[nagdu] O&M skills

Fri Jan 31 16:22:05 UTC 2014

Hi Melissa.
Please do ask.  I think there are lots of people who'd like to know, 
including me.
Tracy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "melissa R green" <graduate56 at juno.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] O&M skills

>I wonder if there is a way to get around being a client of rehab just to 
>get
> services like O&M.
> there just has to be a way.
> I have a really good instructor who also worked at a guide dog school.
> Not all people are working or going to school.
> they just want to live their life.
> Might have to ask my instructor.
> I am curious now.
> best wishes,
> Sincerely,
> Melissa R Green
> "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole
> staircase." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 1:17 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] O&M skills
>
>
> Hi Julie M.
> I agree wholeheartedly.  Being afraid to go out is very sad.  It also
> disgusts me to hear of people who want to get training but can't find 
> anyone
> to provide it.  It ought to be a basic thing provided by any state agency
> for the blind, to help any blind person who asks for it get timely 
> training
> in O&M.  Is there anything we can do about this?  And I don't mean just
> telling everyone to take several months out of their lives to attend an 
> NFB
> center.  That's useful, but not always practical, IMO.
>
> Hector Chevigny, in My Eyes Have A Cold Nose, wrote that he thought it was
> better for newly-blinded people to get a dog and get on about their lives,
> rather than waiting on some agency for service forever, and, often enough,
> being taught by the agency that he or she needed sighted help for
> everything.  Now, that was written in the 1940's or early '50's, but I can
> still see some merit in the argument.
> It's a darned good thing that Leader has its cane class.  I wish there 
> were
> more options for people who can't seem to get the services they need.
> Tracy
>
> ----- 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: Thursday, January 30, 2014 2:52 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] O&M skills
>
>
>> Hi Tracey,
>>
>> I agree with you, and that's a great speech.  I think it's great to
>> work on O&M skills, but some people just have a harder time with
>> directions and orientation.  Does that mean this should stop them?
>> No.  But it does mean that they have to ask for help more often when
>> finding a particular place or navigating somewhere for the first time.
>> It's about independence: getting where you need to go with no
>> inconvenience to yourself or others.
>>
>> The tools we use to do this don't matter as much as that we are
>> getting out there and doing what we want to accomplish.  We all know
>> people who's skills may not be as good or who may not do things the
>> "right" way--or so we think, but let's work harder to encourage those
>> people who don't go anywhere, feel like they can't travel, or are too
>> afraid to get training of any kind.  Those cases to me are truly sad.
>>
>> On 1/30/14, Darla Rogers <djrogers0628 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Tracy,
>>>
>>> I couldn't agree more, and sadly, we will see more peo9ple without
>>> skills perhaps as good as yours or mine, but if you can do what you need
>>> to
>>> do, in a manner that is comfortable for you, far be it for me to judge
>>> your
>>> independence or lack thereof.
>>> Darla & Handsome Huck
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy 
>>> Carcione
>>> Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 1:03 PM
>>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>>> Subject: [nagdu] O&M skills
>>>
>>> While I agree that good orientation skills are an excellent thing, and
>>> make
>>> using a dog a lot better for both partners, I've known some people who
>>> didn't seem capable of finding their way out of the proverbial paper 
>>> bag,
>>> and yet used the dog effectively to get where they wanted to go.
>>> A late lamented friend of mine always seemed confused about which way to
>>> go,
>>> but he travelled all over the country and the world, going places I'm
>>> sure
>>> I'll never go.  Was he the ideal dog user?  No.  Did he get where he
>>> wanted
>>> to go, when he wanted to get there?  Absolutely.  Yet he was sneered at
>>> by
>>> people who seldom stepped outside their familiar routes.
>>>
>>> I recommend people read, or re-read, Jernigan's essay, The Nature of
>>> Independence, which I'm sure is somewhere on nfb.org. Dr. Jernigan 
>>> argues
>>> persuasively that getting where you want to go when you want to go is 
>>> the
>>> quintessence of independence, and judging others for how they accomplish
>>> that goal is not particularly useful.
>>> All I'm trying to say is, we can encourage people to improve their O&M
>>> to
>>> a
>>> high standard, and help them find the resources they need to do so, but
>>> not
>>> look down on them if they're unable to do it, or assume that, if their
>>> O&M
>>> doesn't seem excellent, that they are not independent people getting
>>> where
>>> they want to go.
>>> Tracy
>>>
>>>
>>>
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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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>
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