none of the
kids have allergies or a fear of dogs, just to be safe. Was this a good
idea, or should I call before going in and let them know I'm blind? Maybe
I'm just paranoid, but I don't know how they're going to react to me, let
alone a dog in harness. I was told Ditra is good around children, and have
seen for myself that she does well, but how do I go about explaining to
little ones that she's a Guide Dog? I've heard some parents say, "That's a
working dog," and the kids get it, but sometimes parents don't always know
how to explain her job well to the children. the kids only know, "Don't
touch that dog, it's working," but I can tell somehow that they don't quite
understand exactly how she helps me. Suggestions for both of these issues
are welcome either on here or privately. thank you.
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