Dear GDUI Members and Friends,
The GDUI Board will Meet this coming Saturday, November 18, beginning at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (That’s 10:00 AM on the West Coast). All GDUI members and friends are welcomed to attend. Call 712.432.0075. Then use this Participant Access Code: 919245-Pound. We are looking forward to our meeting and to your participation!
Lots of Improvements on the GDUI Web Site! Thanks to a great deal of productive hard work by our web master, Steve Zelaya, and members of our Public Relations/Web Site Committee, Will Burley, Dixie Sanderson, Maria Kristic, Minh Ha, and Brianna Murray, you will notice a number of improvements on our GDUI web site, https://www.GuideDogUsersInc.org/, and on our Facebook presence as well.
We have streamlined our home page to make it easier to find perpetually relevant information about our organization, along with information on some of our services, such as our DAPP program, Chat list, and past convention recordings. As a result, this and all future GDUI announcements will be accessible, not only via e-mail for GDUI-Announce list subscribers, but from the Blog link, https://guidedogusersinc.org/blog/, which can be found off of the home page as well.
Speaking of our blog, be sure to visit often, as it contains more than just our GDUI Announcements. Recent non-announcement posts include an article from our member, Jane Sheehan, on the Aira service and an article from me on making the decision to retire a guide dog. You can visit our blog directly at
https://guidedogusersinc.org/blog/.
We are happy to report that our entire Web site is now secured by an SSL certificate. Regardless of the link format through which you access a page on our site, you will be redirected to the secure version of that page. You can verify this by checking your Web browser’s Address bar; the link will begin with “https” (without the quotes).
As of November 13, 2017, we have 341 likes on our Facebook page and 254 followers of our Twitter handle. In addition to the blog posts referenced above, we have recently shared links to tips on keeping your dog safe while working and articles discussing possible solutions to the problem of fake service dogs in public places. Our Facebook page can be accessed at
https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc
. Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at
Tweets by GDUInc
Thanks to Nolan Crabb, former PawTracks editor and current producer of our excellent monthly stream and podcast on ACB Radio, The GDUI Juno Report continues to bring you great programming through online streaming of new content, beginning on the first Friday of each month at 8:00 PM, EST, and continuing through podcasts in subsequent months. The topic for November is Travel with your Guide Dog. If you missed Wendy David’s excellent presentation on this topic at our summer convention, the November GDUI Juno Report offers a new opportunity to hear from Wendy and learn from her experiences as a blind woman who has traveled all over the world with all of her guide dogs! And, December’s topic will be California’s elimination of its Guide Dog Board. Margie Donovan will be discussing the reasons why California guide dog users worked so hard to eliminate the board and the process they followed to convince California’s government that the time had come for the board to go! Don’t miss the GDUI Juno Report on ACB Radio’s Mainstream. New shows and podcasts are available here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml. We share many thanks with Nolan for continuing to produce such wonderful radio programming for guide dog users and our friends and supporters, and with ACB Radio for supporting our work and outreach via streaming and podcasting of our GDUI Juno Report!
Does it seem to you that more and more often, you are encountering people who bring their pets along with them to restaurants, on buses, and, really, all over the place while claiming that their untrained and often ill-behaved dogs are service animals? It seems that way to us, too! Nineteen states have passed laws that attempt to address this illegality. You can find a list of all of these state assistance dogs laws here: https://www.animallaw.info/topic/table-state-assistance-animal-laws. If yours is one of the states who have passed laws attempting to discourage pet owners from passing their pets along as service animals, we are interested in hearing from you. How well is the law in your state working to curtail this activity? Have you seen public service announcements or other advertising concerning the law and any associated penalties for violating it? Do you believe that the law is being enforced, or that business owners understand how to take advantage of the legislation to deny entry to people whose pets are not providing any disability-related services to them? Please share your experiences with Charlie Crawford, Chair of our Advocacy and Legislation Committee here: mailto:advocacy@guidedogusersinc.org, or call Sarah at our toll-free number, 866.799.8436, and she will be glad to share your information with the committee. Thank you.
On the topic of laws that protect our civil rights as people who use guide dogs, we want to congratulate the National Association of Guide Dog Users on their recent update for their NAGDU Guide & Service Animal Advocacy & Information mobile app for iOS and ANDROID. The updated app reflects research and updates for every state service-animal-related statute, as well as relevant laws for each of the Canadian provinces, all of the relevant U. S. Department of Justice regulations, and guidance regarding rights and responsibilities for industries. Version 2.1 of the NAGDU app can be downloaded, free of charge, from both the US and Canadian app stores.
Roundabouts: Did you miss the very informative September presentation regarding roundabouts and the potentially negative impacts these traffic constructs can have on our abilities to travel safely and independently, or would you like to revisit the panel discussions? Here’s a phone number you can call to access the recording of that presentation: 605.475.4120, PIN 4364602.
Are you getting ready to visit family or friends for Thanksgiving? If your plans include air travel, you may want to visit the U. S. Department of Transportations redesigned Aviation Consumer web site, https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer. The Department’s goal is to assist consumers to better understand their rights before, during, and after air travel. Issues addressed on the re-designed page include: Bumping, Tarmac Delays, Flight Delays and Cancellations, Flying with a Disability, and Passengers’ Rights to Fly Free from Discrimination.
No matter whether your holiday plans include travel or cooking or simply enjoying the opportunity to reflect on gratitude and eat massive amounts of delicious food, we wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving! Remember pumpkins are versatile and delicious – no matter whether baked into pies or muffins – or – stirred into big bowls of kibble! (Just ask your guide dog!)
Thank you all for your friendship and support.
Sincerely,
Penny Reeder, President
Guide Dog Users, Inc.
mailto:President@GuideDogUsersInc.org
Deanna Noriega, First Vice President
Guide Dog Users, Inc.
mailto:vp1@GuideDogUsersInc.org
Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436
Like, visit us, and join our Facebook Group : https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc
Follow us at Twitter: @GDUInc
Enjoy the GDUI Juno Report on ACB Radio Mainstream, at8:00 p.m., EST, every Friday of every month, here: http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream.
Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml
Or search for the GDUI Juno Report on ITunes or ACBLink. .
Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.
SUPPORT GUIDE DOG USERS, INC GROUP #999969764 when you purchase candles and other decorative items from the Yankee Candle Store here: https://www.yankeecandlefundraising.com/store.htm.
To join the GDUI-Announce List, visit this link: http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/gdui-announce
To subscribe to the GDUI Chat list, visit this link: gduichatlist-subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org
To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link:
businesslist-subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org
A recording of each GDUI announcement is available here: 712.432.1281. Enter the Access Code 488062 followed by the number sign. When prompted, enter the Reference Code, No. 1. The recording will remain available until it is replaced by a recording of the next GDUI Announcement. Please share this information with friends who may not have access to the internet. Thank you. We look forward to sharing information with all of our GDUI members and friends.