Author: Webmaster

A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Sarah Calhoun

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

From the President:

Dear GDUI family and friends!

From our house to your house, Lakota and I want to wish you, your furry four legged faithful pups, family and friends a very enjoyable, happy and healthy holiday! Whether you visit in person or by a telephone call, reaching out and connecting with others is the best gift of all.

This year has been quite a difficult year dealing with COVID-19. We have had to stay home, limit our travel, unable to congregate with others, which not only has put a strain on us, but our guide dogs as well.

We have been challenged like no other time in our life, but it has not stopped our creativity, inspirations and opportunity as we developed new ways to interact with our guide dogs, keeping their minds and spirit in tip top shape. 

GDUI offers several avenues to interact with fellow guide dog handlers and supporters through our chat lists, website, “Paws, News You Can Use” newsletter and upcoming community calls!

We are planning several community calls through our Zoom platform offering a time to share your thoughts, tips and tricks related to guide dogs, schools and more! GDUI will have guest speakers from various areas within the guide dog community!

If you have any suggestions for a community call or would like to submit an article for Paws, please let us know by sending an email to: 

president@guidedogusersinc.org

Or

editors@guidedogusersinc.org

We would love to hear from you!

As this year comes to an end and we ready ourselves to welcome 2021, my wish and hope for you, our GDUI family and friends throughout the world, is to regain our sense of security, normal living, ability to interact with others face  to face, travel, good health and Peace for all.

We wish everyone a bright and healthy holiday season and New Year!

Sarah Calhoun & Lakota

GDUI President

 Article: Canine COVID-19 humor

The Puzzle

By Enzo (about the author: Enzo is a 68 pound German Shepherd dog from The Seeing Eye Inc.)

Humans are such a puzzle.

They do many things confusing.

My lady wears a muzzle.

It is not at all amusing.

Each time we go out the door,

Does she fear she might bite someone?

She never wore one before.

We walk, but we don’t have much fun.

Other folks wear muzzles, too.

Perhaps they know showing their teeth,

Is quite a rude thing to do.

Muzzles might hide smiles beneath

Article: WHEN A GUIDE DOG CAN’T LEAD

By: Deb Trevin

I am congenitally, totally blind.  When I was five, I went to the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville. Along with the usual subjects, we learned skills such as traveling with a cane, writing braille and alternative methods for accomplishing daily tasks. Although I was a competent cane traveler, I felt insecure and unnatural using the cane. 

At age 20,  I went to The Seeing Eye facility in Morristown, NJ and was introduced to Darla.  She was an 18-month old black lab who seemed more mature than I. 

The first time I picked up the harness and said, “Darla, Forward,” I felt like I was flying! This must be what it’s like to travel when you can see where you are going. I entered a magical world of mutual trust and interdependence as I learned to walk by Darla’s side, following her subtle movements as she guided me around obstacles. 

The seasons of my  life were marked by the succession of my dogs.  Darla was with me when I got my first job; Coquette as I began Bible College and Twyla when I graduated. Rita was with me when I learned of my husband’s illness, through his death and into my journey to Seminary. 

With one year of seminary remaining, I learned that dear, gentle Rita had lung cancer.  In spite of the diagnosis, she worked until the day before her death.  We only had seven years together.  How could this be the end?  

On a cold January day in 2013, I opened my heart to Suzy, a petite black lab/golden mix with enough spunk, curiosity, and vitality for two dogs her size. She bounced into my life and has been a speed walker ever since. 

To challenge her intelligence, I must provide lots of play and games. Because she is so eager, play often means that I hide and she must stay sitting until she hears, “Suzy, come.”  She races to “find” me and gets a piece of kibble as a reward. 

I am a Presbyterian Pastoral Candidate.  When we greet people following a church service, Suzy takes this quite seriously. She leans forward so that she can be the first to welcome her friends. Her eagerness multiplies as she sees people whose cars we have ridden in as this could mean an adventure. 

This time of social isolation has been stressful for my social butterfly. She knows my schedule—which night is choir practice, which afternoon means we attend our writers’ group, Sunday mornings when we leave home early for take-out breakfast followed by praise band and choir practice before church begins. 

Suzy knows the sound of the truck which picks us up on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings. She jumps onto the back seat and vigorously licks the faces of the couple in the front seat. 

No doubt, she is wondering what has changed the way we do things. Now, when we go for a walk, Suzy doesn’t understand why people back away from her when she gets close to them on the sidewalk.  The directive that we should stay six feet apart means nothing to her. The few times we have gone into a grocery store, she ignores the arrows on the floor which are meaningless to her, and which I can’t see. We have one friend who still comes over every two weeks or so to read mail. Suzy proudly greets her at the door with her favorite bone as if to ask, “Did you come over to play with me?  Bet you can’t get my bone.” 

I’d been planning to attend two significant conferences this summer, just as we did last summer. As I learned that one had been changed to a virtual event and the other cancelled for the year, I thought of how Suzy thrives in an environment where there is always something to do and people to see. 

Dog guides are intended to help those who are blind to be more active and involved with the community around us. Social distancing and sheltering in place are contrary to their nature and training. 

It is my responsibility to find ways to keep Suzy alert and ready to work. This sometimes means extra obedience practice, extra walks, more play, and extra cuddle time so that she stays secure and optimistic. 

I stay worry-free and focused on the time when COVID-19 will be behind us, knowing that Suzy depends entirely on me for her sense of well-being and contentment. 

So far, I’ve managed to keep her from engaging in regressive bad doggy behavior, such as chewing things that don’t belong to her and stealing food. This indicates that she is not overly stressed and that I’m keeping her occupied at a time when there is little guide work for her to do.  

During this time of uncertainty when Suzy can’t work to her full potential, I wonder what she is feeling.  This has me recall her biggest emotional upset.  She was significantly distressed when we moved from Kentucky to Delaware.  With several people coming and going, stacks of boxes reaching over my head with narrow aisles between them, Suzy couldn’t find a place of her own.  It took me a few days to shift our belongings so that I could set up her “house.”  Suzy calmed noticeably when she could surround herself with her favorite blanket and toys. 

Even though my guide dog has the stress of not being able to lead me during this time of COVID-19 regulations, at least she is able to get a good night’s sleep.  I smile as I hear my girl breathing deeply on the foot of my bed. 

Sincerely,

Sarah Calhoun, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Paws for GDUI News You Can Use

Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

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Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com:

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To subscribe to the GDUI Chat list, visit this link: chat+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link:

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A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Sarah Calhoun

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

From the President:

Hello GDUI members and friends!

As we work and play in the beautiful fall weather, approaching Halloween, pumpkins, apple cider and cozy times with our family and friends, I hope this season will bring you enjoyable moments during these uncertain times.

I am sorry to report, GDUI has lost a friend, devoted board member and a true advocate making a difference for the blind, visually impaired and disabled people across the country.

Charlie Crawford passed away on September 11, 2020 surrounded by his wife, Sue Crawford, Charlie’s guide dog, “His little Razen in the sun”, his family and friends.  We will deeply miss him as he brought enthusiasm, laughter and made life lighter for everyone whose life he touched.

Thank you, Charlie, for making a difference with your love of advocacy efforts and the willing to speak out. We will miss your emails titled, “memorandums”, petitions, your jokes and friendship.  Rest in Peace our dear friend.

On September 24, 2020, GDUI was invited to hold a community call with the Alliance for Aging Adults with Low Vision (AALV), hosted by Terry Pacheco. There were three guide dog school representatives who discussed their school policy and procedures in placing a guide dog with an older adult. Becky Floyd with Gallant Hearts, GDMI Wendy Eichler with Leader Dogs and Jim Kessler with The Seeing Eye gave excellent insight and information on this topic. We hope to hold similar calls in the near future!

In this edition of “Paws, News You Can Use”, are tributes to members we have lost, announcements, and exciting GDUI news! I hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter!

We wish you all the best! Enjoy the wonderful fall season!

Sarah Calhoun & Lakota

GDUI President

Message from the editor:

Hello to all of you out there. I am starting with an apology. There have been far too many sleeps since the last issue of “Paws for GDUI News You Can Use”. I am not going to make excuses or give long, involved, complicated reasons for this, I am simply stating that I am sorry and will make strenuous efforts to do better going forward.

Speaking of going forward, this issue is filled with cool announcements, some with looming deadlines, and interesting articles. There are tributes to GDUI and ACB members and even a posthumous challenge to action. I recognize that this issue is a bit longer than usual, however, there is so much wonderful material to share I had a hard deciding what to put here and what to hold back for future issues. Read and enjoy- Andrea

Tributes from Penny for Charlie Crawford and Bob Hachey

9/11/20: We’ve lost a true advocate and friend,

And this is such a sad day for the blindness community. Charlie founded the first ACB state affiliate in Massachusetts, forty-nine years ago. He went on to head the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, and then to serve as Executive Director of ACB from 1998 to 2003. Charlie was such a wonderful advocate for those of us who rely on our guide dogs for independence and safety. It was knowing Charlie and his then Seeing Eye Dog, Ruthie, that led me to apply for my first guide dog, Glory – and Glory and Charlie had such a happy mutual admiration society going in that ACB national office!

Charlie has served several terms on GDUI’s Board, and we have been so fortunate to have Charlie chairing our Advocacy and Legislative Committee. No one who ever called Charlie with an advocacy issue left the call without knowing for certain how much he and GDUI cared about their civil rights.

It is particularly poignant that Charlie should pass away on the anniversary of 9-11.  That terrible morning in 2001, his primary concern was that each one of the national office staff members get home safely from Downtown Washington, DC. So typical of Charlie, he made sure that every one of us was safely headed toward home and family before he and Ruthie found their way onto the Metro.

Charlie spent his entire adult life advocating for people with disabilities and the human and civil rights of all people.  His caring nature has been a reminder to all of us who called him friend.

We are not sure how to get through this sad day or the ones that will follow without Charlie. He has been such a wonderful friend to so many of us and such an enthusiastic and effective advocate for all of our human and civil rights. Our best advice is to make the most of this and every day that comes, and to tell all the treasured people and dogs in our lives that we love them, as often as possible.

9/15/2020, I am so sad to learn that Bob Hachey passed away today

Bob was the kind of person I would have described to someone who had never met him as a “good guy,” kind and gregarious, a great teller of stories, and passionate about progressive causes and dedicated to justice for all.

The first time I met Bob, we were sitting next to one another on a bus, going somewhere – maybe to Capitol Hill, maybe to a group dinner, I think it was during an ACB Legislative Seminar. Bob shared some funny stories with me, and the thing I remember most about our conversation was that he told me how much he loved his wife, Donna, and many of the reasons why. I have never met Donna, but I always kept a soft spot in my heart for her, I knew I would like her.

Bob was dedicated to making life better for people who are blind, and to ACB in particular. He spent more hours than many of us would ever consider spending on e-mail, as a moderator for ACB’s e-mail discussion lists. As a moderator, he was patient and welcoming and thoroughly committed to civility and the free exchange of information.

My deepest sympathies to Donna and all of Bob’s friends and family members. Rest in peace, Bob. We will miss you.

