In this issue:
Hello to all our members and friends of Guide Dog Users of Arizona GDUA. I wish to thank you all for your trust in voting me as President, and, hope that I can live up to the degree of our last Presidents. A few changes that we would like to present to all of you are open meetings. We usually use our tele conference system the first Saturday of the month at 10:00 A.M. The phone number can be found along with the meeting date on the front page of our website:
http://www.gdua.org
The July meeting has been cancelled due to being at the national convention.
We would also like to hear from our membership, all the board is here for our membership and friends. We would also like to utilize the web page a little more, so, if you have pictures or stories of your dogs or trips and so on send them into me at: kmchinn@qwest.net and in the subject line put GDUA You might wind up in Waggin Tails, or on the web site. I hope you enjoy this issue of “Waggin Tails”.
Kevin and Tory
Results of GDUA Elections 2005
At the annual convention of The Arizona Council of the Blind , GDUA was able to elect positions that were up . Here is a list of people and positions:
President: Kevin Chinn
First Vice President: Janice Williams
Second Vice President: Desi Noller
Treasurer: Don Noller
Secretary: RaLynn Harris
Board member:Laura Bratton
Board Member: Cindy Rogers
Board Member: Scott Learned
Board Member: Terri Hedgpeth
Foriegn Air Travel with your Guide
For the last two years Guide Dog Users, Incorporated GDUI along with Michael Osborn has been working on getting allowance of guide dogs to fly in the cabin of planes to the United Kingdom. It has been for many years that our guides must be transported in cargo.
I along with Mr. Osborn and GDUI am glad to announce that British Airways will be allowing guide dogs in the cabin for flights from North America(US and Canada).
This is just the beginning, we figure that within the next year American Carriers will also do the same, thus being in compliance with the ACAA air carrier access act.
All other restrictions stay as normal. It will still be about a six month process to prepare the dog for a trip to the U.K.
Greetings,
It gives me great pleasure in announcing that assistance dogs may now be transported in the passenger cabin on certain flights from North America to the United Kingdom.
Effective 1 June 2005 British Airways began accepting bookings on all flights from all cities they serve in Canada and the united States (see complete list below). Virgin Atlantic Airways will begin accepting bookings for flights from cities on the east coast (see list of cities below) of the United States, with plans to add San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles at a later date.
Both of these air carriers will require the use of a safety harness for all assistance dogs, be it a guide, hearing or service dog. In North America handlers can purchase the item at most any pet supply store for approximately $15 U.S., and they are extremely compact for storage in your luggage when not in use. Ask for a harness that can be used to restrain your dog when traveling in an automobile, as this is the type of safety harness that is being required.
As you know, the U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled that all six U.S. air carriers that offer service to England must change their policies and agree to transport assistance dogs in the passenger cabin on flights to the U.K., so this option will soon be available as well. The U.S. air carriers will not require the use of a safety harness, so if this is troubling to you please be patient and wait until you can travel on your favorite U.S. based air carrier.
In the meantime, here are the routes available currently on British Airways, or in the coming days on Virgin Atlantic:
British Airways
Service to London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) from:
Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia (YVR)
Montreal (YUL)
Toronto (YYZ)
United States
Boston (BOS)
New York (JFK)
Newark (EWR)
Philadelphia (PHL)
Baltimore (BWI)
Washington, D.C. (IAD)
Miami (MIA)
Chicago (ORD)
Dallas Ft. Worth (DFW)
Houston (IAH)
Phoenix (PHX)
Seattle (SEA)
San Francisco (SFO)
Los Angeles (LAX)
Service to London's Gatwick Airport (LGW) from:
United States
Atlanta (ATL)
Tampa (TPA)
Orlando (MCO)
Houston (IAH)
Service to Manchester Airport (MAN) from:
New York (JFK)
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Service to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) from:
Boston (BOS)
New York (JFK)
Newark (EWR)
Washington, D.C. (IAD)
Miami (MIA)
Service to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) from:
Orlando (MCO)
Please remember to visit the Defra web site and follow the instructions to properly prepare your assistance dog for travel. Remember that you must begin preparations a full six months before travel, so plan early!
