![[The image is of 2 photos of Des, the guide dog puppy, sponsored by the Disability Equipment Service that Dave and I also manage. Des is a golden retriever. The first photo shows Des at a few weeks old, the second shows Dave and I meeting him in January – he is about 7 weeks old in that one.]](/uploads/5/7/5/8/57580571/in-recognition-of-internationalguidedogday_orig.png)
As it’s #InternationalGuideDogDay today, we thought this year we would do a quick round up of references to guide dogs that we have read about in various fact and fiction books we have read/listened to over the last year or two. From Bleed Out by Joan Brady, - “‘I’m usually kind of good with dogs’ he said unhappily ‘This one sure don’t like me much’ ‘It’s not you Mr Doe. She is a professional on duty. Rather like a Secret Service Agent. You must meet her in her free time one day’” From The Windhorse – a book we have read but not yet reviewed, which is a true story about Julie Donnelly and Elaine Brook’s climb to Kala Patthar in the Himalayas (which also raised money for Guide Dogs). Julie has left Bruno, her guide dog back in the UK with her mother. At one point, early on in the trip, she records the following: “Just to walk down the familiar streets with Bruno, and make the same old tube journey to work, would be wonderful! I never stopped to think what it would be like to be on unfamiliar ground for so long without a break, dependent on someone every time I want to go anywhere further than the loo tent. It’s like being in a cage. The bars are the unknown empty space around me and the locked door is my fear of it, For me, it’s like going back to a time I would rather forget, when the only way I could get about was with a white cane. I found it nerve-wracking and exhausting and I suffered from tension headaches. I became very good at inventing excuses for not going out at all. Having broken out of that, and having become independent with a guide dog, it’s depressing to find myself back in that old caged-in state, even though I know it’s only temporary” Also in this book are the references to the Sherpa villagers reactions to the fact that Julie has a guide dog and that these dogs are trained. Most of the dogs there are wild and often feared. As Elaine writes “I’ve told some of my Sherpa friends about you and Bruno. They think I’m kidding. (‘Dog school’ indeed!).” Cathy Birchill mentions her first guide dog Petra “she proved to be my pathway back out into the world from which I had withdrawn”. In their book ‘Touching the World’, by Cathy Birchill and Bernard Smith, they also talk about their visit to the Swiss Centre for Guide Dogs and their particular attempts to thwart the Labrador’s tendency to constantly scan the ground for food. They describe “Trying to overcome this natural behaviour from an early age, they cover walls with interesting ‘things’ for the dog to look up at. At times they even lower the dog’s meal down from the ceiling. Thus over time, the dog naturally looks upwards as an awareness develops of all things above them. On the street, meanwhile, this translates into overcoming ‘Rover’s’ inherent tendency to happily scan the floor for last night’s discarded kebab or bag of chips. Inevitably this results in suddenly being yanked left or right like some cartoon character as a kind person as left half a sausage roll on the pavement with your dog’s name on it.” We are currently reading/listening to ‘A Dog Called DEZ’ about John Tovey. A quick quote from the introduction “Life before Dez had been pretty bleak and I’d not been a very good person at all. As you will come to read in this book, Dez turned out to be my redemption.” Should be an interesting read and once we’ve both finished, we’ll do a book review as a VIDA Insight so please check back regularly for that one. It is important to mention of course, that not all people with a vision impairment (even if this is severe) will use a guide dog. There are strict criteria to apply and as David Blunkett recently commented, you also have to be a dog lover. It doesn’t fit around everyone’s family or work schedule and some people prefer to use their white cane (or manage with neither). There are some great discussions available on line about this – a few are listed here: https://www.royalblind.org/blog/royal-blind/cane-or-canine https://www.second-sense.org/2016/09/white-cane-vs-guide-dog-why-or-why-not/ Also a video clip from Blind Side Fresno - http://blindsidefresno.com/2017/11/03/white-cane-versus-guide-dog/ And a podcast from BBC In touch - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxrdh#synopsis We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information. [The image is of 2 photos of Des, the guide dog puppy, sponsored by the Disability Equipment Service that Dave and I also manage. Des is a golden retriever. The first photo shows Des at a few weeks old, the second shows Dave and I meeting him in January – he is about 7 weeks old in that one.]