Announcement: Time sensitive, opportunity ends on October 30, 2020)

Dear lover of audio description—

I want to share with you a note that I received from my good friend and colleague Dr. Anna Matamala based at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

She has asked ACB to assist with providing survey respondents regarding research on audio description and its voicing (or prosody). 

The survey link and an introductory note from Dr. Matamala is below.  The researchers need to receive at least 30 responses.  So please take 20 minutes to complete the survey and enlist one or two friends to complete it as well?  There are two parts and 18 samples to listen to in each part. The survey uses checkboxes for audio sample 1 or 2, and “Play” to listen, “Replay” to review again.

Please complete the survey by Friday, October 30.

Thank you so much for your support of this important research project.

All best,

Joel

JOEL SNYDER, Ph.D., President, Audio Description Associates, LLC  

Survey information:

What type of voices do you prefer?

This is what we are researching in the RAD project at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. It is a very relevant question for audio description and we would appreciate your help.

We have prepared an anonymous online test for native speakers of English with and without sight loss. You will hear different pairs of voices and you will have to select one. It will take about 20 minutes. Sometimes it will be difficult for you to make a choice between two voices but this happens to most participants, so do not worry and please do not leave the test.

If you have any questions, please contact anna.matamala@uab.cat

Link to the test: https://forms.gle/VbYnrUJS9LFuDMVL9

Announcement: GDUI FUNDRAISING PROJECT

 (The last day to order is November 1, 2020)

Guide Dog Users, Inc. wishes to raise needed funds to forward our Universal Voting Program which allows all of our members to cast their votes for Officers and Directors.

Holiday Wreath

 These lovely wreaths are wonderful to send to your relatives and friends. The wreaths will be delivered two weeks after Thanksgiving.

Description: An aromatic combination of Noble fir, berried Juniper and incense cedar. Touches of color provided by red faux holly berries. A bow is included for easy attaching.

Price: $45.

For your convenience, we have included a PayPal link in which our funds are sent directly to GDUI.  The company will process your order.  Here is the PayPal link:  https://sherwoodfundraiser.com/guidedogusersinc

If you have any problems you may call the GDUI Office at: (866) 799-8436. If needed Sarah Calhoun will process your individual orders for home delivery.

We are including the Order Form so that you will know the answers to the questions that Sarah will ask you to complete your order. We will accept only credit card payments please.

Order Form:

Recipient’s First and Last Name:

Recipient’s Address (No PO Boxes/APO Addresses):

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Sender’s Name:

Sender’s Phone:

Sender’s email:

Greeting from (Name – 35-character limit):

Custom Message to Recipient (35-character limit)

Announcement:

Audio Description for the News?

We recently read about a podcast called “Talk Description To me”, on which an audio describer and a member of the blind and low vision community discuss and explore current events and topics.

You will hear vivid description of important images and details.

The most recent podcast described events of 9 11 in New York City.

For those who listen to podcasts, you can find Talk Description To me where you typically find podcasts.

For those who do not listen to podcasts using an app., you can go to the website https://talkdescriptiontome.buzzsprout.com to listen to episodes, and find out more information about the show hosts and purpose of the podcast.

Announcement: Public Service Announcement courtesy of Blind Bargains

Be My Eyes makes accessible voting information available through its app

Tangela Mahaffey Sep 30, 2020 10:03 PM ET

Voting is important, in 2020 perhaps more so than ever. However, the ongoing COVID19 changes mean that this process looks different than it has in years past. Be My Eyes is making accessible voting information available by state in its app. See the text of the Be My Eyes email, and find out about some patriotic items available from the National Braille Press, below.

As blind and low-vision people, we are underestimated and underrepresented every day of our lives. Voting in an election is our chance to change that. We may only turn out a few million strong, but in an election, that can make a big difference.
That’s why, for the 2020 presidential election, Be My Eyes and Vote.org are teaming up – to make sure that for any American with a visual impairment, the process of registering and preparing to vote is as clear and accessible as possible.

Using Be My Eyes, you can check whether you are registered to vote, be guided through registering if you are not already, and receive information about voting by mail and COVID-19 guidelines specific to your state. According to Will Butler, president of Be my Eyes, “In a time where social distancing is still a huge part of daily lives for all Americans, it’s more important than ever that everyone has a way to access all necessary information, to make sure that they are motivated and confident about voting come November.”

In order to access voting information and assistance, open the Be My Eyes app, enter the Specialized Help menu and select Vote.org from the list of available organizations in the “Civic Engagement” category. Vote.org volunteers will be open to take your calls through Be My Eyes Monday through Friday 12pm to 4pm ET.

Additionally, the National Braille press has begun to offer several braille and tactile items potentially of interest to voters across the nation. The Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States are available as a brf document or single volume braille book. You can receive 1 copy of these documents, in either downloadable braille file or physical braille book, free of charge, and can email the National Braille Press at orders@nbp.org to discuss the cost of receiving multiple copies.

The National Braille Press also provides a tactile American flag with the pledge of aleagance written in either contracted or uncontracted braille. The product description reads,

Does your child or student know what the American flag looks like? Have they read the Pledge of Allegiance?
These brilliant, red, white, and blue flags from KBTI feature tactile stars and stripes. The tactile horizontal red stripes are labeled with the lower case “r” at the far right, and the white stripes are labeled with the lower case “w.”
The Pledge of Allegiance is displayed in large print over the red and white stripes, in alternating black and white lettering, and is also written in braille over the red stripes. Immediately beneath the flag is a key in braille. Flags measure 7.5″ x 9.5″.

You can buy your tactile flag now for $5.00

Announcement: The following is a message from Aira

Have You Tried Aira at Starbucks? 

Aira Test Underway in Stores in Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Seattle, and Washington DC

Available Through mid-January 2021 

Coffee anyone? Aira is pleased to announce a test program with Starbucks. And, we would love to know about your experience, and see your Starbucks selfies. For social media use #OnMyTerms @Starbucks @airaio. 

Individuals who are blind or low vision can use the Aira service for assistance at Starbucks stores through mid-January 2021 in the following cities: 

Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Seattle, and Washington DC. 

More information is available at www.Aira.io/Starbucks, including the full list of covered locations. 

You will also find information about participating locations in the Aira app.

If you’ve always wanted to try Aira, this is a great way to test the service and have that iconic Starbucks experience. If you’re already an Aira Explorer, thank you, and take advantage of this offer to enhance your use of Aira. We are thrilled that Starbucks is taking this step to support blind customers as we all adjust to the current challenges. So, we encourage everyone to navigate to your local Starbucks with an Aira Agent. Maybe even incorporate it into a mobility lesson. 

Aira can be used while at a Starbucks for up to 30 minutes for assistance with tasks, including:

• Reading in-store information
• Finding amenities such as the order counter or table
• Social Distancing in the line
• Finding the Starbucks itself
• And more.

Don’t forget, your Aira Agent can also get that perfect Starbucks Selfie for sharing on social media. Our customers have made the hash tag #OnMyTerms synonymous with Aira so feel free to use it when tagging. Social media handles, @Starbucks and @airaio can also be used. And, remember, you can always use your free five-minute call to plan your trip before you go.

To take advantage of this offer, all you need is a smartphone and the Aira app which is free from the Apple App or Google Play stores. Then, if you are not already an Aira Explorer, you will just need to set up a free account and you can use Aira Access locations for free just like Aira Explorers do. 

If you have any questions, please email Paul Schroeder at Paul@Aira.io.

Announcement: Survey opportunity

My name is Joelle, and I am a Researcher with Accenture Interactive. Verizon Wireless is a client of ours that takes accessibility and universal design very seriously, and they have asked us to conduct an independent third-party evaluation of their website. I’ve included details about the study below.

The study consists of a 1-hour Zoom interview, where we will ask participants to share their screen (phone or desktop) and think out loud as they navigate Verizon and its competitors’ websites. 

We ask that participants in this study meet the following requirements:

• Have a visual impairment or other disability for which they use a screen reader to interact with computer /smartphone and other devices
• Have the ability to log into the Zoom platform to participate in the study and can share their screen on either desktop or mobile
• Can dedicate up to 1 hour of their time for the Zoom interview

Participants will be provided an incentive in the form of a $50 Amazon gift card upon completing the study. If interested, please take this short survey. If you are selected, Accenture Interactive will contact you via email to schedule an interview. Interviews will take place the week of November 2nd and November 9th.

Announcement: On behalf of the Social Security Administration (SSA), we want to let you know that during the current coronavirus pandemic, SSA continues to provide help to you and others in your community.

While their offices are not providing service to walk-in visitors due to COVID-19, SSA remains committed to providing ongoing benefits and vital services.  SSA asked me to let you know that they remain ready and able to help you by phone with most Social Security matters. You can speak with a representative by calling your local Social Security office or their National 800 Number.  They provide local office phone numbers conveniently online with their Social Security Office Locator.

SSA also wants you to know they have many secure and convenient online services to:

• Apply for Retirement, Disability, and Medicare benefits,
• Check the status of an application or appeal,
• Request a replacement Social Security card (in most areas),
• Print a benefit verification letter, and
• Much more.

Most business with SSA can be done online, but they know that many people still rely on phone or in-person help.  That’s why they want you to know you can still count on them by phone. And, if you have a critical situation, they cannot help you with by phone or online, they may be able to schedule an appointment for you.

If you need help from SSA, please don’t wait until they can see you in person.  Reach out now and get the help you need.

Lastly, SSA also understands that getting medical and other documentation can be difficult due to the pandemic.  So, they are continuing to extend certain deadlines wherever possible.

Announcement: From the Hill

A federal judge ruled that New York City has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by not installing accessible pedestrian signals for the blind.

The lawsuit, brought by the American Council of the Blind in 2018, sued on behalf of plaintiffs Michael Golfo and Christina Curry, claiming that of the city’s 13,000 pedestrian traffic signals, just over 2 percent convey information in a way that is accessible to blind pedestrians.

Approximately 205,000 blind or otherwise visually-impaired people live in the city.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/521900-court-rules-97-percent-of-new-york-city-traffic-signals-violate

Announcement: From Amazon

To learn about Amazon accessibility research opportunities, please send email to

a11y-participate@amazon.com

Article: Posthumous wisdom

By: Charlie Crawford

Author’s intention for writing this article, in his own words: “I thought I would write an article intended to spur some thinking within GDUI and the schools, since I think the subject is becoming more important.”

Some thoughts to give us PAWS, August 8, 2020

By: Charles H. Crawford.

Most of us are very familiar with the anxiety we all face when our dogs start advancing in years.  Did you ever wonder what the dogs think as they observe us slowing down and just becoming a bit less demanding of their work? 

Even more important, what are the schools thinking as more and more graduates still want to be partnered with dogs, but just don’t have all the physical resources they used to have. These questions are becoming more relevant and they will increasingly be on the minds of trainers, handlers, and those who have supported guide dogs for many years.

So, if the above is true, then isn’t it time that GDUI start meaningful conversations about it as well?  I know of at least 2 cases where this topic is highly relevant and it will need addressing in the not too distant future! Let’s take our own Juno walk and see just what may be in store.

