[nagdu] Treatment of People with Guide Dogs

[I. C. Bray]

While I was in O&M Training, My Instructor ( Mr. Kent Jones ) would take me 
downtown and we would work routs between City Hall, and the various legal, 
court, and detention facilities... including the police and sherrif's 
offices.
Kent nicknamed me Moses... He says I needed a longer cane with a shephard's 
hook onthe end... I say, "Excuse me", and the red sea of people tends to get 
of my way.  Of course being 6 foot 2 and 250lb and muscular swinging a 
brightly colord & highly reflective cane never hurts -- much that is!!

Ian



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Julie McGinnity" <kaybaycar at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 7:30 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Treatment of People with Guide Dogs


: Hi.  Yes, I have experienced the same thing.  I used to use my cane in
: choir performances, and people were absolutely terrified when the cane
: would hit them.  It was actually kind of entertaining.  People also
: somehow think I am less independent with the cane, which I find very
: interesting.  If they pay attention or know some of my blind friends
: who are cane users, they learn very quickly that this is not the case.
: But it goes back to that idea that the dogs are somehow smarter than
: we are.
:
: I assure you that anyone who thinks that the dogs take care of the
: poor blind people really don't spend much time with us or don't pay
: any attention when they do.  If my dog took care of me, she would
: never get fed, and neither would I!  Lol
:
: On 9/13/13, Larry D. Keeler <lkeeler at comcast.net> wrote:
: > Tami, I should learn to throw my voice so it sounds like Holly is 
talking so
: >
: > that I could throw folks off! That would be sort of fun!
: > ----- Original Message -----
: > From: "Tami Jarvis" <tami at poodlemutt.com>
: > To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
: > <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
: > Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 10:25 AM
: > Subject: Re: [nagdu] Treatment of People with Guide Dogs
: >
: >
: >> Nicole,
: >>
: >> Interesting observations. Human interactions are very different for me
: >> with the dog than with the cane... I was still getting used to 
different
: >> interactions from the presence of the cane when I started going around
: >> with dog, so I feel like I've been in a crazy sociology experiment. 
/lol/
: >>
: >> With the dog, people will call her and give her directions, but I have
: >> trained her to ignore them (mostly). With the cane, people give me
: >> directions that are often silly and may be more likely to try to take 
my
: >> arm or something when I don't want them to. The dog has learned to help 
me
: >>
: >> out when the directions involve the phrase "over there." Whichever tool 
I
: >>
: >> am using, people still seem to think they need to tell me about every 
curb
: >>
: >> and step. People are more likely to talk to me at random when I'm using
: >> the guide dog, but they will often talk to or about the dog. I've kind 
of
: >>
: >> learned some techniques to then guide conversation into non-dog topics 
and
: >>
: >> get the focus away from her if I want to. If I'm lazy and not that
: >> interested in connecting, then a nice chat about the dog is fine. 
/smile/
: >>
: >> It used to bug me that people seemed horrified that the dog might make 
a
: >> mistake because that would be awful somehow. Then I noticed that people
: >> are terrified I will make a mistake with the cane because that will be
: >> awful somehow. The annoying thing when I'm using the cane is when there
: >> are people around who are terrified the cane might touch something,
: >> especially if they are the type to insist that I watch where I'm going 
and
: >>
: >> where I'm swinging that thing! This doesn't happen often, but sometimes
: >> there will be gasps of terror or shock when my cane taps a pole or
: >> something. OMG! I ran into it! /lol/ I guess there have been a few 
times
: >> when I've missed a bit stepping up a curb with my dog and heard the 
gasps.
: >>
: >> But in general, with the dog, I do not appear to be running into things 
by
: >>
: >> tapping them with her.
: >>
: >> Hm... Standing at street corners with the dog often means discussing 
how
: >> she knows how to cross the street since dogs are color blind or 
something
: >>
: >> like that. I'm trying to remember if I've ever stood at a street corner
: >> trying to explain how I cross with the cane. Seems I have at one time 
or
: >> another. Maybe it's that Portland friendliness? If you don't say 
something
: >>
: >> weird to someone standing at the same corner, you're just not with it 
in
: >> Portland! Refreshingly, people seem as likely to say something 
outlandish
: >>
: >> and controversial about politics, religion or even the weather as they 
are
: >>
: >> about the dog or the cane. /lol/
: >>
: >> Tami
: >>
: >> On 09/12/2013 05:42 PM, Nicole Torcolini wrote:
: >>> Some of the recent threads have made me think of something kind of
: >>> interesting. No, you don't interact with someone who has a guide dog 
the
: >>> same way that you interact with someone who has a cane, but, if people
: >>> would
: >>> treat us more like we were using canes instead of dogs, we would not 
have
: >>>
: >>> as
: >>> many problems. For example, some people have problems with people 
trying
: >>>
: >>> to
: >>> give their dog directions. When someone has a cane instead of a dog,
: >>> this
: >>> problem does not happen. The same goes for interacting with the dog. 
You
: >>> don't hear about people messing with canes as often as you hear about
: >>> people
: >>> messing with dogs. What do people think of this?
: >>>
: >>> Nicole
: >>> _______________________________________________
: >>> nagdu mailing list
: >>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
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: >>> 
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: >>>
: >>
: >> _______________________________________________
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: >
: >
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: >
:
:
: -- 
: Julie McG
: National Association of Guide dog Users board member,  National
: Federation of the Blind performing arts division secretary,
: Missouri Association of Guide dog Users President,
: and Guiding Eyes for the Blind graduate 2008
: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
: everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
: life."
: John 3:16
:
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