[Wasagdu] at Convention

[Becky Frankeberger]

Resolution 2015-05


Regarding Leader Dogs for the Blind's Accreditation by NAC

WHEREAS, in 1989 the International Federation of Guide Dog Schools for the
Blind, later known as the International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF), was
formed to create and promulgate standards for the operation and
administration of guide dog training programs throughout the world; and

WHEREAS, the IGDF today has over eighty member guide dog training programs
around the world, including thirteen in the United States; and

WHEREAS, US-member guide dog training programs include Guide Dogs for the
Blind, the Seeing Eye, and Leader Dogs for the Blind, the three largest
guide dog training programs in the United States; and

WHEREAS, the standards of the IGDF are well known as a solid model for guide
dog training program operation and administration; and

WHEREAS, in January 2015 Leader Dogs for the Blind announced that it had
received accreditation by the National Accreditation Council for Blind and
Low Vision Services (NAC), an organization formed in the 1960s supposedly to
create and promulgate standards for the operation of agencies serving the
blind but which, in fact, has never provided a good model for the operation
and administration of any agency; and

WHEREAS, NAC has no expertise in the guide dog arena, and any attempt by NAC
to accredit guide dog training programs can serve only to undermine the
efforts of the IGDF; and

WHEREAS, in the past Leader Dogs for the Blind, recognizing the worthless
nature of NAC's alleged accreditation, resisted attempts by NAC to accredit
it and stood with consumers in opposing the shoddy and irrelevant standards
NAC attempted to use to gain credibility among the ranks of guide dog
training programs and their consumers; and

WHEREAS, Leader Dogs' past vigorous opposition to NAC accreditation was
expressed in part through a letter from Harold L. Pocklington,
then-executive director of Leader Dogs for the Blind, to NAC's president,
and published in the February 1986 issue of the Braille Monitor, which said:

We believe we can handle our own affairs. If the dog guide training programs
don't respond to your suggestions, it may be they don't believe the method
of accreditation can be done only by you. We believe we can be our own judge
of operation, without any help from NAC or a committee NAC might appoint. We
are not indifferent, unaware, or apathetic. We just believe if it ain't
broke, don't fix it; and

WHEREAS, the purpose of NAC has always been to undermine and thwart the
right of the organized blind to speak on behalf of blind consumers and
Leader Dogs' affiliation with NAC has the same effect in seeking to minimize
the voice of the blind; and

WHEREAS, Leader Dogs receives a significant amount of its funding from Lions
International and from individual Lions clubs; and

WHEREAS, any money spent by Leader Dogs in seeking and obtaining
accreditation by NAC is a misuse of the support provided by its donors and
can only encourage the efforts of an outdated and useless agency, NAC, to
attempt to gain financial support from other guide dog training programs
that it approaches in its attempts to convince them to accept its irrelevant
and meaningless accreditation: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
assembled this ninth day of July, 2015, in the city of Orlando, Florida,
that this organization condemn and deplore Leader Dogs for the Blind's
accreditation by and consequent support of NAC; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization demand that Leader Dogs for
the Blind take immediate steps to terminate its accreditation by NAC; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call on Lions International and individual
Lions clubs to cease their funding of Leader Dogs for the Blind until it
terminates its accreditation by NAC; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge all guide dog training
programs to resist any attempts by NAC to accredit them and insist instead
that all guide dog training programs in the United States support the
legitimate standards and accreditation of the IGDF.

 

 

Becky Frankeberger

Butterfly Knitting

-           Ponchos

-           Afghans

-           Shawls

-           Custom Knitting

360-426-8389

becky at butterflyknitting.com

 

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