This current Juno walk is very different from our first one, where we learned the great potential this new method of mobility had for us. We now have to examine what potential we bring to the partnership, both positive and a bit less positive, and how those less optimal treats we bring will impact the dog in doing its job? Will we readily to recognize what the dog is telling us, and more importantly, will we be nimble enough to respond appropriately? If our pace/gate change, will our current dogs adjust to our decreased speed, or will we require a new and slower dog? With all the changes in our environment, are we still equipped to meet any new challenges? Even more problematically, how will we and our dogs adapt to the emergence of secondary disabilities which present new limitations with which we must cope?

I received my first guide dog from the Seeing Eye in the early 1970’s and so it has been quite a long time and 9 dogs since then. As much as I don’t like to think about it, I am not the man I used to be and while I have been able to work my dogs since the first, I am currently assessing my capacity to work with a dog who has the same expectation that my previous dogs had.

As the Chair of our GDUI Advocacy and Legislative Affairs Committee, I am seeing situations in which the old answers may not so readily apply. Using the old model of, “a good physically and mentally fit” human should be fine as half of a handler/guide partnership, but how does that adjust to new circumstances? A few schools have tried developing training programs for multi-disabled with varying degrees of success, however I must wonder how much attention has been paid to them? Answering the many questions that this topic raises is necessary, but who should do it and using what measures to determine viability and success? As a consumer organization, GDUI is an implicit partner in the success of guide dogs, and it just may now be the time for GDUI to work with our membership and the guide dog training programs to begin answering the questions that are increasingly more relevant.

Article: If It Weren’t for My Guide Dog, I May Have Given Up on Running

Article Link: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/deaf-blind-running-guide-dog

Maricar Marquez never goes for a run without her dog Cliff. Not because he whines if she leaves the house without him, but because Marquez is deaf and blind, and Cliff is her guide dog. 

Marquez has a condition known as Usher syndrome. As a result, she was born deaf and with a progressive visual condition called retinitis pigmentosa. “It started off as night blindness. Eventually I started having tunnel vision, which means that my peripheral vision was diminishing. I used to be a visual signer but as I started losing my peripheral vision, I started relying on tactile sign language,” says Marquez, who is a supervisor of the independent living department at the Helen Keller National Center.

Not all guide dogs are trained to guide while running. In fact, Marquez and Cliff were connected through New York-based non-profit Guiding Eyes for the Blind, the only guide dog school with a Running Guides program. The ability to run with a guide dog, rather than relying on a human guide, has made a huge impact on Marquez’s ability to exercise — and, in her words, to feel free.

We asked Marquez about her relationship with Cliff and her love of running.

Refinery29: Did you always love running?

Maricar Marquez: “Not always. I have always been very active, though. I was on the volleyball team, but I have to admit I was a lousy player. I started experiencing peripheral vision loss and night blindness during high school, and it’s hard to find the ball when you have restricted visual fields.

“Back then, though, I wasn’t as active as I am today. I didn’t start running until I went to Gallaudet [University, a private university for the deaf and hard of hearing]. That’s where I developed my love for running and sports in general. Now I run, but I’m also an avid bike rider. I use a tandem bike… obviously I can’t ride on my own.

“I consider myself an all-around athlete. I enjoy trying new things like caving, swimming, rock climbing — I’m usually up for anything. I even tried sky diving.”

Had you ever run with a dog before Cliff?

“No. Guiding Eyes for the Blind is the only program in the country that has this type of running guide program.  And while I have been involved in many races — including the New York City Marathon and the Oyster Bay Triathlon — before Cliff, I ran with a human guide.

“As I lost more and more of my vision, I had started to lose my motivation for running. I missed being active, so when I heard about this running program, I got excited. But the thought of running with a dog also made me nervous. I worried that he would just take off and I would be left in the dust.

“To make sure this didn’t happen I decided to get back to the gym and start working out again.  I wanted to make sure I was able to keep up with him, so I started running on the treadmill at my workplace’s gym to improve my endurance and speed.”

What was the training like with Cliff?

“The first thing you need to do is develop a relationship with your dog.  I remember meeting Cliff and falling in love right away. He is such a sweet, good-natured dog. We bonded immediately so there was no issue there. The bonding came very easily. Then we were able to start training. 

“The running portion of our training also worked out perfectly from the start. Cliff followed my pace, and it was a very comfortable fit. I was excited and of course a little nervous too. I had waited two and a half years for Cliff. But he was well worth the wait.”

What’s it like running with Cliff compared to running with another person?

“When I’m running with Cliff, I feel more independent. I guess the word I would use is “free”.  I’m not depending on another person. I depend on people for so much — it’s nice to be on my own.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still depend on people to provide me with visual information and facilitate communication with others when I’m in a race or a run. I’m thankful to all the people in my life for that. Cliff isn’t able to sign to me.

“But holding onto a human guide can be tricky when running. I have problems with my balance and using a human guide throws my balance off even more. Cliff has a special running harness. It’s very comfortable. I give the directions but Cliff guides me around any obstacles in our way. For example, I’ve been running on a boardwalk recently and he guides me around the people, benches, and any construction sites.”

What’s the biggest impact that Cliff has made on your life?

“I guess running would be the biggest impact. If I had gotten another dog who didn’t have this specialized training, I may not have gotten back into running and all the other activities that I love to do. He has given me the motivation to run, and to do other activities as well, because now I’m feeling good, I feel strong and in shape. We graduated in December 2018 from the GB and since then I’ve joined two races, a 5k, and a triathlon.

“I’ve completed many triathlons in the past, but it had been a few years since I had competed. I kept talking about it but never followed through. Then when I got Cliff I told myself I have no more excuses. It’s time to get back out there. So, I started training. If I didn’t have Cliff I don’t know if I would have had the motivation to get back to my active life. I’m thankful to him for that.”

Article: These Incredible Dogs Are Being Trained to Sniff Out COVID-19

(from: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dogs-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19_uk_5f310e04c5b6e96a22b4f407?ncid=newsltushpmgnews&guccounter=1)

How do you teach a dog to sniff out disease? We asked the charity responsible for training eight adorable pooches to talk us through it.

Natasha Hinde

Storm, Star, Jasper, Digby, Norman, Asher, Kyp and Bramble.

They might sound like characters in an X-Men film – but they’re far more important than that. These names belong to eight dogs being trained to detect Covid-19 by sniffing it out.

The vision is that one day in the future, they (and a team of fellow canines) could be deployed in public places, such as airports and sports stadiums, to identify people who have the virus – including those who don’t show symptoms.

Historically, dogs trained at the Medical Detection Dogs HQ in Milton Keynes have detected a range of diseases including cancer and Parkinson’s. They can do this because of their heightened sense of smell – it’s thought 30% of the dog’s brain is dedicated to analyzing odour and the percentage of a dog’s brain devoted to analysing odours is 40 times larger than that of a human.

The Covid-19 detection dogs have been doing initial training to get used to the handlers, the training room and the system. Meanwhile, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine are getting ready to collect samples of Covid-19 from NHS hospitals to be distributed to the centre.

Medical Detection Dogs

Asher the spaniel sniffs a sample in the training centre.

By the time the Covid-19 samples arrive on site, the dogs should be ready to detect the virus’ specific smell. They’ll do this by sniffing different samples in the charity’s training room, then indicating when they’ve found a positive Covid-19 sample by sitting down in front of it. There’ll be some tail-wagging, too.

The training method used is reward-based: dogs are given a treat or get to play a game of fetch when they make an accurate assessment, so they feel encouraged to detect it again and again.

The dogs recruited so far are a mixture of spaniels and Labradors – and there’s a reason for this. “All dogs and breeds have the capability to detect cancer, other diseases and crisis situations in humans,” the charity’s CEO and co-founder, Claire Guest, tells HuffPost UK.

“However, because our dogs screen samples on a carousel, we select breeds with a high hunt drive – the kind of dogs that chase a tennis ball 100 times and don’t get bored or tired. Our dogs are chosen according to their ability. It is important they have good noses and love searching and hunting for toys.”

Once the dogs have identified Covid-19 in samples, they’ll begin work on detecting the odour on actual human beings.

Neil Pollock

Star is one of the detection dogs being trained to sniff out Covid.

It can take six to eight months for a dog to reach a “good” level of performance as a bio-detection dog, says Guest. The eight dogs have already gone through this training.

“The length of time to train a bio-detection dog varies depending on a number of things, such as the odour they are being trained to detect, the sample type they are using, and the dog itself – all dogs learn at different speeds, the same as humans,” she adds.

Once the samples arrive, it’ll take six to eight weeks for them to learn the Covid-19 scent ready to go through to trials, so the centre should have a good understanding of whether the dogs can detect the smell of Covid-19 and to what level of accuracy by then.

The ultimate aim is that the team of detection dogs will be able to screen, without touching, any individual – including those who are asymptomatic – to see if they have the virus. They would then indicate to dog handlers if the person has Covid-19, and the person would need to take a test to confirm they have it. Amazingly, a single dog can screen up to 250 people per hour.

“Rapid screening of high numbers of people, even if asymptomatic, will help return our lives back to some sort of normality.”

HuffPost UK

Jasper

If they’re able to sniff out the virus, it would be a fast, effective and non-invasive testing method, and would make sure actual testing resources are only used where they’re really needed.

Trained dogs could also help assess the prevalence of disease among travellers from specific locations including current ‘hotspots’, says Professor James Logan, head of the department of disease control at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

“For example, using detector dogs at airports could help establish that 50% of passengers on a plane from destination A have the virus, whereas only 5% of passengers from destination B do,” he says. “This would provide rapid information of risk and likelihood of rapid spread.”

There are high hopes that the detector dogs could be deployed in under six months.

Prof Logan says that if successful, the trial could “revolutionise” how the virus is diagnosed: “Rapid screening of high numbers of people, even if asymptomatic, will help return our lives back to some sort of normality.”

Sincerely,

Sarah Calhoun, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Paws for GDUI News You Can Use

Penny Reeder, Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President

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A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Sarah Calhoun

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President: Penny Reeder

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

From the President:

Hello GDUI members and friends!

Here we go again, beginning a new chapter to our incredible GDUI organization! I would like to thank everyone for electing me president for the next two years. I am truly humbled and honored to serve in this position within the guide dog community. My door is always open to members and friends with any questions, concerns and suggestions.  It takes a kennel to raise a guide dog organization!

A huge thank you to GDUI’s immediate past president, Penny Reeder. For the past six years, she has guided GDUI to new and improved heights to the respectful organization it was intended for and is today. Thank you Penny for your true leadership and passion you have shown to members, friends and GDUI.   

When GDUI found itself in the up and down curves of life, Penny tactfully kept GDUI on the higher side of the curves enabling us to grow with a surge of energy and positivity.  Thank you Penny for your guidance, time, hard work, friendship, leadership and much more so the valuable footprints and paw prints of our GDUI family and friends continue to move forward.

GDUI has several committees that are in need of members. If you are interested in joining a committee, you can find a list of them on our website, www.guidedogusersinc.org, or call the office at 1-866-799-8436. Any member in good standings are welcome to join!

The next GDUI board meeting is scheduled for Saturday, August 1, 2020 beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Don’t forget awards will be given at this meeting! I have listed the particulars here, however, a ZOOM invitation will also be sent out with the call in information. All members are welcome!

