Dear GDUI Members and Friends,
Did you miss Saturday’s board meeting? You can listen to the GDUI Board Meeting Recording here:
Drop Box
Send Space
Play back phone number:
712.432.1085
Access code: 919245 .
Thanks to Sarah for managing the recording, taking notes, preparing minutes, helping me keep track of the agenda, creating the “to do list,” and generally taking care of everything that keeps GDUI running smoothly and in touch with our members every day of the year!
Uber News and Advice:
Report Discrimination! The NFB continues to sponsor an Uber testing program. If you or someone you ride with have a service animal and has used Uber in the past month please be sure to complete the Uber testing form at www.nfb.org/rideshare
. You do not need to be an NFB member to participate. Whether your experience was a good one or a bad one please take the time to fill out the form. This will ensure that Uber follows the terms of the settlement agreement made with the NFB and Disability Rights Advocates regarding service animals and rideshares. Please share this link with every guide dog user you know who uses rideshares.
Please remember: It’s never a good idea to attempt to force your way into a ride-share vehicle whose driver is refusing to transport you and your guide dog! We have heard several reports of injuries to people who are blind or their companions which resulted from their attempting to intercede with a driver who had refused them service – by grabbing and hanging onto a vehicle’s door handle or reaching into an open window attempting to unlock a rear door. Don’t do this! It’s not worth risking your safety or your dog’s. Call for another ride, then report the incident to the ride-sharing company. You may well spend more time than you anticipated – or should have – getting from one place to another, but at least you and your guide dog will be safe and in tact!
No Uber or LYFT App? You can access these ride-sharing services even if you don’t have a smart phone or feel comfortable using the app. All you need is a standard telephone. it is now possible for AN EXTRA $ .19 per mile to call 855.464.6872(That’s 855 – GOGOUSA).
Or book a trip via the web site:
HTTPS://GOGOGRANDPARENT.COM.
Nine years is a long time to still be waiting for accessible currency! On October, 19, the American Council of the Blind presented before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, following ACB’s appeal concerning a recent District Court ruling that upheld last year’s determination by the Department of Treasury to push back the first accessible U.S. currency to 2026, almost double the anticipated projected time from when ACB won its case against the government in 2008. The hearing focused on our concerns regarding the Department of Treasury’s inability to deliver an adequate solution that provides meaningful access within a reasonable timeline.
To access audio from the oral arguments, visit:
ACB and GDUI will continue to update members on the progress of the current appeal before the Court.
ACB’s Audio Description Project will celebrate its 10th year in 2018—hooray! The Audio Description Project provides an excellent web site here: www.acb.org/adp, where you can find comprehensive and up-to-date listings of described broadcast television, movies and DVD programs and releases. The web site also keeps track of audio-description availability at performing arts venues and museums throughout the country.
The ADP project has a goal of increasing the number of web site listings by twenty percent by the beginning of the new year, and they are asking for your help. Please share the names and locations of theaters, performing arts centers, museums or park sites where your experiences have been enhanced by audio description.
Simply send a brief email to Joel Snyder atmailto:jsnyder@acb.org
or phone Joel at 202.467.5083 to share information about audio-description availability where you live.
Thank you.
Welcome Andrea Giudice, GDUI’s Programs Committee Chairperson and Convention Coordinator for
2018!At our board meeting on November 18, GDUI’s board unanimously confirmed our new convention coordinator, Andrea Giudice. We are thrilled that Andrea has joined our board as a committee chair and stepped up to serve as our convention coordinator for next summer’s GDUI Convention! Andrea is hoping that any of you who would like to help with the 2018 convention will get in touch and offer your services. Especially if you have participated on GDUI’s Programs Committee before, Andrea says she will appreciate your ideas and hearing about your experiences! Contact Andrea here: mailto:programs@guidedogusersinc.org, or call GDUI’s national office and let Sarah know about your availability: 866.799.8436.
For those of you not fortunate enough to have met Andrea yet, here’s a short biography: A lifelong resident of Connecticut, with the exception of eight years in northern California, Andrea has lived in West Hartford for the past ten years. After graduating from Simsbury High School, Andrea earned a bachelors in Family studies from the University of Connecticut with a concentration in marriage and family therapy. While her career path has been varied (working locally, regionally and nationally) the common theme has been educating about blindness and advocating for persons with disabilities. This theme carries through in her capacity as a public speaker and sensitivity trainer. When not working she enjoys reading, movies, concerts, spending time with family and friends, horseback riding, snowshoeing, swimming, and travel. Andrea, like all of us, is many things to many people, daughter, sister, friend, employee, volunteer, local television host, sensitivity trainer, however, she feels that being a guide dog handler is truly her most defining role!
Andrea has been partnered with guide dogs for the past 30 years. At 17 and a senior in high school, at that time Fidelco’s youngest graduate, she received her first guide dog. Eleven years later Andrea received her third guide, and her first from Guide Dogs for the Blind. Now with her sixth guide Anders, her third lab, she is so excited to be given the honor of being the chair of the organizing committee for the 2018 GDUI Convention.
Remember, the dates for next summer’s GDUI Convention in St. Louis, MO, are July 1 through July 4! The hotel, called Union Station, is conveniently located, and St. Louis’s airport serves a huge number of air carriers. In addition, Amtrak and MegaBus provide attractive options for traveling to St. Louis.
Room rates at Union Station are $89.00; this rate applies for up to 2 people in a king room and up to 4 guests in a room with two queen beds. Room tax is currently 16.92 percent.
Make telephone reservations by calling 314.231.1234, and be sure to mention you are with American Council of the Blind to obtain the conference and convention room rate.
Golden State Guide Dog Handlers presents a telephonic chat concerning “Everything You Want to Know about Home Training!” Sponsored by the Golden State Guide Dog Handlers group in California, the conference call will feature representatives from each of the California training programs, as well as two GSGDH representatives, Ken Metz and Toni Eames. Learn about each school’s practices and guiding philosophies concerning home training as well as the experiences of two guide dog users who have trained with new guide dogs in their home settings. Everyone is welcomed to join the call. You don’t have to be a member of GSGDH or live in California.
Date: Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Time: 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm (Pacific Standard Time, that’s 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time)
Call in info: Dial-in Number: 302.202.1110; Conference Code: 126748.
We wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy family and friends and all of that food, glorious food, and thank you for your friendship and support! And, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and especially important to us, Giving Tuesday on the horizon, and the shopping season beginning in earnest, remember to support GDUI when and where you can!
When you shop online at Amazon.com, please use this link: 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.
Giving Tuesday is a day each year when Americans are encouraged to extend their post-Thanksgiving shopping sprees to support the not-for-profit organizations which make all of our communities better. This year, Giving Tuesday occurs on November 28, 2017, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
As the winter holiday season arrives and thoughts of celebrations and sharing become an important focus for many, November 28, 2017 presents a perfect opportunity for you to help GDUI continue our vital work on behalf of blind and visually impaired people who rely on guide dogs for safety and independence.
An affiliate of the American Council of the Blind for more than four decades, GDUI provides empathetic support for our members, who depend on guide dogs for safe and independent travel through a world that is built for people who can see, while advocating for our civil rights, and educating the general public regarding guide dogs and the invaluable assistance they provide to people who are blind.
Visit us at
https://guidedogusersinc.org/donate/.
Tell friends and family members about GDUI, please give what you can, and help us continue our work. Thank you!
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.