[Nebraska-students] Jury finds IA Dept. for Blind's guide dog policy does...

[Amy Mason]

Guide Dogs and Canes are both methods of traveling independently, and thus
do serve the same purpose on the grand scale, but there are fundamental
differences between how a person travels with a dog and how they do so with
a cane.  A student really needs to have a firm grasp on the critical
thinking skills required to travel before they begin to do so with a dog
because the dog adds several layers of complexity to the situation.  The
dog, as a living, thinking creature can make decisions that a blind person
who's travel needs improvement may not even notice.  For instance, a dog
will often learn patterns of typical behavior, and if the guide dog user
always turns at a certain corner, the dog may decide to do so without that
person's active participation.  If they aren't thinking and don't want to go
in that direction, they may find they are headed to the bus stop instead of
the convenience store as they had planned. Also, If they don't have a firm
grasp of the concepts required, such as determining the direction they are
traveling, or  understanding how to line up with traffic to safely cross the
street before they have the dog, the animal may lead them into a crossing
diagonally.

This is why its important for the student to learn the skills of travel
before receiving the dog, and why schools like IDB's and Nebraska's don't
allow the use of dogs during travel class. The student needs to focus on
traveling itself, not the way they travel.  As the cane itself requires a
very short period of time to understand, the rest of the experience in
learning travel can be taken up with learning how to handle obstacles,
directions, and other fundamentals.  Obviously working with a dog on the
other hand requires a considerable amount of attention be given to the
method of travel as well, and these schools feel that it would be
detrimental to the student to share the focus that they are placing on the
task.

Sorry if that ended up sounding like a textbook, but that is more or less
how it was explained to me, and I have a bad habit of writing things in a
far more complex style that necessary.

Amy

On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 6:20 PM, <Countryperson94 at aol.com> wrote:

> Huh. This is an odd case and one that requires much thought. I thought guid
> dogs and canes served the same purpose. Can someone please enlighten me on
> this  subject?
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