Guide Dog Users, Inc. is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: GDUI Board Meeting

Time: Aug 1, 2020 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/562675137?pwd=c1RabmVJWTU4NVZsQVQyUDZwM0tOZz09

Meeting ID: 562 675 137

Passcode: 845877

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Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kjgqr0DUt

From our house to your house, Lakota and I wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe summer!

With much gratitude and sincerity,

Sarah Calhoun

GDUI President

Annual Convention reflections: Convention went virtual

This year’s GDUI convention was certainly different. Physically going to the Convention was absolutely not happening. Like so much that has been changed by COVID-19 the manner of Convention was very altered in 2020. I felt this on two levels- as the Convention coordinator/Program Planning Team lead, and also as an attendee From the planning/moderating sessions  side of things it was, surprisingly, easier once I got over being intimidated by the new format.  As an attendee it was much better than I anticipated.

I will admit to being extremely skeptical about the success of a national convention being presented and attended via Zoom. I resisted getting excited, like I have in the past, as Convention season approached. I honestly believe I wouldn’t have gotten involved if I had not had a leadership role.

Imagine my surprise… Convention was awesome! Was it vastly different? Yes! Was it informative, interesting, and exciting? Yes! Sessions were totally accessible via computer, smart phone, even the old-fashioned telephone. Attendees were able to ask questions and interact with presenters. There was an exhibit hall filled with fun, functional, innovative, and cutting-edge products. Social events, movies, tours, and even the auction all happened!

As someone who works for a tech company, I should not have been a doubter, however, I was so convinced it would not work. Did I miss the in-person interactions? Yes! Did I miss the smells, sounds and textures of a non-virtual Convention? Yes! Did holding the Convention virtually allow more people to attend? Yes! Did holding a virtual Convention cause planners, exhibitors, speakers and attendees to think outside the box and get creative? Yes!

I am going to take this opportunity to publicly extend gratitude. To Hava for donating another beautiful plush dog wearing one of her exquisite, hand-crafted, leather harness. Zoom, this year’s raffle prize, was quite a hot commodity!

I have heaps and piles of gratitude  to extend! To my fabulous Program Planning Team- you ladies do most of the work and make me look good! the GDUI 2020 presenters- All the representatives from the guide dog schools, Lukas Franck, Steve Famiglietti,  Adam Kosakowski, and Katie Mehrtens. To The Audio Description Project and ACB Students for cosponsoring sessions with us. To Maria Kristic the epically awesome moderator AKA moderayTrix! to the amazing behind the scenes team that made it all happen with seeming ease. They are real wizards of virtual communication!

The lesson of this year’s Convention is that we are resilient! That when facing the challenges created by COVID-19 instead of giving up, we took up the challenge and hit a home run!

Message from the winner of Zoom:

Greetings, Andrea and all!

Thanks so much!  I cannot wait to get Zoom out of her travel crate and introduce her to my guide dog, Prince, from GEB.  I think he will be quite impressed with how long she can remain in “sit/stay!”  I have the perfect spot for her to do this. 

I actually heard my name announced.  When the Zoom moderator or whoever interrupted the raffle announcement to give out the continuing ed code, it gave me time to ponder if I really wanted to win Zoom  In those few moments.  I considered how Zoom would be a physical remembrance for me as to how different 2020 has been for all of us.  Also her name would remind me of all of the conference calls in which I have participated to fight back social distancing to only being physical distancing.  I was quite stunned and excited because of this pondering when I heard my name announced as the winner.  Ironically this was the first time I bought raffle tickets for your drawing, so I am feeling quite lucky indeed. 

I will let you know when Zoom arrives safely to her forever home.  It will be a bit different from Connecticut.  Although maybe her “whelping kennel” is in a different state.  We are in the mountains, so it is cooler than other parts of North Carolina.  Asheville is well known for its music, the Biltmore Estate, hiking trails, arts, and friendly people. 

Take care,

Judy and Prince

Announcement: Achilles International and TD Bank are partnering to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by launching our 1st Annual Virtual Hope & Possibility 5K/10 Miler from July 18th – July 26th.

Since its founding in 1983, Achilles has empowered over 150,000 athletes with disabilities to participate in endurance events around the globe. Achilles has always been committed to elevating understanding and dismantling stereotypes and prejudices. We celebrate and honor those who have overcome enormous challenges and will continue our work to move towards a more inclusive tomorrow.    

Register by visiting:  https://events.elitefeats.com/achilles20

Here is a link explaining what exactly is a Virtual Race and how to participate.

https://www.thevirtualrunseries.com/postinstruction.html

From the editor: This essay is extremely interesting. It touches on many aspects of COVID-19 that aren’t on the radar of sighted folks, and even put into words feelings I, a blind person,  had not been able to articulate.

It is a bit long but I encourage you to read it, and share with ridiculous abandon. As restrictions lift, we will be out and about more and having understanding of the unique challenges the blind community in general and guide handlers in specific face is more important than ever. Yes, if you are wondering, the author is not only a man I respect deeply, he is also my brother!

Article: COVID-19 and blindness: Why the new touchless, physically-distant world sucks for people with visual impairment

Nicholas A. Giudice, Ph.D.

As a congenitally blind person, it has become obvious to me that my reliance on touch as a primary mode of experiencing the world puts me at odds with current best practices for avoiding the coronavirus. The principle guidance for safeguarding against COVID-19 is to (1) curtail physical contact with those around us (or the things they touch), (2) limit touching of our body (especially of the face), and (3) maintain a minimum proximity bubble during social interactions (ideally of 6-feet or more). In this essay, I discuss how an unanticipated consequence of following this tri-part guidance for staying ‘safe’ is the effective demonization of touch, which has led to many unforeseen challenges for more than 12 million people in the U.S. (and over 285 million people worldwide) who are blind or visually impaired (BVI).

When you cannot see the world, touch picks up the slack for vision by taking on a dominant role in how it is explored, understood, and interacted with. For BVI people, perception inherently involves touch, either with the hands or the long cane. This physical contact provides critical knowledge about all matters of things: monitoring if one’s hair is a mess, identifying what is in the immediate vicinity, orienting to people or objects in the surrounding environment, etc.

Indeed, touch and vision communicate much of the same information about the world. Feeling or seeing the curve of my coffee mug, the 90-degree edge of my desk, the relation of my computer to my phone, and many other spatial attributes can all be perceived similarly from both sensory inputs. This sensory equivalence helps explain why touch fills many of the same ‘shoes’ as vision for blind folks, albeit at a much closer distance. Thus, in many ways, asking a blind person to curtail touching is analogous to asking a sighted person to go about their day wearing a blindfold.

In the remainder of this essay, I will discuss my perspective on the relation of touch to each of the three pillars of COVID-19 protection. 

1. Touch and Physical Contact:

The guidance to limit physical contact with any public-facing surfaces and to not touch those around us is incredibly difficult for BVI people. Part of the challenge is logistical, when your hands take on much of the work of your eyes for apprehending the world, it is simply not possible to not touch doorknobs, railings, tables, and the like. This is concerning, as it is precisely these common-use surfaces that are most likely to be vectors of COVID-19.

The best advice for anybody exposed to such things is to immediately wash their hands, for at least 20 seconds each time. Unfortunately, I have found that an unexpected outcome of this frequent hand washing regimen is that the prolonged exposure to water desensitizes my fingers, resulting in me becoming functionally illiterate after the process. Reading braille inherently involves high resolution touch and the endeavor is rendered useless when done with prune-like fingers.

My friends keep telling me to wear gloves when I go out in order to reduce the need for hand-washing. This represents a reasonable suggestion for most people but turns out that donning gloves is a poor solution for BVI individuals, as any barrier between the skin receptors and the surface, even if thin, desensitizes the fingers and greatly masks what is being felt. The result is roughly analogous to a sighted person wearing blurred glasses as they go about their daily activities.

For BVI people, physical contact plays many roles. Sometimes, it is purely functional. For instance, many BVI individuals hold on to the elbow or shoulder of a ‘sighted guide’ during navigation. Whether it be because they have left their dog at home for an evening out at a concert, are not using their cane on a romantic walk with a partner, or that they simply prefer this mode of guidance, the process inherently involves physical contact.

In the BVI community, touch also represents an important component of building rapport and developing interpersonal connections. Similar to how a sighted person may feel they are not fully engaged or clearly communicating if they don’t make eye contact when talking, BVI people often derive the same sense of connection by touching the arm or shoulder when communicating.

This contact conveys emotional engagement, but it also provides the BVI communicator with a sense of physical presence and immersion that is important for directing attention and staying focused. The fact that so much communication is happening remotely nowadays has definitely limited my ability to fully engage. I hear the relief of my sighted peers when their video kicks in and they can see the other video-equipped participants in a Zoom meeting, but I have no way to experience a similar remote replacement for physical contact.  

The fear and distrust of touch has crept into even the most mundane of my daily activities. In the past, a friend or colleague might touch my arm to get my attention, guide my hand to check out some interesting thing we are walking past, touch my shoulder to direct me to move one way or another, or even draw the shape of something on my arm as part of an explanation. These subtle forms of physical contact, often done unconsciously, are important to BVI individuals for supporting efficient communication of information and navigation of their world. The loss of these small but significant forms of contact because of pandemic-related concerns often leaves me feeling adrift, unfocused, and less connected to those around me.

We all use touch as a mode of interpersonal communication and emotional expression (handshakes, fist bumps, hugs, etc.). This physical contact during social interactions has other benefits for blind people that may not be immediately obvious to their sighted peers.

For instance, shaking a person’s hand confers information about exactly where they are in relation to me, which is extremely helpful for self-orientation. This is important for promoting natural social interactions (realizing I am looking in the wrong direction when talking to somebody because I didn’t know that they had moved is incredibly awkward).

A hand shake also provides important knowledge about the other person that is readily perceived through sight. For instance, hand size and structure tells me something about general body type and weight, the elevation of the hand, in conjunction with voice, provides me with information about height, the texture of the skin, feel of the finger nails, and presence/nature of rings imparts information about style and self-grooming practices, intensity of the grip provides information about physical strength and confidence, etc.

When you cannot see the person you are interacting with, a battery of other sensory cues substitute for vision in building up an image of them. These subtle handshake cues are just one example of how nonvisual information (often through touch) conveys relevant information about the physical characteristics of a person that is both informative and interesting. I find that the new touchless modes of meeting and social interaction have left me more ‘blind’ to the world than vision loss, which I have learned to compensate for.

There are some less obvious aspects of touchless communication for BVI people that are worth considering. Of note, the pandemic-induced increase of handshake-free greeting by waving and nodding, touchless hugs, and air pats on the back are largely meaningless when done without vision. Not only is it hard for me to tell if I am gesturing in the right place, I cannot appreciate or benefit from these gestural interactions by others toward me (I have never understood why people still flip me the bird).

The move toward other types of non-hand contact can even be dangerous. In a recent elbow bump accident, I missed my friend’s elbow and caught her on the chin (she is significantly shorter than me). This has led me to curtail all elbow and fist bumping activities. I cut out high fiving years ago due to a similar experience where a particularly exuberant hand-slap went amiss, and I almost broke a buddy’s nose.