Follow this link for additional information for both the handler and your veterinarian: <
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm> http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm
And, please remember that it is absolutely essential that British authorities be notified prior to travel so that they can make plans to meet your flight upon arrival. Please contact the following for additional information and to confirm that your assistance dog is Pets compliant:
Liz Shickle - Veterinary Officer
State Veterinary Service
The Residence
Animal Reception Centre
Heathrow Airport
TW6 3JF
p - +44 208 759 7002
f - +44 208 564 8939
Thanks for all of your efforts to make it now possible for assistance dog teams to travel together in the passenger cabin on flights to England. It has been a long, difficult journey but now we can finally say we have achieved our goal of independence!
Sincerely,
Michael C. Osborn
Sierra Vista Herald, Arizona
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Guide dogs give independence to blind
By DANA COLE
SIERRA VISTA - As they lounge in the comfort of their home, Willie and Boo don't appear any different than other dogs. They greet visitors at the door, romp, roll and tussle and enjoy having their ears rubbed. But these two are no ordinary household canine companions. Both are highly trained guide dogs, products of Guide Dogs for the Blind Foundation Inc. in Smithtown, Long Island, N.Y.
Willie, a black labrador retriever, is teamed up with Mike Strait, helping his blind human companion live a life of independence. Boo, a labrador/golden retriever cross, provides that same function for his new owner, Pat Collins. When it's time to work, both dogs put all canine antics aside and are all business.
Strait, who was left blind after a shooting accident 18 years ago at 42, remembers his pre-guide dog days. "Willie is actually my third guide dog," Strait said. "When I was first blind, I used a cane to get around for about a year. It was extremely slow and tedious. You have to be thinking about every single step you're taking, because you use the cane to identify what's in front of you before stepping forward." People seemed uncomfortable about talking to someone with a cane, Strait said. While waiting for a bus or walking down the street, he would greet people but they seldom responded. After one year, Strait got his first guide dog, a German shepherd named Bear. It was a move that changed his life. "He was amazing," Strait said. "Not only did Bear give me much more freedom, but people were friendly toward me. He was like a conversation piece that helped to open the public up to me."
The dogs are trained to find and follow a path, maneuver around obstacles, stop at curbs and determine when it's safe to proceed. "These dogs have an unbelievable memory," Strait said. "If we go somewhere twice, between the two of us, we usually have it down." Strait and Willie go on daily morning walks through their neighborhood.
Collins, who is diabetic, became totally blind in December, 2000, a side effect of the diabetes. After living with blindness for three years, she went through a special state-sponsored program offered at the Veterans Hospital in Tucson, called the Southwest Blind Rehabilitation Center. "Unlike Mike, I never learned to use the cane properly, until I got into the rehab center," Collins said. "I was totally dependent on my daughter who was in the Army here. We did sighted-guides no matter where we went." Collins completed an intensive, five-month program at the rehabilitation center, something she said was a very good move. While still enrolled in that program, she applied to the Guide Dog Foundation for a dog.
"Mike came to the Sierra Vista Low Vision Club where he talked about the dogs and the foundation," she said. "That's when I first became interested in a guide dog. I talked to Mike after the meeting and we became friends." The foundation approved Collins' application for a dog, and she was off to New York for another intense training program. "It was so stressful," she said. "It was the whole idea of being introduced to a dog, and then all of a sudden you depend on this dog instead of yourown senses, with the help of a cane. It looks easy, but it's a difficult transition." Collins remembers being required to take different routes in a strange city, having to navigate from point to point at night, negotiating train stations, bus stops, airports and shopping malls with her new companion. "You have to learn specific commands and special foot work," she said. "About turns are done very specifically, and you need to learn exactly how to position yourself to turn right and left."
Collins was enrolled in the course on April 25. She and Boo officially graduated as a team on May 19. Boo, by far the youngest member of the household, will be 18 months old Wednesday.
