[nagdu] vet reports/was/Re: TSE and Guiding Eyes comparison

[Angie Matney]

Hi Jenine,

First, you made a couple of very excellent points in your earlier posts.
This is interesting stuff to consider.

I want to clarify one thing, in case my last message gave the wrong
impression. I, personally, would not feel coerced if a school asked me to
provide information about my dog's health. I don't know about *required*
veterinary reports, but that is not what we are talking about here. I do
think, though, that you will always have some people who would want to share
as little data as possible with the school (and if they own their dog, that
is their right). Given the rate of unemployment in the blindness population,
such individuals might face a real dilemma if they felt that providing this
information to the school would somehow result in "better" veterinary
services from the school.

My personal view is that any incentive should be less tied to what the
person might actually *need,* and it should be more related to things the
person might *want.* Maybe they receive a gift certificate for merchandise
from the school gift shop. Maybe they are entered into some kind of raffle.
Maybe they receive some predetermined item that could be useful, but
something that isn't essential to the dog's health.

I hope that made some sort of sense. 

Also, I think it's great that GDF is recognizing that some of us simply
don't have a bevy of sighted assistants to help us with these forms. I think
more schools are putting the forms online now, or doing something similar,
and I think that's great.

Finally, has GDF (or any school) considered a survey to find out why people
don't turn in vet reports? A friend of mine is a demographer, and she thinks
that most major universities would have research organizations that would
take on a project like this pro bono. A third party could conduct an
anonymous survey and find out if reports are not being filled out because of
access problems, because of people's fears about things like weight gain,
because people have issues with the policy behind the forms, or for some
other reason entirely. If a third-party data-gathering organization would
work with one or more schools, perhaps the "weak points" could be modified.

Angie



-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jenine Stanley
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 5:47 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] vet reports/was/Re: TSE and Guiding Eyes comparison

Angie, 

What type of incentive would you feel was not coercive? Just curious as
maybe that's the answer. <grin> You don't have to work for a school to have
such suggestions. In fact, it's probably more helpful. <grin> 

For those who do turn in medical data, does your school contact you about
things they see in your reports? If so, how would you describe the contact? 

I know this is a point of contention, and I feel it too as a handler. I
don't want some staff person who doesn't know me or my dog to contact me
telling me my dog has gained 2 pounds and what are we going to do about it.
That's both patronizing and custodial. <grin>


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