Often, physical contact occurs unintentionally, such as accidentally bumping into somebody when navigating a busy area or inadvertently touching the barista’s hand when reaching for the change. These commonplace instances of accidental touch are normally trivial, resulting in an “excuse me” and then moving on.

However, when the same inadvertent contact has occurred over the past couple months, people respond with fear and panic. Although I cognitively know that this response is about a fear of the coronavirus and not about me or the accidental contact, the result is that I feel shamed by my affiliation with touch and my need to rely on this modality.

2. Face Touching:

The guidance to limit body contact, and to especially not touch one’s face, represents a specific example of the above point posing particular challenges for BVI people that many sighted folks may not have considered. In many ways, a blind person uses exploration with their hands for self-monitoring much like a sighted person might use a mirror.

My hand(s) are the surrogate mirror each morning when I want to check whether my beard is trimmed in a straight line, or if I have bed head, or to ensure that I don’t have a smidge of toothpaste on my lip, or something gross crusted in the corner of my eye, or some nastiness around my nose from my allergy drip, and a myriad of other self-care activities that we all do but rarely talk about. This basic self-monitoring, whether performed using touch with the hand or using vision with the mirror, is important for daily grooming and for maintaining one’s hygiene. In the COVID-19 reality, these normal, unassuming activities of daily life, when performed using touch, now represent heightened risks.

Can touching of one’s face expose you to the coronavirus, absolutely. But…should I stop engaging in self-monitoring and information-gathering tasks by means of touching my face, mouth, eyes, and nose, absolutely not. Regardless of one’s visual status, everybody will have the occasion of doing such things and blindly reducing our hands, and our use of touch, as little more than conveyance agents of the coronavirus is neither helpful nor scientifically accurate.

If we are to act (and react) realistically, face touching will inevitably happen in the course of daily life. This is okay, it represents a normal activity that does not inherently increase the risk of COVID-19 infection when done prudently. The point is that rather than fearing a normal action and the sensory mode that supports that action, we should focus on the virus itself and how we can be best protected. With respect to face touching, this can be easily done by limiting contact to instances of information gathering rather than habit and being vigilant about washing our hands (even if they become shriveled and prune-like).

3. Social Distancing:

Beyond direct physical contact, the key safeguard for avoiding COVID-19 infection is to maintain good social distancing behavior. Following these guidelines, which involve keeping a 6-foot radius between yourself and anybody around you, is trivial when performed using sight but if you try doing so with eyes closed, you will quickly find it is extremely difficult.

I generally only become aware of another person in my vicinity when I hear them talk, when I touch them with my hand, or perhaps if close enough, when I smell their presence (yes, most people have a distinct “smell” which is agnostic to being bad or good but that most people immediately assume is bad). The breadth and depth of what can be perceived from these nonvisual modalities is much less than vision and as a consequence, the experience of the perceived world for BVI folks occurs at closer range than for their sighted peers.

Touch occurs within arm’s length, which can be extended out a yard or more if using a cane but still violates the magic 6-foot corona bubble. Hearing can occur at much greater distances but in reality, recognizing someone’s voice and talking to them at normal conversational levels also occurs within a 6-foot radius. Importantly, if anybody in the surrounding environment is silent, they essentially do not exist to a BVI person.

The challenge of maintaining appropriate social distancing behavior without vision is two-fold: (1) difficulty in gauging the distance of nearby people (assuming they are detected at all) and (2) challenges in maintaining this distance during movement.

I find myself frequently violating the 6-foot corona bubble as I have no easy means to monitor its boundary, which is elastic and constantly changes in real-time with my movement and the movement of those around me. While I can imagine technological solutions for addressing this social distancing problem, the standard tools of long canes and guide dogs are not up to the task as canes are too short and guide dog training is not consistent with following social distancing procedures.

For instance, my dog guide, Bernie, was trained in New York and as was normal until the pandemic, was taught to operate in crowded situations by maximizing use of any available space. This includes going through any gap big enough for him and me to fit through, meaning that we often get very close to people as we navigate. Although I am trying to re-train him to ‘appreciate’ accepted social distancing behavior, maintaining lots of empty space around us makes little sense to Bernie and he is loath to do so.

This is increasingly problematic. As I approached an intersection on a recent walk, I heard this obviously freaked out person start yelling at me to “watch out” and “to not get any closer or I’ll kick your ass”. Besides the logical incongruity of inviting a blind guy to watch out for who is around them, their threat to physically attack me would seem to be a blatant violation of the ‘no contact’ rule of social distancing that they so vehemently want to uphold.

I understand that this incident, like so much associated with COVID-19 responses, is based on fear rather than logic but…it doesn’t make dealing with the problem any easier. However, I have found that people exhibit less concern if bubble violations occur when I am verbally instructing the dog.

So, if I am aware of people around me when walking I tell Bernie to “stay left/right” as I pass. This doesn’t generally result in any actual change in his behavior or creation of additional distance, but it seems to put people at ease. It can backfire though, as sometimes people dart one way or another to pre-emptively create space and Bernie interprets this odd, fast moving behavior as encouraging of play, which sometimes induces him to veer toward the person, causing additional angst (and renewed hurling of invective).

With respect to touch, two things strike me when thinking back over the past three months of living in the COVID-19 world. First, although I knew that I relied heavily on touch, I didn’t realize its true magnitude in supporting my own self-monitoring behaviors, its role in how I interact with others and engage with the surrounding environment, and its impact on my emotional and social wellbeing until these interactions became associated with negative consequences.

Second, while I appreciate the value of the safety guidance being advocated, and understand people’s concerns around physical contact, I cannot comprehend why people are not more troubled about the growing fear and distrust of one of our primary sensory channels—that of touch. If the sensory tables were turned and the primary safety precaution from the CDC involved significant limitations on use of visual perception; for instance, use of blindfolds in public, the result would be very different.

Rather than apathy, as is the case with touch, there would be an outcry about the ‘cure being worse than the problem’. The majority of people would inevitably ignore this guidance, preferring to risk infection over safety.

The reality is that most people have a deep-seated, visceral fear of losing their vision but as is obvious from the gee-wiz response to COVID-19, they possess little concern about giving up their access to the richness of touch. As a blind guy, I do not share this fear of vision loss, but I’m petrified about losing any of my other senses. The realization that touch, the closest sense to vision and a primary means of how I perceive the world, is now something to be feared and distrusted, is existentially disturbing to me.

What has been lost in the pandemic panic is that following good safety practices and appreciating touch are not mutually exclusive. This seems obvious to me but at the end of the day, logic has very little to do with people’s responses to the coronavirus.

Unlike the standard flu, there is currently no vaccination and there is a much higher risk of dying. However, what I argue is most threatening, we are under attack via an invisible disease vector that may be on anything we touch or that could emanate from anybody around us. The issue is of classic transference. We cannot see the COVID-19 coronavirus, but we can certainly see people who may have it. We have been told (and have internalized) that our greatest risk of contracting the virus is through close proximity or physical contact with these people, so our fear is erroneously transferred from being afraid of COVID-19 to being afraid of touch.

This transference is dangerous as rather than focusing on virus risk mitigation, people’s attention is misdirected toward castigating a sensory modality as a proxy for disease. The outcome, albeit unintended, is stigmatization of an entire sensory modality and fear of anybody who still dares to use it rather than simply adopting healthy practices around touch.

Touch is not the culprit here. Physical contact should not be villainized; the virus is the problem but unless we figure out a better way to disentangle the two, I worry that touch as we know it will be the first candidate for inclusion on the Endangered Senses list.

Given the transmission characteristics of COVID-19, there is no simple fix for saving touch in the court of public opinion. I do believe there is a solution, but it is more about changing our mindset than our behavior.

Put most simply, we need to stop conflating touch with disease. Doing so is not only inaccurate, it perpetuates an irrational fear of a general method of perceiving the world rather than a healthy concern for avoiding contracting a specific virus.

Touch may be a path of conveyance but as with many other correlated action/response pairings, the result is contingent on many factors, most of which are imminently under our control. We don’t villainize the sun because it can give us skin cancer (we simply put on sunblock) or distrust welding because the bright flashes can damage our eyes (we wear protective glasses), or avoid rock concerts because they can damage our hearing (we don ear plugs), or fear skiing in winter as we might get frostbite (we put on gloves). There is no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater regarding our sense of touch and COVID-19 protection. As with our use of sunblock, protective glasses, ear plugs, and gloves, we can best protect ourselves by understanding the real risks associated with this pandemic and not becoming blinded by perceived proxy threats.

The best approach is to be mindful of minimizing touching of people (especially those we do not know or feel safe around) and to limit contact with public surfaces. When these physical interactions occur, there is no surrogate for prudent use of sanitizer, thorough disinfection of frequently touched areas, and assiduous hand washing (braille reading and literacy be damned).

However, it is important to keep these things in perspective. Simply touching your face to scratch an itch, shaking hands with a colleague, hugging a family member, or coming within six feet of a friend is not synonymous with contracting the coronavirus. If you interact with a BVI person, don’t freak out if there is physical contact, accidental or deliberate, don’t avoid assisting an older person who has tripped and needs a stabilizing arm, or shy away from helping a child up who has fallen. These actions are what makes us human and what supports a civilized society.

Such behaviors should not be conflated with disease or increased health risks. Touch is not bad, being physically close to others is not bad. Experiencing these things and being safe are not mutually exclusive and can absolutely exist harmoniously in our COVID-19 culture when we follow appropriate safety procedures. Fear-driven responses and mindless adherence to guidelines is neither healthy for one’s psyche nor for promoting meaningful social interactions.

While I can make this point until the cows come home, the reality is that the best practices for reducing the risk of COVID-19 contamination are contrary to many of the ways that BVI people experience and interact with their world. If you cannot see, you touch, but if you cannot see and you cannot touch, the world quickly becomes impoverished and wanting (the current situation is even more dire for my deaf-blind friends).

This is not to say that specific COVID-19 accommodations should be made for BVI people but since this demographic is not going to stop touching their world, it does raise the specter of their potential alienation living as part of the new touchless normal. I know I am not alone in increasingly feeling like a pariah when in public, keenly aware that my way of experiencing the world is now fundamentally at odds with the majority of those around me.

I usually embrace the notion of being unique, of diversity through difference, and of opposing points of view. But…the growing aversion to touch is very different than if I were to be disliked for having contrary political views than somebody else, or were judged for what I am wearing.

It is unrelated to my conscious decisions; the fears and avoidance I am experiencing are based on my fundamental method of perceiving and interacting with my surroundings, which I cannot change. In some ways, and this is admittedly irrational, the growing societal rejection of touch feels like an aggregate rejection of Me.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if the negative touch response (or its impact on me/others) is an unintended consequence, or due to transference, or over reaction—the COVID-19-induced backlash against touch is real. Troublingly, this response is likely to escalate as the economy starts to open, more people go outside, and social interactions (planned or otherwise) become the norm as people return to living their lives, albeit in a socially distanced, touch-minimized manner. The result for BVI people is that many of the issues discussed here will persist and even increase, meaning that the new touchless normal is going to continue as the awkward abnormal for the BVI community.

