[NAGDU] Questions for low-vision people

[Jordan Gallacher]

I will try to answer both questions.  I went from ok vision to no night
vision and limited day vision between 7th grade and sophomore year in high
school, and did not like using a cane until after the STEP Program at LCB,
and then my O&M instructor Senior year in high school gave me an assignment
to do research on guide dogs even though at the time I did not like dogs at
all.  That changed my thinking a bit, but I was basically putting that on
the back burner until I was a bit more used to college.  Then Katrina came
along, and I had time to think about it, and I did end up getting a dog.  I
ended up losing most of the rest of my vision because of Lymes Disease, and
oddly, I have way better night vision now than I used to.  I am on my third
dog, and I can say this about it.  I will always use a dog unless there is
something that I am doing that makes having a dog a problem.  Generally, I
find they are faster and yeah it is nice to have the extra brain and a set
of eyes to assess situations.  The dog should be able to get you around
obsticles without much in the way of stopping etc.  Keep in mind though that
every dog is different and how well the dog can assess things is going to be
different.  Comparing Belto to September for example.  September would crawl
along the sidewalk that I use to get to Starbucks because of the condition
it is in where as belto will generally move along and only really slow down
when we get to a rough or bad section of the sidewalk.  Belto does the same
route that I used with September about 10 minutes faster than she would do
it on a good day.
Jordan

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione via NAGDU
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 10:19 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
Subject: [NAGDU] Questions for low-vision people

I have questions for people who had vision, then lost most of it.  I've been
blind most of my life, and I'd like your perspective to help my husband.  He
had low but OK vision for many years, but has lost most of it over the past
few years.  He uses a cane, but still wants to move fast, like he did when
he could see better, and isn't always as cautious as he should be.  He had
an accident recently.  Nothing too bad, yet, but it easily could have been.
I'm arguing with him to get a dog, because I think it's the safest and
fastest way to get around the big city safely, and what you get is well
worth the pain of eventually having to say goodbye.

My first question is:  I was watching a publicity video yesterday for TSE,
and 2 people said that getting a dog was like getting some of their vision
back.  It gave them a set of eyes to use, and an extra brain to assess
situations.  Do other people feel this way, or is it just hype?
My second question is:  What got you to change your approach and get a dog,
or sharpen your cane skills?  Listening to classmates at TSE, it seems to
take a real hard shove from someone, or a bad accident.  But maybe that's
not always so?

If people want, they can write privately to me at carcione at access.net.
Thanks.
Tracy




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