[stylist] stylist Digest, Vol 85, Issue 11

[Kerry Thompson]

Hi friends,

In my limited experience, cane users are often smug and self-righteous, 
as the letter writer seems to be, contemptuous of dog users.

To say, for example, that no independent travel occurs in the scenario 
described makes no sense at all. Even if the cab draws right up to the 
door of the house, it can't draw right up to the door of the restaurant. 
The traveler has to make his way across the sidewalk and find the door 
of the restaurant. The sidewalk may well be crowded and the cab driver 
might or might not be willing to assist. Then, as Bridgid points out, 
inside the restaurant the traveler might need to go to  the restroom or 
(showing my age here) use the pay phone. While the traveler's dinner 
companion or a member of the wait staff might be willing or able to 
guide the traveler, surely being able to make such excursions 
independently would be preferable.
Then, at the end of the evening, as Marion points out, the traveler may 
not go straight home.

I don't understand the letter writer's attitude. No matter how you look 
at it, the traveler's guide dog is just as necessary to him in the given 
scenario as a cane user's cane would be to him in the same situation. 
But the letter writer's tone if not perhaps his actual words certainly 
seem to imply that a guide dog user is not independent. This is the 
attitude I've often seen coming from cane users. And yet, as everyone 
here agrees, guide dog use and cane use, and even reliance on a sighted 
guide, are all equally valid methods of travel. Which one any given 
person chooses depends on the traveler's disposition and needs and, as 
Marion and Bridgid each note, on the immediate circumstances.

But, you know, it's a funny thing. Dog users seem in general to be open 
to cane use, while cane users seem all too often to be contemptuous of 
dog use. It reminds me of a situation in fandom. People who love 
Engelbert Humperdink often also like Tom Jones. But Tom Jones fans are 
often hostile to Engelbert. The two situations make just about as much, 
which is to say as little, sense.

I wonder... Has anyone ever written a story exploring the conflict, for 
lack of a more precise word, between cane advocates and dog advocates?

And BTW as a matter of interest, why do both camps look down on those of 
us who use sighted guides? I have never felt that leaning on a friend's 
or family member's arm diminishes me as a human being.

Kerry