[nagdu] should the world conform to our desires was Guides at NFB training centers

[melissa R green]

I agree with you julie.  I
believe that People use the
law as leverage, or as an
excuse.  I have been in places
and heard blind people say, it
is the law that you do this or
that.  People don't know if
this is true or not.  So they
just go through it.  

Warmly,
Melissa R. Green and Pj
It is 'where we are' that
should make all the
difference, whether we believe
we belong there or not. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu
[mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.o
rg] On Behalf Of Julie J. via
nagdu
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015
7:32 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the
National Association of Guide
Dog Users
Cc: Julie J.
Subject: Re: [nagdu] should
the world conform to our
desires was Guides at NFB
training centers

Raven,

I disagree with you on all of
your points, quite a lot
actually.  It appears 
that you are expecting the
whole wide world to conform to
what you want, 
regardless of what they are in
business to do, paying you for
or what the 
rules are.  There are two key
points in the law that perhaps
have been 
overlooked in this discussion.
They are the concepts of
fundamental 
alterations and reasonable
accommodations.

The NFB centers offer a
specific curriculum that
includes using a long white 
cane.  that is what they have
on offer.  Using a guide dog
is a fundamental 
alteration of what they are
offering.  You simply cannot
learn what they are 
teaching if you are using a
guide dog. I've heard your
arguments and I don't 
think you truly understand the
full complexity of orientation
center 
training.

You stated that you do not
want to clip nails or give eye
ointment, even 
though this is a job duty you
were assigned and your
employer offered you 
training.  It looks to me like
you are using your blindness
as an excuse to 
get out of doing work you
don't like.  I've never had a
job where I got to 
pick and choose my job duties.
they were clearly stated from
the beginning. 
I could accept the job or not,
but the duties were not
negotiable.  Perhaps 
I'm the only one and have had
unreasonable employers.  I
asked my son what 
would happen at his place of
employment if someone did
this.  He replied 
that in fact it had happened
before and the person was
fired.

A reasonable accommodation is
required of the employer in
order to get you 
the tools, training or
whatever you need due to your
disability in order to 
be able to do the job.  Your
employer offered you training
and you refused. 
If we want to be treated as
equal in the workplace we have
to act like 
equals, including doing *all*
of the work we are assigned.

You also stated that at the
beginning of each class of new
dogs and students 
the staff is asked to not walk
dogs through that part of the
campus.  You 
work your dog irregardless of
this requirement.  Have you
requested this as 
a reasonable accommodation?  I
think it could be considered a
fundamental 
alteration, because it
interferes with the normal
flow of business there.

Reasonable accommodations
doesn't mean we get whatever
we want, whenever we 
want without consideration of
the needs of the business.  It
means 
reasonable.  The employer
isn't required to let us do
whatever we want.

There is a long history of
guide dog programs not hiring
blind people.  In 
recent years this has slowly
been changing.  There are now
a few blind 
people working directly with
dogs at the guide dog
programs.   I think this 
has been a really positive
change.  I'd hate to see it go
back to 
discriminating against blind
people again, because
experiences with blind 
employees have given the wrong
impression that blind people
really can't do 
equal work for equal pay.

Julie



______________________________
_________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/list
info/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your
list options or get your
account info for nagdu:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/opti
ons/nagdu_nfbnet.org/graduate5
6%40juno.com