I am accustomed to a world that minimizes the role of touch, as it will always be the underappreciated younger sibling to vision, but a touchless future where we no longer shake hands, hug, or express physical affection is not a future I feel excited about. Unfortunately, I worry this trajectory will continue unless we accept the mindset that safe and healthy behavior is possible without catastrophizing physical contact and bastardizing the sense of touch by equating it with disease. Until then, I mourn the loss of the world’s feel around me.

https://medium.com/@nicholas.giudice/covid-19-and-blindness-why-the-new-touchless-physically-distant-world-sucks-for-people-with-2c8dbd21de63?sk=9c81fbc6d5f29d0cc600b4d5b5f06dbe

Sincerely,

Sarah Calhoun, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President: Penny Reeder

Paws for GDUI News You Can Use

Visit our website: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

Our Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/.

Our Facebook group can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GDUINC/.

Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report podcast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com:

http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.

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: chat+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link:

business+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Penny Reeder

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

********************

ALERT: Correction!

In our recent issue of Paws for GDUI News You Can Use, Vol. I, No. 7, there is an unfortunate error, which is causing our good friend, Keri Bishop, way more anxiety and hassles than anyone would deserve, and we apologize, sincerely, for our error, which resulted from my misconstruing Keri’s original e-mail message in which she described her new product line.

Keri is not distributing free samples of either her wonderful nylon leashes which are patterned after the leather leashes many guide dog training programs distribute to grads, or her harness signs or pouches. She is donating a portion of the proceeds from sales of these products, and we are very grateful for her generosity.

Please support Keri’s excellent products – they are already very reasonably priced and the craftspersonship and design sensibilities are top notch! She is so generous to donate a portion of sales proceeds to GDUI. You will be so happy with her new leashes, signs and harness pouches.

We sincerely apologize to Keri for our mistake and encourage all of our readers to check out her new product line.

Here is the original advertisement, minus our unfortunate error:

New Products from Keri Bishop!

We are so grateful to Keri, who always donates a sizable portion of the proceeds she earns from her wonderful crafty products to GDUI! Please check out her latest creations, and follow up with her on her web site, then show off your latest Keri-original creations when you and your dog are out and about, encourage your friends to purchase as well, and Keri and GDUI will be the beneficiaries! Thank you, Keri!

I have 2 new items in my craft shop this year, guide dog leashes and

Harness signs. The leashes are duel length like the ones from seeing eye but

made from nylon instead of leather. They are the same length I used Rory’s leather leash as a guide for my pattern. I know some dogs love chewing

leather so I thought it would be good to have a second option out there!

The harness signs have machine embroidery and are made from denim. Embroidery on the signs

Shows a dog inside a Circle round, with a diagonal line indicating no! or “Do NOT pet!” I am working 2 designs, one is just the sign with Velcro straps that wrap around the harness. The 2nd Is identical but has a zipper in the back making the sign into a storage pouch.

To get to my shop go to Etsy.com and click Search for shops type in Kraftykerbear this will take you to my store.    

Thank you,

Penny

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

********************

From Your Editors:

Hello again, and already? Yes, we’re back. There’s already so much news in the month of June, we decided to publish a second issue for the month. We hope you enjoy our magazine, and we’re hoping that reading this publication is at  least a little helpful for getting you through this endless sheltering in place situation that so many of us are in, or that we can take your minds off all of the worries you may be experiencing about localities and business establishments that are beginning to open up again.

Don’t miss our invitation to a virtual happy hour to celebrate GDUI’s recent elections and to thank all of those leaders who have worked so hard with us for the past six years, restoring what’s best about GDUI, and accomplishing some milestones along the way. Current officers and board members will continue serving until the GDUI convention ends, and after convention, we’ll have to say a sad farewell to retiring board members and our amazing treasurer, and welcome Sarah and Maria Kristic to their new official roles, and Bob and Margie to the GDUI board.

We are getting excited about our virtual conventions (ACB’s and GDUI’s)! There are a few convention updates here, some new products worth checking into; there’s news about Leader Dogs and Pilot’s training programs, and an assortment of blindness-related news to advise, entertain, and distract you!

Let’s get started.

Official Announcement: The GDUI 2020 Elections Results

GDUI thanks our membership for participating in the 2020 GDUI Elections.

Over 44 percent of our membership voted in this election.

Congratulations to our candidates.

Our two proposed Bylaws amendments required a 2/3 or 66.6 percent approval of the voters in order to pass.  Both of the amendments have been adopted with over 94 percent approval

The election results are as follows:

Guide Dog Users, Inc. 2020 Election

Open from 12:01 AM, May 30, 2020 to 11:59 PM, June 7, 2020

Total voters for ballot: 176 (44.2% of 398 total codes); as of 1:00:54 PM on Monday, June 8, 2020; (U.S. Eastern).

Vote mode distribution: 112 e-vote, 0 paper ballots, 64 telephone.

President ( 175 total voters this ballot; vote for 1):
Sarah Calhoun, from Missouri
Votes 174 
99.4% 
1 Abstain 0.6%

First Vice President ( 176 total voters this ballot; vote for 1):
Maria Hansen (incumbent), from New York 
Votes 166
94.3%            
10 Abstain 5.7%

Second Vice President ( 174 total voters this ballot; vote for 1):
Deb Cook Lewis (incumbent), from Washington
Votes 166    
95.4%
8 Abstain 4.6%

Treasurer ( 174 total voters this ballot; vote for 1):
Maria Kristic, from New York
Votes 173 
99.4%  
1 Abstain 0.6%

First Director ( 175 total voters this ballot; vote for 1):
Robert Acosta, from California 
Votes 158
90.3%    
17 Abstain 9.7%

Second Director ( 174 total voters this ballot; vote for 1):
Margie Donovan, from California
Votes 152    
87.4%        
22 Abstain 12.6%        

AMENDMENT 1 of 2: Grounds for Removal of an Officer/Director ( 174 total voters this ballot; vote for 1):
164 Yes 94.3%        
6 Abstain 3.4%
4 No 2.3%

AMENDMENT 2 of 2: Term of Service for all Officers, Directors and Appointees ( 174 total voters this ballot; vote for 1):
166 Yes 95.4%        
5 No 2.9%
3 Abstain 1.7%

Electronic voting by Vote-Now.com –  

Respectfully submitted,

Dixie Sanderson

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Board Of Directors

Nominations Committee Chair

Now we know the results: Let’s Celebrate! You are all invited to join GDUI on Tuesday, June 16, for our Wine and Wags Happy Hour!

GDUI Wine and Wags Happy Hour

When: Jun 16, 2020 05:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Listen via ACB Radio community events

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83701809445

iPhone one-tap : +19292056099,,83701809445#

Telephone: 929 205 6099

Webinar ID: 837 0180 9445

We are so pleased to invite all of our members and friends to our Wine and Wags Happy Hour! Grab a favorite beverage and snacks for yourself and your guide dog and join our next community call to celebrate GDUI’s successful election, welcome our new president, Sarah Calhoun, and our new treasurer, Maria Kristic, our two new GDUI board members, Bob Acosta and Margie Donovan, and to thank all of our retiring and returning officers and board members for their wonderful service to our organization and our community.

We are looking forward to sharing stories and happily mingling with all of you as we look back on these last six years of hard work and camaraderie and forward toward new milestones and shared empathy and advocacy.

Good News from Leader Dogs concerning Re-Opening

I am very excited to inform you that under the most recent executive order signed by Governor Whitmer, Leader Dogs for the Blind is cleared to resume full operations! We have confirmed with legal counsel that our services are included in the latest wave of businesses permitted to resume operations.

We have developed a Return to Work plan that provides for our operations on campus to resume in phases. The phases of this plan were developed to ensure a safe return for the team, clients and volunteers. Please know that the health and well-being of every foot (and paw!) on campus remains our top priority. All clients, team members and volunteers will be required to complete a virtual training prior to coming to campus.

For those of you who have been accepted into training and are awaiting class placement, we will reach out to you in the coming weeks with more detailed information on what training will look like and what safety measures will be in place.

Some of you may be wondering about the status of field visits and deliveries. Please know that we are continuing to review/operate by CDC guidelines and the extension of the Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order in Michigan as it relates to travel and field visits. We will have more information for you soon, but for now, all field visits and deliveries remain suspended at this time.

We continue to accept applications and reapplications for all of our programs!

Thank you for your ongoing support and words of encouragement, especially over the past two and a half months.

We all look forward to the day we welcome clients back to campus for training!

Wishing you well,

David Locklin

Director of Programs

And, just today, by way of one of our GDUI e-mail discussion lists, we heard the happy news that Pilot held their first class since the pandemic began, two weeks ago. That’s good news for Pilot trainees and grads, as well.

Convention News!

As slowly as time seems to be going in some ways, it’s hard to believe that the GDUI and ACB conventions are mere weeks away. So many ACB members and leaders are working, seemingly at all hours of the day and night, to put our virtual convention events together. Convention will be different, mostly because we won’t be exchanging hugs with all of those people we only get to spend time with once a year at convention. No late nights at the bar. No discovering friends or getting reacquainted with guide dogs at the relief area and the play room. No GDUI auction, and no GDUI Barka Lounge.

Yes, it will be different, but it will also be fun! The presentations and seminars sound amazing! And, this year, we might be able to take more of them in than usual – At least, we won’t be getting lost finding our way to the meeting rooms! I have G&T in my own kitchen and a very nice relieving area in my own back yard. I know how to use ZOOM, and I’ve even grown to like using it! If you haven’t registered yet, we really encourage you to! And, it’s time! Pre-Registration closes at 11:59PM EDT on June 21^st. You can register for the ACB Conference and Convention, as well as the GDUI Convention, here: https://acbconvention.org/?p=13.

For a full description of our GDUI convention events, visit this page: https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-2020-convention-program/.   

If you are a first-time attendee at an ACB convention, or one who hasn’t attended in a long time, and if this were a normal year that involved airline flights and hotel rooms, and getting lost lots of times, … an important convention event for you to attend would be the seminar called Keys to the Convention! That’s where you would learn how to survive convention week, where to go for help, whom to count on for friendship and advice, and how to fit most of the events that captured your interest into your incredibly full schedule.

This year, of course, you need only find your way from room to room in your way-too-familiar home. But, there are still all of those events and seminars to get to, either by ZOOMing in, listening to ACB Radio, or dialing in via landline or smart phone. So, in lieu of hosting the annual Keys to the Convention event, this year, the ACB Membership Committee is sponsoring Four Calls to Provide First-Timers and Others Information on Attending the ACB and GDUI Virtual Conference and Convention.

The first call will be on Thursday, June 18, 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern. This call will Outline what is available at the upcoming ACB virtual conference and convention. Janet Dickelman will be the main speaker on this call. Those listening will still have time to register for the conference and convention, since pre-registration is open until 11:59 PM, ET, on June 21.

On Sunday, June 28 and recurring on Thursday, July 2, 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern, you can attend calls covering the various ways you can attend the convention – virtually! Tyson Ernst will cover listening on the Victor Reader and joining calls via Zoom. Jeff Bishop will explain listening to ACB Radio via the internet, phone, ACBLink, and Echo products.

