From Kenvolonte at comcast.net Fri Mar 9 14:25:51 2012 From: Kenvolonte at comcast.net (Ken Volonte) Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 14:25:51 -0800 Subject: [Cagdu] on schools and assemblies Message-ID: This morning, I went to an elementary school for an assembly of Kindergarteners and first graders. I was invited to this function by one of the teachers who was a guide dog puppy raiser. I sat horrified as this person explained how blind people couldn't do anything without the assistance of their guide dogs. "That's why I'm raising guide dog puppies and I'll do it for the rest of my life", she said. In short, I was just there as a prop as this raiser did an infomercial for herself and, just incidentally, for guide dog school. The next horrible thing that happened was her instruction for the children to close their eyes. "Are you scared?" she asked. "Yeeeees!" they all answered. "Well that's how a blind person feels all through the day, so you should thank God you can see." We're not through yet. Next, she had me work my dog through a series of obstacles and was very upset when he returned by a different way than he had gone. We had headed for the exit and then had come back to my chair. The worst thing was when she picked out two hapless little kids and had her puppy "guide" them through the obstacles. Remember this was a puppy, a cute little six month old black lab puppy who had behaved flawlessly, despite long ear splitting whistles of very high frequency feed back. Now I am glad to go and speak to school kids. I have even shared lunch in the cafeteria in my time; but this debacle was too much. When it was my time to speak, I congratulated the kids on how brave they were and told them that blindness was normal for me. That ended my time. It ended the whole assembly As I said before, I'm glad to speak at schools, but next time, I'll only address an assembly if I am invited by the school principle or other administrator. Kids are so much smarter than adult puppy raisers. That's why I liked it better when it was a 4-h project. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://nfbcal.org/pipermail/cagdu/attachments/20120309/45837be2/attachment.html From info at michaelhingson.com Fri Mar 9 15:00:26 2012 From: info at michaelhingson.com (Michael Hingson) Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 15:00:26 -0800 Subject: [Cagdu] on schools and assemblies In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi, I suggest it is appropriate to contact the guide dog school about their puppy raiser. The schools need to take responsibility for some training of their raisers. The kind of comments you cite here are inappropriate and unacceptable. You also could talk to the principal and see if there might be any opportunity to conduct a better training session. Treat this as an opportunity to educate. Mike Hingson The Michael Hingson Group, INC. "Speaking with Vision" Michael Hingson, President (415) 827-4084 info at michaelhingson.com To order Michael Hingson's new book, Thunder Dog, and check on Michael Hingson's speaking availability for your next event please visit: www.michaelhingson.com Congratulations to Roselle for winning the title of American Hero Dog, 2011. Please visit http://www.herodogawards.org to participate in the 2012 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards contest and to learn about the American Humane Association. To purchase your own portrait of Roselle painted by the world's foremost animal artist, Ron Burns, please visit http://www.ronburns.com/roselle To learn about the KnfbReader Mobile please visit: http://knfbreader.michaelhingson.com From: cagdu-bounces at nfbcal.org [mailto:cagdu-bounces at nfbcal.org] On Behalf Of Ken Volonte Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 2:26 PM To: Cagdu Cc: Gary Wunder Subject: [Cagdu] on schools and assemblies This morning, I went to an elementary school for an assembly of Kindergarteners and first graders. I was invited to this function by one of the teachers who was a guide dog puppy raiser. I sat horrified as this person explained how blind people couldn't do anything without the assistance of their guide dogs. "That's why I'm raising guide dog puppies and I'll do it for the rest of my life", she said. In short, I was just there as a prop as this raiser did an infomercial for herself and, just incidentally, for guide dog school. The next horrible thing that happened was her instruction for the children to close their eyes. "Are you scared?" she asked. "Yeeeees!" they all answered. "Well that's how a blind person feels all through the day, so you should thank God you can see." We're not through yet. Next, she had me work my dog through a series of obstacles and was very upset when he returned by a different way than he had gone. We had headed for the exit and then had come back to my chair. The worst thing was when she picked out two hapless little kids and had her puppy "guide" them through the obstacles. Remember this was a puppy, a cute little six month old black lab puppy who had behaved flawlessly, despite long ear splitting whistles of very high frequency feed back. Now I am glad to go and speak to school kids. I have even shared lunch in the cafeteria in my time; but this debacle was too much. When it was my time to speak, I congratulated the kids on how brave they were and told them that blindness was normal for me. That ended my time. It ended the whole assembly As I said before, I'm glad to speak at schools, but next time, I'll only address an assembly if I am invited by the school principle or other administrator. Kids are so much smarter than adult puppy raisers. That's why I liked it better when it was a 4-h project. