[NAGDU] Field Reps

Wed Jul 5 22:01:37 UTC 2017

				Heather, I am trying to get your email
address but can't seem to find it. If you can get mine, can you message me
off list?

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Heather Bird via
NAGDU
Sent: Wednesday, July 5, 2017 10:09 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Heather Bird <heather.l.bird at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Field Reps

Hi. First of all, which school is Belto from? I apologize but I can not keep
everyone strait as to which people have which type of dog from which school.
If the harness is not fitting properly or is otherwise not working well,
then, try the following:
A. Adjust the belly strap and if you have one, the martingale strap. If your
dog has gained or lost substantial weight or if they have deepened in the
chest and their frame has grown since getting them as a very young dog,
younger than 2 years old, then the harness may simply need adjustment.
B. If it is a problem with the harness handle moving too much, or too little
then perhaps the rabbit ears on your harness are worn out and thus they
droop and don't control the handle as much as you would like, or perhaps the
connecters have gotten too tight, try oiling them if they are of that type,
or too loose, try tightening the wing nuts, hex nuts, or leather buckles,
depending on how your harness is constructed.
C. Perhaps you need an off-set handle if you have a standard one, or perhaps
if your school gives out off-set handles routinely, you may require a
standard handle.
D. If it is an issue where the harness has been damaged, then your school
should replace it or repair it for you, for free, or for a reasonable fee,
depending on your school's policies.
E. If the whole harness design is wrong for you then you may wish to
consider purchasing a harness made by someone else. I have one made by
Julie, here on list, and you could contact her or look at her website for
more information. Her company is called On The Go. I think another lister
also used to make, and still might make harnesses, and there are websites
that sell guide harnesses out there, so you have options. We'd need more
details though about in what way the harness is not working though before I
or anyone else can give you better, more specific advice.

Ok, so the field rep. thing. Field reps vary widely, just as in-class
trainers vary. It depends on the school they are from, their years of
experience, and a whole host of other factors related to who they are as a
trainer and who they are as a person and how those factors mesh with who you
are and what your needs are. The Seeing Eye, overall has very good trainers,
and their field reps that I have worked with are also good, quite good. They
have gotten rid of all or most of their field reps. Which is good and bad.
It is bad because you will wait longer for follow up, unless it is
absolutely urgent. It is good because you will likely get one of the main
trainers, perhaps even someone who has worked with you and or your dog
before. So, quality increases, quantity decreases, and it is definitely a
tradeoff. For a school like Fidelco, you have nothing but field reps, as it
is an exclusively home training program, so there are not on-campus and
off-campus trainers as at the other more traditional training programs.

Now to "unsafe" crossings." As to how they can give advice about a crossing
they have never seen. Well, if they are responsible individuals then they
are using Google Maps or similar to find where you live and then to look at
your town, your routes and the intersections in particular. Then they are
using Google Earth or similar to get pictures of what the intersection
actually looks like from both the street view and the birds' eye view.
Whenever I am going to work a new route, I have Jim look at it with Google
maps and he reads off street names and types of crossings, like plus-sign,
off-set, T, etc., and he gives me details like "This road you are crossing
exists only on the north side of the street you will be walking along, so if
you were on the other side of the street, the number of blocks you would
count would be different." I take notes in my book port as he and I talk
through the route, then later I listen to it and write down the important
information. Next he uses Google Earth to look at the area and give me more
information as necessary like "Ok, the second crossing you are making is
right across from a very busy parking garage, so when you are listening for
your parallel and perpendicular traffic to surge, it is going to be confused
a bit by all of the cars going in and out of that area." Or "Ok, there is a
place where you are going to feel that it is very open as you will be
crossing a large parking lot, where there is no median strip on either side
of you. There is a sidewalk for Ilsa to follow, and it is colored
differently from the street and the parking lot, but you are really going to
have to follow her and get out of your own head because it is going to feel
very off-putting to traverse that stretch." If we see something that looks
strange or unsafe and he can't figure it out on the computer, then he drives
through the area to get a better idea of what he is seeing on the Google
Earth images. So, something like that, is hopefully what your trainer is
looking at before they are speaking to you. If they are just looking at some
old paper map that may be wildly out-of-date and that doesn't show what the
actual area looks like, then they are not going to be giving you helpful
information. If there is some other way that you can travel, then do it, via
a different route. If there is not, then explain to your school that you
need someone on the ground, in person to work the route with you, because
you got this dog to increase your independence and if you can't walk where
you need to do, then the dog is wasted, and you really need help with this.
I have some crossings that are less than ideal, and I go into them with that
in mind. For instance there is a crossing that I will cross, even though it
has no stop signs or traffic lights, but at rush hour I will walk way out of
my way to cross at a stop sign controlled intersection, or I will adjust my
travel schedule to encounter that intersection only at non-peak times.
Perhaps the intersection is safe at non peak times. Perhaps there is another
crossing further down the street that you could use. Perhaps if it is really
impossible it is time to lobby your town to get a traffic light put in, or a
pedestrian bridge built, etc. I hope this helps. If you give us more details
about why the intersection is problematic, then perhaps we can give more
helpful input.

Heather Bird
"They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't
a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I
wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a
Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up." -
Martin Niemöller In our diverse society we must never fail to speak up in
the face of Human Rights violations lest we be the next targets of such
violations.

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jordan Gallacher
via NAGDU
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2017 5:42 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Jordan Gallacher
Subject: [NAGDU] Field Reps

Anyone else notice that field reps are not as good as they used to be?
Also, has anyone else notice that they try to give advice about steer
crossings for which they have never seen?  For example, the only advice my
field rep is giving me about a couple street crossings in this town is just
plain don't do them since they can be difficult.  Slidell is one of those
towns where if I don't cross those crossings, which even though they can be
difficult and Belto sometimes has difficulties at these, crossings, he does
them just fine most of the time.  Any advice on what I should do besides
ignoring the field rep, which is kind of what I am going to have to do.
Another problem is that Belto's harness is not functioning properly, and
thus I am having a hard time telling what he is doing.  What should I do
since I am not being taken seriously about that?
Thanks,
Jordan

Sent from my iPhone
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