[Cagdu] on schools and assemblies

[Tina Thomas]

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.  

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