Strait and Collins have become good friends and recently pooled their resources to invest in a home together. Both of us were renting, so we decided to stop paying rent and buy our own place," Strait said. "We have a wonderful platonic relationship, and our two dogs are best friends, so it's worked out great."
Strait has a home-based business, New Horizon Human Resources, an employee leasing and consulting agency. He holds a bachelor's degree in business and a master's in human resource management. As a commissioner on the Commission On Disability Issues, he speaks before different organizations on what kinds of improvements different businesses "We're doing a joint task force with the Business Issues Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and I'm one of their speakers." Collins is taking courses at Cochise College and is enjoying her new found independence with Boo.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Dana Cole can be reached at 515-4618 or by e-mail at
dana.cole@svherald.com.
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2005/06/14/local_news/news1.txt
Desi Noller received a new guide dog from Guide Dogs for the Blind in Oregon. A cute little yellow lab named Candy. You can see a picture of Candy on the home page for GDUA. Desi and Candy returned home in March to begin life as a team.
Janice Williams to get a new guide! Janice Williams GDUAs First Vice President has gotten a new class date after retireing Minnie, her guide of 8 years. On july 23 Janice will be going to the Seeing Eye for her new dog, wish her luck.
Kevin Chinn GDUAs President retired his guide Lenny about 10 months ago. This week guide Lenny was off to Chicago to see his new owner. Lenny moved to Chicago, Illinois and is residing with a great family with an acre to romp on and Maggie, Alexis and Reed to play with.
Seeing Eye Dogs Lead Couple To Matrimony By Ellen Wilkowe, Daily Record
This is a love story that begins in a kennel in 2003 and ends with a man, a woman and two Seeing Eye dogs walking down the aisle together on Thursday. Anthony, a German shepherd, and Payton, a Labrador and golden retriever mix, were kennelmates who shared the same trainer at The Seeing Eye guide dog school.
The two spent long hours together and came down with a case of puppy love. "Payton would always go over and lick Anthony on the nose," said Ginger Bennett, a Morristown resident. Bennett is visually impaired and was in need of a dog in July 2003. She was paired with Payton. In her training class was Jim Kutsch a Jacksonville, Fla., resident who is vice president of a technology company. He was paired with Anthony. Kutsch went blind when he was 161/2 the result of an at-home chemistry experiment that claimed half of his right hand. "I had a driver's license and then I became a person with a disability," he said. Bennett had 20/20 vision for "quite some time" but started losing her eyesight about 10 years ago. "When I had vision, I was very into art," she said. "I did children's photography." The two people and their two dogs made it through the program and all graduated together. Bennett and Kutsch kept in touch. "Long-distance relationships are good at the beginning because you don't get caught up in the oing and doing of things in a courtship that you would if you lived in the same town," Kutsch said. "You're actually communicating your history, values and ambitions. I was really getting to know her."
Having just taken a job as associate manager of development at The Seeing Eye, Bennett was skeptical about jumping into a relationship. "I wanted to focus on my career," she said. Then the wooing started. Kutsch, who is on the board of trustees for The Seeing Eye, sent things like cookies from Starbucks and croissants from La Bakerie. At the urging of The Seeing Eye staff, Kutsch and Bennett decided to attend The Seeing Eye's 75th Anniversary Gala together but thought an official first date should precede such a formal event.