After the conference and convention, there will be one more call to let first-timers and others know about ACB benefits and the great advocacy ACB accomplishes. This call will be on Thursday, July 16 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern

Join the calls:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82724760720?pwd=b1VzQjdFc1gvSG5sUUg4WHlXUHVsQT09

One tap mobile: +13126266799,,82724760720#,,636237#

Phone: 312-626-6799

Meeting ID: 827 2476 0720

Meeting Password: 636237

There won’t be any business conducted during General Sessions at the 2020 Conference and Convention, (or at least, no business that would require motions passing or failing or voting up or down), but there will be a resolutions process. Here, from the co-chairs of the 2020 ACB Resolutions Committee, is a description of how ACB members will direct the work and priorities of the ACB board and staff for the coming year.

For 2020, the Resolutions Committee will receive resolutions for consideration through the end of the 2020 ACB Virtual Conference and Convention, Friday, July 10, 11:59 pm, EDT. Resolutions may be submitted for consideration to: advocacy@acb.org. 

2 – The Resolutions Committee will forward all resolutions to the ACB National Office with a recommendation for “do pass” or “do not pass” by Monday, August 3rd.

3 – The ACB National office will preliminarily rank the resolutions in consultation with the Resolutions Committee and ACB leadership prior to transmitting the resolutions for consideration by the ACB Board of Directors no later than Friday, August 21.

4 – The ACB Board of Directors will discuss, prioritize, and approve 2020 Resolutions by majority vote at the Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, August 27.

5 – At the meeting on August 27, and In accordance with a 2019 resolution referred to the ACB Board of Directors, the Board will create a working group to reform the ACB resolutions process.

If you have any questions, please contact the ACB Resolution Committee co-Chairs, Jill Noble (jillnoble61@icloud.com) and Gabe Griffith (gabrielgriffith@gmail.com).

A Message from Orcam Technology about an exciting opportunity to win a FREE OrCam MyEye 2 Pro device

Dear ACB Members,

We hope you are as excited as we are for the upcoming virtual ACB Conference in July.  We are happy that ACB decided to make the best out of the situation and would like to share with you, our developments and progress since last year’s conference. We urge you to look for our OrCam presentations in the conference agenda, and hope all of you will join and hear what we have prepared for you.

ACB and OrCam have a strong partnership and we appreciate the collaboration to raise awareness of OrCam’s assistive technology among ACB members to support uses in education, employment and the quality of life for Americans who are blind or visually impaired.

OrCam keeps developing its technology to meet your needs, and our alliance with ACB will allow you to receive special promotions as an ACB member. For this year’s conference, we will be giving away a FREE OrCam MyEye 2 Pro device to one of the attendees of the ACB Conference!

To enter the drawing  please go this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfSCFW99211Z3CDVWd_YJn85Dvuqd0xU2ziX7Ert5d7BZMe2A/viewform and fill out your information and submit the form.

• All entries must be submitted by July 7th, 6 PM EST.
• Only one entry per person.
• The winner of the OrCam MyEye 2 Pro will be announced on the convention  connections show just prior to the ACB Banquet on July 10.

Speaking of Raffles – ZOOM is just waiting to meet you and make herself at home in your guest room (or bedroom, or family room, or on the living room couch!) Don’t let your chance to become beautiful Zoom’s new owner slip away!

Tickets are 3 for $5 or 7 for $10.

Get them as a gift to yourself or use as gifts for others- These tickets are terrific for all gift giving occasions (Graduation, Father’s Day, birthdays, appreciation gifts for hosts, thank you gifts for stylists and groomers, don’t forget your in-laws or that impossible to purchase for relative or friend).  Anyone can purchase, so have your friends and family buy some for you if self-gifting is not your style; their ticket purchases increase your  chances and support GDUI all at the same time.  A true WIN WIN all around!

You can purchase tickets online here: https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-2020-convention-raffle-tickets/.

or call Sara Calhoun at 866.799.8436. We will draw the winning ticket – virtually, of course! – at the conclusion of our GDUI Convention

Zoom is a black and tan German shepherd beauty. She’s About two feet tall, and sits with her ears up and mouth open in a big doggie smile. Zoom’s tag has been wood burnt with her name and she has her own leash. Of course, she proudly wears a magnificent, hand-crafted, Hava Original leather harness!

Good news for GDUI from Amazon SMILE!

Good news for you, too – if, like me, you seem to have designated shopping with the Amazon.com app on your I-Phone as your latest – and most frequently visited – form of entertainment!

AmazonSmile customers can now support Guide Dog Users Inc in the Amazon shopping app on iOS and Android mobile phones! Simply follow these instructions to turn on AmazonSmile and start generating donations.

1. Open the Amazon Shopping app on your device
2. Go into the main menu of the Amazon Shopping app and tap into ‘Settings’
3. Tap ‘AmazonSmile’ and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

It took me just about two and a half minutes to follow those instructions and begin contributing to GDUI every time a buy six more boxes of Italian pasta or a gift for someone who’s celebrating a birthday, or a ball or a squeaky pink bear for Willow, or, truly, any number of other kinds of items, with my Amazon.com app. Thanks for signing up, too, and helping GDUI’s treasury to grow!

Do you love video description? Do you want more video description? Here’s your chance to let the FCC know!

On April 23, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes expanding the number of broadcast designated market areas required to pass through audio description from the top 60 markets to the top 100, and to use the term “audio description” instead of the term “video description.”

On May 21, 2020, the Media Bureau of the FCC released a public notice announcing the NPRM comment due dates; comments are due June 22, 2020, and reply comments are due July 6, 2020. The text of the NPRM is available at: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-seeks-expand-video-description-visually-impaired-americans-0. 

Interested parties may file comments on their own by accessing the Electronic Comment Filing System at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings. All filings must reference MB Docket No. 11-43. People with disabilities who need assistance to file comments online at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings may request assistance by email to FCC504@fcc.gov.

The ACB National Office will file consolidated comments for this NPRM. If you would like to contribute to the ACB comments, or to have ACB file comments on your behalf, please email your responses for the short survey below to advocacy@acb.org. The comment due date is Monday, June 22, and ACB requests responses by Friday, June 19.

Survey Participant Information

Name: 

Address (City & State): 

Phone Number: 

Email Address: 

Part One

The NPRM seeks to modernize the terminology in the Commission’s regulations to use the term “audio description” rather than “video description.” The term “audio description” is used by the rest of the federal government and is the term used in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Additionally, “audio description” is the agreed upon international terminology for audibly describing the visual elements of videos, on-stage performances, and subjects at museum and art galleries. Do you think the FCC should harmonize its terminology and use the industry agreed upon term “audio description” same as the rest of the federal government?: 

Part Two

Please complete if you do not currently receive audio description passed through by your four main local broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, FOX, & NBC). A current list of broadcast markets required to pass through audio description is available at: https://acb.org/adp/articles/tvfcctop60.html. 

The NPRM seeks to expand the Commission’s video description regulations by phasing in an additional 10 designated market areas each year for four years, beginning on January 1, 2021. This would increase the number of broadcast designated market areas required to pass through audio description from the top 60 markets to the top 100 markets by the end of 2024. If you do not currently receive audio description, please share with us what it would mean for you to have greater access to information and entertainment through receiving audio described content from broadcast television?: 

Thank You,

Clark Rachfal

Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs

American Council of the Blind

New Products from Keri Bishop!

We are so grateful to Keri, who always donates a sizable portion of the proceeds she earns from her wonderful crafty products to GDUI! Please check out her latest creations, and follow up with her on her web site, then show off your latest Keri-original creations when you and your dog are out and about, encourage your friends to purchase as well, and Keri and GDUI will be the beneficiaries! Thank you, Keri!

I have 2 new items in my craft shop this year, guide dog leashes and

Harness signs. The leashes are duel length like the ones from seeing eye but

made from nylon instead of leather. They are the same length I used Rory’s leather leash as a guide for my pattern. I know some dogs love chewing

leather so I thought it would be good to have a second option out there!

The harness signs have machine embroidery and are made from denim. Embroidery on the signs

Shows a dog inside a Circle round, with a diagonal line indicating no! or “Do NOT pet!” I am working 2 designs, one is just the sign with Velcro straps that wrap around the

harness. The 2nd Is identical but has a zipper in the back making the

sign into a storage pouch. I am hoping to get the word out so I thought I ‘d send you free samples if you are willing to spread the word and tell people

where you got your cool sign, leash or pouch.

To get to my shop go to Etsy.com and click

Search for shops type in Kraftykerbear this will take you to my store. If you

Want samples email me here, keribis@gmail.com.

The Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) is excited to announce a new scholarship for grad student applicants studying for a career in the fields of Orientation & Mobility or Rehabilitation Teaching.

Three $2,000 scholarship winners will be announced in the Fall of 2020.
The deadline for submitting applications is August 31, 2020, and scholarship recipients will be notified on or around October 2020.

Refer to the application for eligibility criteria. Download the application by clicking here https://aerbvi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AERScholarshipApplication_2020.docx.

If you have any questions, please contact me at michele@aerbvi.org mailto:michele@aerbvi.org.
Thank you,
Michele
Online Learning https://aerbvi.org/professional-development/online-learning/

Special Rates for ACB Members who Join AIRA

The American Council of the Blind is proud to partner with Aira to make visual interpreting services available to more people. To encourage ACB members to try their service, Aira is extending special ACB Membership pricing from June 1 through December 31, 2020.

ACB Member Intro Plan

• Minutes: 30 per month
• Price: $20.00 per month
• Plan Share: no additional users

ACB Member Enhanced Plan

• Minutes: 140 per month
• Price: $99.99 per month
• Plan Share: up to two additional users

Plans are only available through the Aira Customer Care Team. To qualify for these plans, one must be a member in good standing of the American Council of the Blind or its affiliates or chapters for the current membership year. Membership will be verified through the Aira Customer Care Team.

Aira provides visual information through their smartphone app and trained agents, 24/7, 365 days per year. Agents are screened and adhere to strict security protocols. The app uses the camera of your smartphone plus GPS and other powerful tools to give you the visual information you need, on your terms.

To learn more about Aira, visit their website at www.aira.io or call their Customer Care Team at 1.800.835.1934.

Do you need a chocolate fix?

Do you like chocolate? Do you like nuts? Do you like helping out nonprofits? Well, here is a way you can do it all. 

The Raleigh/Wake Council of the Blind is having a fundraiser. When you buy delicious treats from rwcb.terrilynn.com, you will also make a generous donation to the Raleigh/Wake Council of the Blind. 

So please check out rwcb.terrilynn.com often. We thank you for your help.

Lawrence Carter, President Raleigh/Wake Council of the Blind, www.Nccbinfo.org

How about some delicious coffee to go with that chocolate?

Missouri Guide Dog Users has teamed up with White Cane Coffee for a fundraiser! All proceeds will go towards Top Dog 2021 to be held in St. Louis, Missouri!

White Cane Coffee was started by a blind woman and brothers who are autistic. The business  provides work for blind and disabled individuals in their community. All coffee products are labeled in both braille and print.

