[nagdu] Signed up by family?

Dan Weiner dcwein at dcwein.cnc.net
Fri Jun 19 22:39:53 UTC 2015 

Probably a simplified version of the whole thing.
Though I will admit, two or three times in the last 20 years someone in the
public asked me how to either get someone a guide dog or sign their
relative, friend etc. up for one.
They are usually quite annoyed wwhen I explain the process which proves to
me tthat they want to impose their opinion on whatever relative or friend
and I am so glad that you really can't sign anyone up--lol.

These conversations show and reflect the majority misconception about guide
dogs...that the dog itself does all the work.
I try to explain that the dog has special training but the person needs to
know how to use the dogs training to get the job done and so on and so on.
It all falls on deaf ears--lol

Dan W.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaye Kipp via
nagdu
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2015 4:44 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Cc: Kaye Kipp
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Signed up by family?

I don't think they could because the schools have to interview the person,
and if he/she was signed up by someone else, it seems like the schools
wouldn't accept that.

I do remember though, that back in the 60's, at least the school I went to
didn't come and do interviews.

Kaye

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Danielle Ledet
via nagdu
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2015 12:13 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Danielle Ledet
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Signed up by family?

Wow what a nice feel-good story. How could someone sign someone else up to
get a guide dog? I don't understand.

On 6/19/15, Julie McGinnity via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Tracy and all,
>
> I have a lot of thoughts on this.  I think that PR like this does a 
> lot more harm than good.  Here's why:
>
> 1. It promotes the idea that guide dogs are miracles or magical: I 
> love the bond, the way I walk with a dog, but at the end of the day, 
> he is a dog who loves to work, and we are a team.  We had to work hard 
> to get where we are, and using a dog still isn't perfect.  Yes, 
> getting a guide dog can change your life, but is it miraculous, the 
> being that will solve all of your problems as a blind person?  No.  I 
> don't think so.
>
> 2. The blind person is patronized: This should be obvious, but in 
> order to make themselves look good, the schools make us seem helpless 
> without their services.  In addition, in this case, the blind person 
> is made to seem as though he didn't even make a decision on the 
> matter.
>
> 3. Guides are portrayed as rights rather than privileges: Not every 
> person should work a guide dog.  Not every person would benefit from 
> one, and some people are denied dogs because of poor mobility skills 
> or other reasons.  What happened to the blind person working hard on 
> their cane skills to go to guide dog school?  For something that comes 
> with so much responsibility, getting a dog surely seems like a simple 
> process.
>
> 4. They support the myth that blind people must have guide dogs to
> travel: This is similar to number two, but now I direct your attention 
> to the society at large.  Cane users are asked why they don't have 
> dogs, treated differently, and there are blind people who resent guide 
> dog users.  I believe that this kind of PR leads to this behavior.
> Blind people buy into the idea that they can't without their dog, and 
> boom!  Resentment from other blind people who choose not to use a dog 
> and a misinformed public.
>
> I should also add that there are other factors that influence these 
> things, especially the notions of the public.  These are just some 
> ideas I've had.
>
>
> On 6/19/15, Tracy Carcione via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi Minh.
>> I respectfully disagree, but perhaps the loved ones we each have in 
>> mind are different.  I think my husband would benefit from having a 
>> guide dog, and I think he'd do well with one, but he says he's not 
>> interested.  Trying to nudge him along would just annoy him and make 
>> him dig in his heels.  The most I can do is point out ways my dog 
>> helps me, or ways it would help in some situation, and even that I'd 
>> better not keep harping on.  I strongly believe it's a choice a 
>> person has to make himself.  Family and friends can advise and 
>> encourage, but that's it.
>>
>> The GDB newsletter is PR, and I'm sure it's not entirely accurate, 
>> but I think we have every right to expect even PR to treat us as 
>> intelligent adults who can and do make decisions for ourselves. I 
>> understand that a school might feel some sloppiness is needed, but 
>> they can go too far, and then we should speak up, or at least point 
>> it
out.  JMO.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of minh ha 
>> via nagdu
>> Sent: Friday, June 19, 2015 12:06 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Cc: minh ha
