[stylist] Using cane or dog

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

I know this can be controversial, but I go through this with my
brother-in-law, who has RP like Ross. The brother refuses to get on
board with any alternative skills, and he won't accept that he's blind.
But then he wants to get angry and upset when people don't understand
why he requires help or does certain things. This is why it's important
to use a cane or service dog; not only does it keep us safe, but it does
identify us to other people. Not that our entire person should be
identified by this one aspect, but it does give us the ability to not
have such encounters when out in the world with people questioning why
we need help or something.

My brother-in-law gets so upset when flying that no one understands why
he needs help getting to his terminal. If he would use a cane or dog, it
wouldn't be a problem. Now it may provoke other issues, grin, but at
least people would understand why this guy is asking for help from gate
to gate.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter, editor, Slate & Style
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can
satisfy, we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for
another world."
C. S. Lewis

Message: 8
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2013 08:10:48 -0500
From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] To ponder- taken to another level
Message-ID: <4FAE849B21454E80830B0BA27340C32D at Lambert>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=response

Yes, Anita, that is the other concern that I always have.
I actually did that at the gym one morning. I thought the man who was 
working out near me was my neighbor, and I asked him if he had seen my
cat 
since I could not find him. He sounded very perplexed, and it turns out
he 
was someone I did not know - we did have a good laugh over that. I know
that 
anyone who would see me working out would never suspect I cannot see
them 
well enough to know who they are - but in general most people will greet
me 
and if necessary they say who they are so I know who I am talking to.

Lynda