"We were going to be in formal gowns and a tux, which would make for an awkward first date," he said. "I was in town on business, and we went to Provici's in Morristown the night before." Things went well both nights. With Bennett in Morristown and Kutsch in Jacksonville, the couple began getting together once a month and then once a week. During these airport reunions, Payton and Anthony were as happy as their humans to see each other. "People in airports (would) say, "look, those dogs are so happy to be together," Bennett said. The proposal came in the fall on the balcony of Bennett's apartment. "There were helicopters flying over us and we couldn't hear," Bennett said. "We were screaming. I was like, 'Did you just propose?'" Bennett boasted a sturdy diamond that had been a Kutsch family heirloom. "My father's second wife, my stepmother, gave it to me," he said. Surrounding the main stone are several smaller diamonds. Kutsch had the stone reset at Braunschweiger Jewelers in Morristown, where the couple lso purchased their wedding bands. "They were great there," Kutsch said. "We had to literally have a first-hand experience. It's one thing to see two or three rings, but they special-ordered several rings for us to try on and feel out." They announced the engagement at The Seeing Eye Christmas party in December. This is the second marriage for both; Kutch has three grown children, a son and two daughters from his first marriage. "I get a husband and three kids," Bennett said. Kutsch said his children were excited for him. "They got Ginger a charm for Mother's Day," he said. The pair married Thursday in a small private ceremony in the side chapel of The Presbyterian Church in Morristown. The Rev. Dave Carpenter and Roger Geller, a minister and long-time friend of Kutsch's, performed the ceremony. "Jim and I go back to 1987 when I was working as a youth director at a church in Red Bank," Geller said. "We had this crazy idea for a bike program. Jim said he wanted to ride. So we raised money, bought a tandem bike and rode across New York with about 70 junior high school kids." A luncheon at The Seeing Eye campus after the ceremony was the first of three parties to celebrate the union. Following a long weekend at a bed-and-breakfast in Ocean Grove, the couple will travel later this month to Maine for a reception organized by Bennett's sister. In June, it's back down to Jacksonville for a party being thrown by Kutsch's children. The two couples, Bennett and Kutsch and Anthony and Payton, will reside in Morristown.
Using a GPS system designed for the Blind.
Working a Dog Guide as most of you know, is such an incredible feeling of freedom, especially for us first timers! Having the ability to enter and exit stores with as little as telling your dog, "outside," is so much more enjoyable and I believe less stressful than using a cane. But what about when traveling in unfamiliar areas? How often do we hesitate to go somewhere because we aren't sure if, for some reason, we might need guided assistance, Especially when pedestrians are few and far between? Well, this is when a GPS (Global Positioning System) comes into play. GPS systems for the Blind, are not intended to replace a dog guide or a white cane. It is a tool that enhances your mobility, giving you more detailed information about your current surroundings. It can tell you when you are coming to an intersection, a near by restaurant, bank, or specific destination, such as your home. You can create POI's (points of interest). These could be anything that you would mark for future reference, a dangerous driveway, a favorite store or restaurant, etc.
Coming home on the bus one day, I didn't want to wait for a transfer. Since I was about 2 miles or so from my house, and I had my Trekker, I decided to head for home. I don't think I would have done this if it weren't for GPS. I am sure I would have waited for the Bus! Let me tell you, it was an exhilarating experience! As I was walking, My Trekker gave me spoken details of my current position, along with the name of the upcoming street. I did make it home from that unfamiliar territory with confidence, thanks to GPS!
Technology for the blind is quickly evolving, and there are so many exciting products on the horizon, especially with Global Positioning Systems. Currently available, are the Trekker from Visuaide and Braille note GPS from the Sendero Group. Also, soon to be released, Street talk From Freedom Scientific, which will run on the PAC mate BX and Qx models.
There is also a program that works with speech enabled cellular phones. The company is called Wayfinder. I must add, that this is not a blind specific product.
one last example illustrating the benefits of having GPS. I went to visit a client for the first time. Not having any idea where he lived, I was glad to have my GPS solution. He resides in the far West Valley, which I am not too familiar with. well, I was on the Bus talking to the driver, the social butterfly that I am, totally unaware that I was about to get off 2 miles before my stop. During our conversation, I turned down the volume on my Trekker. When I got off the Bus, something didn't feel right. The surroundings were very quiet, not much growth in this area yet. I waited for Trekker to lock a signal and headed towards the corner to find out the name of the intersection. I then made a 180 degree turn and started walking north. I could have waited for the next bus an save~ myself a 2 mile walk, but my GPS gave me the confidence to head out into the unknown.
Having GPS as a Blind User, has been an eye-opening experience for me, no pun intended.
GPS receivers need to be locked in with at least 4 satellites in order to work. There are 24 satellites orbiting around the Earth at any given time. For more information about Global Positioning Systems, you can visit this website:
http://www.trimble.com/gps/
Scott Learned