[blindkid] Canadian Study on Guide Dog Use by Chilldren

Peter Donahue pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net
Wed Jan 20 19:19:58 UTC 2010


Good afternoon everyone,

    As a guide dog user not afraid to think out of the box I've been 
interested in issues like this for many years. I became aware of the 
research project discussed in the attached document when I wrote a paper on 
guide dog schools in North America in 2002. Foundation Mira of St. Madaline 
Quebeck, (Outside of Montrael) has been training guide dogs with blind 
children for over 15 years with success. There are occasional placements of 
guide dogs with blind teenagers by our own schools but for the most part 
guide dogs are only given to blind adults for the reasons others have 
discussed previously. Although I'm not in support of the wholesale issuance 
of guide dogs to young children each case should be evaluated individually 
and thorough thought should be given to the placement of guide dogs with 
cblind children and youth. Perhaps an evaluation process described on the 
page whose URL appears below should be undertaken when blind children and 
youth applicants are considered for training with a guide dog:
http://www.mira.ca/en/programs/7/guide-dog_25.html

    The URL for Mira Foundation's Home Page is:
http://www.mira.ca/en/

    Perhaps NOPBC, the National Association of Guide Dog Users, the NFB 
Jernigan Institute,  and some of our guide dog programs could partner to 
conduct a similar research project here in the states. If any program to 
train guide dogs and place them with blind children and youth is to be 
established in this country I would rather see it be done by none other than 
the blind themselves. Blind adults, parents, and educators of blind children 
and youth understand all aspects of such a venture and would be positioned 
best to create a program of this kind. It's for this reason I'm all in favor 
of the NFB establishing its own guide dog program as many of our current 
guide dog training programs leve much to be desired. All the best.

Peter Donahue
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