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://nfbcal.org/pipermail/cagdu/attachments/20120309/fc1218d0/attachment.html From tinadt at sbcglobal.net Fri Mar 9 15:20:27 2012 From: tinadt at sbcglobal.net (Tina Thomas) Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 15:20:27 -0800 Subject: [Cagdu] on schools and assemblies In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <003e01ccfe4b$501186f0$f03494d0$@net> Ken- Regardless of what the puppy raiser did, it was up to you as a guide dog user, a member of the National Federation of the Blind as well as the California Association of guide dog users to step in and educate not only the puppy raiser but also the kids. Especially if the puppy raiser was giving out false information and misrepresenting the way guide dogs are trained. 1. six month old puppies have not gone through formal guide dog training and are not qualified to guide anyone. 2. Having the kids close their eyes for 2 seconds and asking them are they scared is totally inappropriate. 3. The puppy raiser's comments as it relates to how blind people as well as blindness are false and her own perceptions as it relates to blindness should not have been a part of the presentation. I hope you spoke to this woman after the presentation and educated her on blindness and guide dogs. Also, if she was allowing her 6month old puppy to guide young children, the school she is raising the puppy for should be called and told of the puppy raiser's misconduct and misrepresentation of guide dogs. Tina From: cagdu-bounces at nfbcal.org [mailto:cagdu-bounces at nfbcal.org] On Behalf Of Ken Volonte Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 2:26 PM To: Cagdu Cc: Gary Wunder Subject: [Cagdu] on schools and assemblies This morning, I went to an elementary school for an assembly of Kindergarteners and first graders. I was invited to this function by one of the teachers who was a guide dog puppy raiser. I sat horrified as this person explained how blind people couldn't do anything without the assistance of their guide dogs. "That's why I'm raising guide dog puppies and I'll do it for the rest of my life", she said. In short, I was just there as a prop as this raiser did an infomercial for herself and, just incidentally, for guide dog school. The next horrible thing that happened was her instruction for the children to close their eyes. "Are you scared?" she asked. "Yeeeees!" they all answered. "Well that's how a blind person feels all through the day, so you should thank God you can see." We're not through yet. Next, she had me work my dog through a series of obstacles and was very upset when he returned by a different way than he had gone. We had headed for the exit and then had come back to my chair. The worst thing was when she picked out two hapless little kids and had her puppy "guide" them through the obstacles. Remember this was a puppy, a cute little six month old black lab puppy who had behaved flawlessly, despite long ear splitting whistles of very high frequency feed back. Now I am glad to go and speak to school kids. I have even shared lunch in the cafeteria in my time; but this debacle was too much. When it was my time to speak, I congratulated the kids on how brave they were and told them that blindness was normal for me. That ended my time. It ended the whole assembly As I said before, I'm glad to speak at schools, but next time, I'll only address an assembly if I am invited by the school principle or other administrator. Kids are so much smarter than adult puppy raisers. That's why I liked it better when it was a 4-h project. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://nfbcal.org/pipermail/cagdu/attachments/20120309/e4d1b6bb/attachment.html From shannonldillon at hotmail.com Sun Mar 11 16:44:35 2012 From: shannonldillon at hotmail.com (Shannon L. Dillon) Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:44:35 -0700 Subject: [Cagdu] CAGDU meeting 6:30 tonight Message-ID: Reminder that there is a CAGDU meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. Thanks. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://nfbcal.org/pipermail/cagdu/attachments/20120311/14f24981/attachment.html From oberholzerr at gmail.com Sun Mar 11 14:44:47 2012 From: oberholzerr at gmail.com (Roger Oberholzer) Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:44:47 -0700 Subject: [Cagdu] CAGDU Meeting Tonight Message-ID: <018c01ccffd0$2f49ade0$8ddd09a0$@com> Hi Everyone, This is a brief reminder that our CAGDU meeting will take place tonight at 6:30pm. Please call: 712-432-0175 Passcode: 184220 and then the pound or # sign. Until soon, Roger -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://nfbcal.org/pipermail/cagdu/attachments/20120311/c48ffd85/attachment.html