[NAGDU] Introducing a New Member

[Cindy Ray]

Hi, Bree, and welcome to the list. It is good to have you here asking
questions.

You don't need to apologize for being able to see. Most of the blind people
in the world can see some. Blindness takes various positions, and yours is
such that your reading vision seems to be far better than your travel
vision. I knew a couple once who were both blind, but one could read easily;
the other could travel easily. We used to joke that if they could be merged
as one person they would have perfect vision.
Second, no matter what anyone says, you are essentially blind. There is
nothing wrong with this. That's my opinion and the opinion of many of us in
the National Federation of the Blind; it is not shared by everyone.
I used to think that guide dogs were only handed out to totally blind
people, but it isn't so. If you have a guide dog though, you have to be
careful not to second guess that dog. You have to trust it will do the
things for you it has been trained to do. The more trust you can hand over
to the dog, the better it will work for you. If you constantly second guess
the dog, it eventually comes to believe that it doesn't really have to work
for you. The dog and the person work as a team. You have to find the best
balance, and when you have you have a delightfully successful team.
If  you applied for a guide dog, the school to which you apply will evaluate
your need. You aren't taking a dog from someone who needs it more. That's
not your decision. That one belongs to the school where you have applied. If
you get a dog and it helps you travel in a manner that you feel is more
efficient, then you have what you need and the school is happy to have
accommodated you. I think you have too much input from people who believe
blindness is the end of the world, but you sure don't have to apologize for
being grateful for your sight. Any sight a person has, when she uses it
effectively and efficiently is sight that helps her function. If you use
alternative techniques (in this case a dog) and your sight, you will be less
burdened with trying to make it. There is no shame in being a blind person
even if you can see some. Contact the schools that interest you; tell them
your dilemmas; soon enough they will be able to help you make the decision.
And certainly don't hesitate to ask questions.
I hope something I've said is helpful.
Cindy Lou Ray
cindyray at gmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bree R. via NAGDU
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2017 2:41 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Bree R. <bree_reyes at post.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] Introducing a New Member

Thank you for letting me join your list. I don't know if this is a list that
can help me. Or if I belong here. I think I want to at least try to get some
more info about guide dogs before I decide whether or not a guide dog would
help me with travel.

I finished mobility training through ACBVI before I moved last spring. I met
a few people who had guide dogs and I wondered if they were even an option
for me. I know I should talk to the guide dog schools to ask but it's
intimidating since what if they just say no & I'm wasting their time.

I don't think or don't know if I should even try because I have done
mobility training and it helped a lot. I don't think I have to have a guide
dog to be safe. Or take someone's dog who needs them more than me. Mostly
because my better eye I can see out of is corrected or can be to 20/70. I
think that I would not think of a guide dog if I could see enough to not use
a cane & if the people I met didn't make me wonder.


ACBVI said it is low vision but not blindness & I know guide dogs are for
people who are really are blind. I just can't use what I can see very well I
guess is how to explain it because what I see doesn't match what is there. I
don't have RP but it's similar they said except there's just rod and cone
dystrophy and mostly it's a male condition so they didn't know what was
going on for a long time. I wear glasses over contract lenses which is how I
can see 20/70 in one eye and it's like 20/200 on the other. My glasses are
made with crystals and they're supposed to help them work together but it
doesn't always work and sometimes makes it worse. I am night blind since I
was a kid and have amblyopia where my right eye won't look straight and also
photophobia. I think if I could see 20/70 really like 20/70 is then I
wouldn't need a cane even it's just it is not the same trying to walk or get
around as it is to read letters on a chart.

The counselor at the last session I had with Voc Rehab told me my vision is
really not bad at all and to be grateful and I am. I think that is why I
don't want to call and talk to guide dog schools because I feel guilty. 

I wanted to ask someone with a guide dog though if I really couldn't try to
have a guide dog. I remembered the name of the NFB from something a while
ago so I found a google result for your list when I searched NFB and guide
dogs.

I hope it's ok for me to ask this here. I mean I know Im glad I can still
see and all and I hope I don't keep having worse vision but I'm 27 and it
has been getting worse for many years now. I feel bad though if I sound
ungrateful. I'm really not. I just wonder if it is true that I cannot try to
get a guide dog and that they are for only totally blind people. I sort of
wish I could try to have one now because it seems like it would be much
better to travel and to not have to run into something to know its there
with my cane and to move around things a dog would see especially in the
winter when it's hard to tell where curbs and roads are and the snow makes
it hard to find landmarks.

I hope it isnt breaking any rules for me to post here and thank you. I am
nervous as you maybe can tell.

Bree

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