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Signed up by family?
>>
>> The GDB newsletter is a promotional email that they send out to 
>> everyone, so obviously some details are blurred a little bit. I don't 
>> think I've ever seen marketing material from any guide dog school 
>> that truly portrays the guide dog process accurately or adequately.
>> What probably happened was they discussed it, but he needed some 
>> extra pushing from his wife. And personally, as someone who is in a 
>> long and committed relationship, I would do the exact same thing if I 
>> whole heartedly believe that the person that I love truly needed a 
>> guide dog, but was too afraid to do so himself.
>>
>> Maybe it's a different process for those who lose vision later on in 
>> life.
>> The adjustment period can last a really really long time and some 
>> blind people just require that extra nudge to get them going again.
>>
>> Minh
>>
>> On 6/19/15, Lisa via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Hi Tracy,
>>>
>>> I completely agree with you. Of course it's great when others 
>>> encourage a person to  consider getting a guide dog. But it's just 
>>> the same as getting someone a puppy for Christmas, only even worse.
>>> It's meant as a nice gift or
>>>
>>> idea but it's not thoughtful.
>>>
>>> You have to be 100% sure that you would like to share your life with 
>>> a guide
>>>
>>> dog. There's so much you have to learn and plan. In the beginning, 
>>> there are
>>>
>>> so many things that can be challenging and exhausting while becoming 
>>> a
>> team.
>>>
>>> As everyone on here knows, it's not like getting somebody a cane. 
>>> You have to be willing to get up in the middle of the night when 
>>> doggy has got diarrhea because he's eaten something wrong. That's 
>>> just one single example,
>>>
>>> I could probably think of 100 others.
>>> The decision to apply for a guide dog has to come from yourself 
>>> because you
>>>
>>> will be the one responsible for your guide.
>>>
>>> Well, of course we don't know whether the wife and husband had been 
>>> talking
>>>
>>> about the possibility of getting a guide dog before. Maybe the 
>>> husband knew
>>>
>>> about his wife signing him up and it's just a nice story for the 
>>> public. But
>>>
>>> if not,I think it's irresponsible and I don't see why a guide dog 
>>> program would want other people to sign their relatives and friends 
>>> up because it's
>>>
>>> likely they're facing a lot of difficulties then.
>>>
>>> Just my humble and spontaneous opinion :-)
>>>
>>> Lisa
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Tracy Carcione via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'"
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
>>> Sent: Friday, June 19, 2015 5:25 PM
>>> Subject: [nagdu] Signed up by family?
>>>
>>>
>>>>I just got the GDB newsletter for the general public, and there's a 
>>>>bit I  think is odd or over-the-top or patronizing, really.
>>>>
>>>> So-and-so suddenly lost his sight, and found ways to go on for 
>>>> years, but felt something was missing.  Then "his wife stepped in 
>>>> and signed him up for a guide dog, and, before he knew it, he was 
>>>> at GDB, being matched with his new partner."
>>>>
>>>> Really?  I've sometimes wished I could "sign someone up" for a 
>>>> guide dog, but it takes a real commitment from the person to get 
>>>> through the training and the first few months of adjustment, at 
>>>> least.  It's not a decision someone else could take for me, or me 
>>>> for someone else.
>>>>
>>>> When my brother fell down a manhole using his cane, my mother did 
>>>> sit him down and tell him he should get a guide dog, like his 
>>>> sister.  He decided
>>>>
>>>> it
>>>> was good advice, and has been happy with the decision, but, if he'd 
>>>> decided otherwise, there wouldn't be a darn thing anyone could have 
>>>> done about it, even if they'd wanted to try.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The GDB piece just seemed weird to me.  Why would they even want to 
>>>> encourage someone to sign up someone else?  What makes them think I 
>>>> have a keeper, who can make life-changing decisions for me?
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone actually heard of such a thing happening?
>>>>
>>>> Tracy
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Minh Ha
>> Boston College | Lynch School of Education '16 minh.ha927 at gmail.com
>>
>> "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the 
>> dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was
vanity:
>> but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on 
>> their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence
>>
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>
>
> --
> Julie McGinnity
> National Federation of the Blind of Missouri second vice president, 
> National Federation of the Blind performing arts division secretary, 
> Missouri Association of Guide dog Users President graduate, Guiding 
> Eyes for the Blind 2008, 2014 "For we walk by faith, not by sight"
> 2 Cor. 7
>
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