Your earlier message said, in part, "As I said before I am sick
and tired of going to a guide dog school and hearing numerous
reasons why blind persons can't be guide dog trainers dispite the
fact that it is being by blind individuals; some of which are
members of our own organization.  Furthermorewe as federationists
need to stop buyihng such rubbish and demant that the schools
begin to think of the possibilities rather than the
problemsconcerning hiring and training blind instructors.  It is
sad that one of our members who at first thought of how such an
idea might be possible would allow a pair of N.F.B drop-outs
convince him that such an idea was unrealistic and impracticle.
..."
Are there in fact blind people who are instructing or who have
instructed other blind people successfully to use guide dogs?  If
there are, then there is no need to talk about "possibilities,"
since facts will serve far better.  (Remember, I'm not asking
sinply about training the dog, but about training the dog-person
team.) As I said in my private message on the subject, I'd very
much like to be wrong in my belief that sight--and a decent
amount of it at that--is necessary for this job.  Whether total
blindness or very low vision prevents one from doing the job well
is a question of fact, of course, not a matter of rhetoric,
organizational membership, or what we're sick and tired of
hearing.  Possibility thinking is indeed essential, but in the
long run, it's whether we bring those possibilities to life that
counts.  I'd like for you to be right on this one, but the
information and experience that I have to this point indicates
that this job is more like driving a bus than like teaching cane
travel.
If you still have my message on this matter, please read it again
and with more careful attention.  You will realize that I did not
allow "a pair of N.F.B drop-outs" to convince me that the idea of
blind instructors is unrealistic and impractical.  Rather, one
member of that pair expressed this view, and I made my own
inquiry about it.  I got an answer that seemed logical, and my
experience appears to support that logic.  Would I now have a
different view had I inquired further?  Perhaps, but I need
evidence, not mere assertions.  I stress that the matter has
nothing to do with who is or was a member of NFB, ACB, or the
nearest bowling league.  You should know by this point in your
life that even active membership in NFB by no means guarantees
that an individual will truly understand and try to practice the
philosophy we espouse, and lack of membership or interest in the
organization certainly does not in and of itself mean that a
person does not fully understand and try to live by that
philosophy.  I sometimes disagree with this "pair of N.F.B drop-
outs," and even get a bit frustrated with them on occasion.  I
try to consider their opinions carefully, however:  they have
much more experience than you and I in using guide dogs, and they
lived by NFB philosophy when you and I were just learning
braille--before they even knew much about the Federation itself.
Finally, my experience with The Seeing Eye over seventeen years
is that it consistently treats its blind customers as the adults
we usually are, as people who can participate in society as
equals among our sighted peers.  I have seen the school improve
in a number of ways, but that aspect has never needed
improvement, as far as I can tell.  If I'm wrong to some degree,
if the school is violating the NFB-style philosophy that gave
birth to it, then of course we should call it to account:  I
would argue that The Seeing Eye should have less slack than the
traditionally backward agencies for the blind because, like us,
it should know better.  (That may also be true of other guide dog
schools, I don't know.) If there's a problematic iceberg here,
though, it has nothing whatever to do with the assertions of
Resolution 96-12.  Our energy should be put into eliminating the
artificial barriers that thwart our pursuit of a full, self-
directed life, not creating artificial problems to test our zeal
and diminish our credibility.  You have called on others to stop
complaining and be constructive.  Go and do likewise!
--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 2
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