From: Pete Donahue 
Subject: Re: nfb leadership and Seeing Eye matters
Hi All,
Yes it's good to hear that you are doing well and are happily married.  To
answer your question about blind guide dog instructors Dr. Paul Gabbias,
President of the National Associatiion of Guide dog Users, (Nagdu) is
totally blind.  He has successfully trained his own guide dogs, and has
trained guide dogs for several other blind persons, (Including Tomy Eames
and his wife mary Ellen), and he trained both Tony and mary Ellen how to
use their dogs.  I have been meaning to contact Paul, but don't know his
E-mail addrewss.  He can tell you more about how he did it.  Now if only
the schools would sit down and listen to him and other blind persons who
have also trained guide dogs and guide dog teams rather than continue to
doubt our ability to do this with confidence and proficiency and
effectively.
This brings me back to my most previous post so thanks for the question
Al.  What I should have said at the end of that post is that we're quick
to demand improved instruction in other types of blindness skills, but
when it comes to independant travel we go all to pieces.  It seems that
blind persons are more willing to advocate for environmental
moddifications rather than demand better instruction in the use of the
white cane or a guide dog for that matter.  And in the end it really does
not matter if that trainer is blind or sighted provided ht-she has a
strong belief in the abilities of blind persons to travel safely and with
confidence.    All I would like to see is for blind persons to be given
the opportunity to become guide dog instructors, and that the schools not
automatically think that none of us can do the job as well as a sighted
person.  But we must also route out such thinking among our own wranks
before this situation can change for the better.  It is interesting to
knote that although one guide dog school's director of training spoke
highly of Dr. Gabbias's skill with handling and ttraining guide dogs and
person-dog teams this school was unwilling to offer him a job.  back to
the drawing board on that one.
Anyway it's almost time for Mary to get home and Lasagna's on for supper
tonight.
yours truly,
Peter Donahue
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