[stylist] A Response to Matilda Ziegler's Readers' Forum

Sun May 8 16:55:26 UTC 2011

Hi Marion,
First let me say that I didn't realize the Ziegler still existed. I thought
they had discontinued it a couple of years ago. 

Thank you for writing on this issue. As a guide dog user, I would also like
to add that my personal experience with guide dogs makes me reluctant to
leave my dog on any occasion. The relationship is such that it  motivates me
to want to be with my dog for both of our sakes even if I'm not requiring
him to do solo mountain climbing, navigating busy city streets alone or
whatever this person thinks guide dogs should be held in reserve to do. Yes,
the guide dog is technically a mobility tool, though I don't think of him
that way. Unlike a cane, there is a bond between living beings, and I would
consider it the height of arrogance on my part to assume that I couldn't
possibly benefit from his services or company in an upcoming journey, or
that he would not benefit from being on duty. Suppose there was a fire in
the restaurant. Am I really comfortable hoping that someone else would help
me? Would I really want to rely on the kindness of strangers or panicky
friends? If I start leaving him home alone whenever I'm with others, will he
still work as well when I "need" him?

As you point out in your response, he isn't leaving his cane home, and you
have to get to the cab and into the restaurant somehow. I just wish that
blind people could accept that each of us must be comfortable with our own
mobility choices -- be they canes, dogs or sighted guides. It would be nice
if we could stop belittling one another about such things. It reminds me of
Stockholm syndrome where the prisoners in concentration camps begin to act
like their captors toward their fellow prisoners. 

It also reminds me of 1971, when I got my first guide dog from GDF. My rehab
counselor at the time wrote a letter to then director of training John
Byfield asserting that among other things, a blind "girl" -- I was 21 and
had graduated from college -- shouldn't be out alone at night, and since I
had some residual vision and had been getting along in the daytime, there
was no need to give me a guide dog. I was legally blind with severe tunnel
vision, had fallen into a construction pit and was navigating by staring at
the sidewalk during the day and watching the street lights at night. Campus
police often thought I was drunk. 

My counselor even went so far as to call the school, while I was there, to
ask them to send me home. John Byfield, in his most professional and
classically British mild-mannered way, declined. At the time, GDF was the
only school experimenting with the unique challenges of training people who
were legally but not totally blind.

Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Marion Gwizdala
Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2011 4:17 PM
To: Stylist List
Subject: [stylist] A Response to Matilda Ziegler's Readers' Forum

Dear All,
    Below are comments that appeared in the May 2 issue of the Matilda
Ziegler Magazine and my response.

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala

In response to Feature Writer Alena Roberts - Deciding When to Take Your
Guide Dog With You 

I would like to express my opinion on the question posed by Alena Roberts;
namely, when to take and when not to take your guide dog. I come at this
from a point of view which Alena may not have expected--I am a blind person
who has always used a cane and does not want a guide dog. I have sometimes
not understood why my dog using friends drag their dog along. Here is a
scenario which is difficult for me to understand. 

You are taking a cab to a restaurant, maybe by yourself, maybe to meet a
friend. You will then take a cab home. 

1. You go from the door of your house to the cab. 

2. You go from the cab to the door of the restaurant, where the host or a
waiter/waitress helps you find a table. 

3. You repeat the process in reverse, restaurant to cab, cab to home. 

You are not really doing any independent travel. Why, then, do you need your
dog? It seems to me that it's a lot of trouble and hassle to take a dog on
such an occasion, not to mention that the dog may be in the way at the
table, or in the cab. Why not use your cane? 

I don't even understand why Ms. Roberts says she "dislikes using a cane. A
cane is merely a tool, like a hammer or screw driver. I use it when I need
it, and I'm glad to have it. I can't even imagine wanting a dog. 

Tim Hendel 

Huntsville, Alabama 

Dear Editor,

            I am writing in response to the comments made by Tim Hendel in
your Readers' Forum of May 2. Mr. Hendel seems to contradict himself several
times, leading me to believe he has not critically examined his own
position. On the one hand, he asserts that blind people, when traveling to a
restaurant by cab, are not doing any independent traveling. He supports this
position by stating that, once a blind person gets inside the restaurant,
the host or waiter helps them find a table. And how does the person get
inside the restaurant, if not independently? Though Mr. Hendel does not
specifically state so, am I to assume that the "help" to which he refers
might be a sighted guide? Are we to also assume that, should the blind
person wish to use the bathroom while at the restaurant, this should also be
accomplished using sighted guide? Furthermore, when Mr. Hendel takes a cab
to the restaurant, does he leave his cane behind like he contends guide dog
users should their dogs? A
 fter all, what need has he of a cane, since he is not doing any independent
traveling? 

Mr. Hendel engages in sanctimonious rhetoric when asserting that the cane is
a tool, "like a hammer or a screwdriver. He fails to recognize that the same
is true of a guide dog. I wonder if Mr. Hendel drives screws with a hammer
and pounds nails with a screwdriver!

If Mr. Hendel uses his cane when traveling by cab to a restaurant, his
assertion that a guide dog user has no need for a guide dog is fallacious! I
appreciate his statement that he cannot imagine wanting a dog. Likewise, I
cannot imagine not wanting a dog. I have had a dog in my life since I was
four years old. When I lost my sight, a guide dog made perfect sense to me!
I also use a white cane and travel just as independently as with my dog.
It's all a matter of choice which tool I use. Should I use a claw hammer or
a rubber mallet? The choice is based upon which is most effective for the
job to be done. I also have a sledge hammer but I only use it when beating
others over their heads with self-righteous indignation!

Marion Gwizdala, President

National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU)

National Federation of the Blind

President at NAGDU.ORG

Tampa, Florida

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