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 Something that I (Dave) have found since not being able to see detail is how easy it is to cut myself and not realise that I’m bleeding everywhere. As you might imagine, not being able to see means that you can’t see the potential hazards that could cause harm, well, this is true… I regularly scrape my knuckles along a brick wall or cut them on something sharp whilst feeling around for something – I keep forgetting that I have a wire brush in my toolbox and frequently get a jab of wire under my nails when feeling for that tool I need - ouch! Sometimes I know that I’m bleeding due to feeling a sticky substance but more often than not, I don’t realise until someone (normally Kelly my wife) points it out because there is a blood trail around where I’ve been. I don’t feel pain (particularly) and I wonder if you only get pain if you see the wound? (if anyone can answer this I’d be interested to know).
We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.  Vicky: Okay this is an interesting one – if a vision impaired person has a mark or stain on their clothes do you point it out or not? Is it more embarrassing for you to point it out or would they prefer you to tell them so they’re aware of it? A while ago now, I was at Dave’s and noted that he had a mark on his shirt. As we were due to go out for a meeting I decided to tell him, taking the pretty sure bet that as he had the opportunity to change he’d probably prefer to know. I also have the added advantage of knowing Dave well enough that, if he could see the stain, he’d go and change his shirt (which he duly did)! If, however, I met a blind person down the pub, I would probably decide not to say anything – I wouldn’t walk up to a sighted person and say – hey did you know you’ve got a mark on your shirt! Having said that, if I was out with a friend with a vision impairment who had a mark on something, I would probably choose to tell them so that they could either try and remove the mark or cover it up with a cardy/jumper etc., in the same way that I would tell a sighted person if I thought they hadn’t noticed.
Dave: Such a sensitive subject and, as Vicky has identified, it’s likely that you’ll only say something if you know the vision impaired person well. Personally, I like to know if I have a stain on my clothes – sometimes this is because I’ve dropped some food down me and haven’t noticed or it might be from leaning on something or brushing past pollen from plants, either way, I would rather know than not. I like to think that I am well presented and that my clothes are clean and would be disappointed if I wasn’t told about it. Equally, I like to know if I smell but this is another post for another time! We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.  Vicky: Just a couple of examples that Dave and I still laugh about now (well if you didn’t laugh…) – taking access to another level!!
Before the days of VIDA Training, Dave and I were visiting another organisation to do a presentation on a project we had been working on. These were the days when Dave still had Errol (his guide dog). So, the 3 of us arrived and introduced ourselves at reception. We were greeted warmly and then told the meeting was due to take place on the lower ground floor. The receptionist offered to show us the way and then said – ‘oh but I don’t know how you’re going to get there – our lift is broken’. I was still trying to process this nugget of information when Dave asked ‘Do you not have stairs?’. The receptionist confirmed that indeed stairs were available and we explained ‘we can do stairs’! Needless to say we got safely to the meeting room – stairs and everything!! On another occasion, we were again in an office building. Again we were greeted by someone who explained they would take us up to the meeting room on the third floor. We’d been to this building loads and always happily took the stairs (we need all the exercise we can get with our liking for doughnuts)! However, on this occasion the woman taking us upstairs proceeded to the lift. We said we could do stairs but she said something like ‘Oh the lift is easier’. Thinking that she may not be able to manage the stairs herself, we both went over to the lift. Once it had arrived, she indicated for us to go in first and then promptly turned around and walked up the stairs stating that she would meet us up there!! Dave and I just burst out laughing! Now, please don’t take from this that every person with a vision impairment will want to take the stairs but please just ask the simple question – ‘would you prefer the lift or the stairs?’. And this shouldn’t apply just for people with a vision impairment – there may be lots of reasons why people would have a preference - I know Dave has said that if on his own (or in the past when with Errol) he’d prefer stairs as lifts are a nightmare with not knowing which button to press etc. but I also have a sighted friend who has a phobia about lifts so she’d always prefer stairs too. So don’t assume – Ask! Dave: There are several other stories we tell similar to this including a few about ramps and revolving doors. As Vicky has said, I would always prefer the stairs to a lift; finding the buttons in a lift is really difficult and, even if they are marked with raised numbers or symbols, it’s still a bit of a lottery. Just one point here though, there is a correct technique for supporting/guiding people up and down stairs. We cover this in our training sessions (cheap plug) but the key things to consider are ‘stairs up’ or ‘stairs down’, don’t count the stairs and let the person with a vision impairment decide on how they would like to navigate them. We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information. |
Our VIDA Insights...Following our experiences from delivering our Vision Impairment Awareness training days over the past couple of years, we know that there’s loads more that we could talk about and examples we could have shared. Whilst these won’t be a substitute for our training, they will give you an insight (hence the name!) into our thoughts, observations and experiences from each of our perspectives - Dave’s living with sight loss and Vicky’s from being a sighted person and working alongside and supporting people who have sight loss. Archives
March 2021
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