When you order, using the link below, proceeds will go to Missouri Guide Dog Users!

https://whitecanecoffee.com/ref/plm3645/

Thank you for supporting our fundraiser for Top Dog 2021! Enjoy your coffee!

 Kind regards,

Missouri Guide Dog Users

Bellhopp tail of the daytime

(Warning:  This one is sappy and emotional as opposed to the normal humor they provide.)

Brianna Murray

[Editor’s Note: Brianna is a retiring member of our current board. Her life seems a little too busy to accommodate the demands of board service at the moment! She recently moved from the South to the Mid-Atlantic, started a new job, retired one guide dog (Hopps) and attended training at the Seeing Eye, where she acquired her new guide dog, Belle! Brianna lives alone in her first apartment with both dogs. Do you see what we mean?

Brianna is having fun (mostly) learning to cope with the awesome responsibility of caring – and being cared for by – two guide dogs. This is the latest installment of “guide dog tails” that she has been sharing with friends on Facebook. Thank you, Brianna, for sharing your newest BellHopp Tail with all of us!]

The evolution of the bond between a guide dog and handler is a crazy thing. When that dog is brought into your room, it’s one of the greatest days of your life. It’s exciting, scary, emotional, and just a quick snapshot of the dog that’s going to be by your side for the rest of its lifetime. While I was thrilled in that moment with Belle, to her, it was scary. She was everything I secretly wanted but didn’t ask for. Petite, black, smart, empathetic, cuddly, and wise. If I could have designed a dream dog it would have looked just like her. But she was less than impressed. I was another handler in a very short time, and I was sniffling and crying all over her. She was reserved and cautious with me, and it took us until April to really connect and snuggle like I knew we would eventually. I didn’t blame her. I’m that way with new people too, but it made the transition very hard. It was hard sometimes in those first few months because when I was feeling lonely, Hopps was here to show me love. When I wanted a dog in my lap, there was Hopps. Hopps fulfilled every emotional need I had and so in some ways, I didn’t have a chance to build that bond with Belle like I should have. Hopps also had trouble accepting that I had a new partner. She was ready and willing to work, and she didn’t see why she couldn’t. But part of that evolution in the bond is both of us learning to let go when retirement must occur. Today, Hopps showed she was finally letting go, and Belle showed me she was ready and willing to be my partner in crime.

Hopps has set next to me on the floor during every shower since I got her. One time the curtain got messed up, flooding the bathroom, but still she laid there by my side. When I first got Belle she stayed in her crate while I showered and I didn’t trust anything else. Once she earned her freedom more, she still chose to lay in the living room and chew her bone while Hopps stuck right by my side. Today though, Hopps was laying by the shower when Belle came in. Belle laid down next to Hopps, cramming into a very small bathroom together. At first, neither gave an inch. I was their person and they each wanted to be right there. Eventually though Hopps stood up, stuck her head in the curtain to check I was ok, and left. It was like she said “Ok, she’s yours now. I trust you and I’m passing the baton.” Even once I got out of the shower, and went through my routine Hopps laid in bed. Belle was the one who followed me around every step. Belle hates water. She doesn’t like the shower. But our bond is strong now. She sees her purpose and wants to be near her person. Hopps on the other hand, worked so hard for so long. She’s starting to see that her purpose now is making room for Belle to be my guide. It’s a bitter sweet transition to watch them mature together and fill their new roles. I’m just glad I am lucky enough to have both of them here with me, and I get to watch as my bond with each of them develops. Team Bellhopp forever!!!

Guide dogs have never been taught the 6-foot rule required during the coronavirus pandemic, making it difficult for their owners to get around.

Credit: Guide Dog Foundation & America’s VetDogs

By Joan Gralla

 Updated May 15, 2020 2:44 PM

[From: https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/guide-dogs-coronavirus-1.44615608 ]

Editor’s Note: We’re making another newspaper article available to you(below)  for sharing with sighted family, friends and acquaintances, so that all of us can make our way through these challenging times with safety and grace.]

Should someone draw near with a guide dog, speak up and presume good intent — especially during the pandemic, according to some experts.

The dogs have never been taught the 6-foot social-distancing rule required during these difficult times. Nor have they been trained to wait in line outside stores, let alone stand on marks, or only walk in one direction in the aisles.

Instead, they have been taught to bring their partner right to the door — and go in.

And they are expected to bring their handler to the nearest empty seat on a train or bus, though that might be right next to someone.

Right now, “It’s a little stressful for our clients to go out,” said Cameron McLendon, 28, of Kings Park, a mobility instructor at the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind. “One of the biggest problems is that the dogs don’t understand social distancing.” 

Diplomacy, patience helps

Like so much else, battling the coronavirus has exposed divisions between people.

Misunderstandings that might have been brushed off now can flare into conflicts as they grapple with a multitude of fears and anxieties, from succumbing to the virus to waiting outside grocery stores only to find empty shelves when you get inside.

As is often the case in any situation, a little bit of diplomacy and patience can make all the difference.

“I think it’s a great thing for people to do all the time — to let people know you are approaching” a guide dog and their handler, said Lauren Berglund, 23, of Kings Park.

Berglund, a coordinator for the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind and America’s VetDogs in Smithtown, has had a guide dog since she was 18.

“If someone is getting too close, simply remarking ‘Hey, I’m off to your left,’” is a help, she said.

And it’s likely far easier for the person who can see to avoid the team than vice versa. 

Some of the nonprofit’s graduates said they have been yelled at for passing too near other people, Berglund said.

Guide dogs are taught to skirt other people by adding their own width to that of their handlers, explained Heidi Vandewinckel, a total almost certainly less than 6 feet. 

“Please just ask me and let me know — and perhaps anticipate” a problem, said Vandewinckel, 62, of East Northport, and a foundation board member who has relied on a guide dog since she was 14. 

“It can be kind of daunting for a guide dog to maneuver … it’s kind of a give-and-take,” said Cristina Mirabile, 31, of Centereach, one of the foundation’s mobility instructors.

Unexpected problems have arisen, the experts said.

One client, for instance, found a physician’s clinic had nowhere for him and his dog to wait except the line outside. Yet not all dogs understand what to do when the line moves. 

And some patients in line or in the office might be allergic or fearful of dogs.

Some tips and advice

So take the risk of a possibly awkward interchange and help a dog and its handler navigate social distancing rules, the experts said, especially in crowds, or lines, or on mass transit.

Realize people whose guide dogs give them the gifts of freedom and independence must go to stores if online services are overloaded or unwieldy, they said. 

Aiding these teams — even during the stressful times of the outbreak — really just requires a little thoughtfulness.

Anyone walking their own dog should let the team know, because the guide dog is not allowed to meet-and-greet.

Never make eye contact with a guide dog while it’s working, offer a treat, ooh and ah, or try to pet it — those are all behaviors that could cause their partner a mishap, like a fall, Mirabile said. 

And, the experts said, ask if the team would like help, particularly if there are hazards, like figuring out if a traffic light has changed.

Let them know if there is a line outside a store — and perhaps help them find where it ends, when it moves — and where to wait to check out. 

“It’s never wrong to ask a question,” McLendon said.

Remember, however, that these teams have earned their independence. Don’t be offended if they decline an offer of help.

But if they would like you to guide them around obstacles, offer your arm — though not the way one does in a wedding procession. Instead, the handler has been taught to hold your upper arm to follow you safely, the experts said. 

And never grab the guide dog’s harness, Vandewinckel said. 

“Just be kind and patient with people, especially now — it’s a difficult time for everybody,” Berglund said.

OBTAINING AND MAINTAINING 501)(C)(3) STATUS FOR PINE TREE GUIDE DOG USERS

Bruce Prindall and Pauline Lamontagne

[Editor’s Note: The article below was submitted by our very capable and dedicated Affiliates’ Liaison, Pauline Lamontagne, and her colleague in Maine’s GDUI affiliate, Pine Tree Guide Dog Users, Bruce Prindall.  If your GDUI affiliate has not yet obtained or updated your not-for-profit status, the advice which Pauline and Bruce outline below will be very helpful. Thanks to Pauline for keeping all of us on the ball and up-to-date!]

Please note, here is a disclaimer. The below article is NOT legal advice.
It is an overview of Pine Tree Guide Dog Users'(PTGDU’s) experience for
obtaining federal tax exemption status under section 501(c)(3) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and maintaining it.

Pine Tree Guide Dog Users (PTGDU) in July 2017 was incorporated in the State of Maine. In Maine, the paperwork was submitted to Maine’s Secretary of State’s office under Bureau of Corporations, Elections, and Commissions.

There was a filing fee($40 in Maine.) PTGDU also had to attach its
Constitution and Bylaws.

On a yearly basis, a renewal statement with accompanying fee must be
submitted. Thirty-five dollars was this year’s renewal fee. The fee is higher if the corporation is a for profit corporation; PTGDU is a nonprofit corporation in Maine.  Please note, the agency and fees that your affiliate will need to apply to will be different from Maine’s. That is, your affiliate will not incorporate in Maine but rather in another state. The site
http://www.nasconet.org/ may be of assistance.

Once PTGDU was incorporated in Maine and prior to applying for 501(c)(3)  status, Pine Tree Guide Dog Users had to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the federal government by submitting a completed SS-4 form which was an application for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). There was no fee for the EIN. The instructions are at https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iss4, and the online fillable form is at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf.

Please note, the creation of accounts and submissions of forms were done electronically with the Federal government. There did not appear to be a snail-mail option. Also, it appeared that the forms had to be completed in one sitting. That is, it appeared that you could not partially complete and save a form and then return later and complete it for submission.

Prior to submitting the 1023-EZ form, a checklist of 30 questions was completed by PTGDU.  (The instruction booklet is at: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023ez.pdf), (This checklist was not submitted as part of the 1023-EZ application; however, its completion was used by PTGDU to determine whether the 1023 or 1023-EZ form would be used. (Please note, if you answer yes to any of these questions, you cannot use the 1023-EZ form.
>>>>>>>>> The 1023 form would be required.)

Among the factors that led to PTGDU’s submitting the 1023-EZ form was that PTGDU does not expect to have gross earnings of $50,000 or more on a yearly basis. Also, PTGDU will not be endorsing specific candidates. The latter  would make PTGDU ineligible for nonprofit status.

You will also need to determine your National Taxonomy for Exempt Entities (NTEE) , a three character code that best defines your organization type. PTGDU used R99 for civil rights other. As previously noted, The 1023-EZ form must be completed online athttps://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1023ez.pdf. in one sitting because once you start the form, you must finish it as there is no option to save it.

When submitting the 1023-EZ form, PTGDU had to create a pay.gov account. The fee was $275.00. (The cost for the 1023currently is $600.00.)

Pine Tree Guide Dog Users appreciates the grant of $400 from President Bob Acosta’s Helping Hands for the Blind organization! It was given with the understanding that the money would be used for obtaining PTGDU’s 501(c)(3) status as well as writing an article for PawTraCKS (NOW Paws for GDUI News You Can Use) so that hopefully others would benefit.

As long as PTGDU does not have gross proceeds of $50,000 or more, PTGDU must file on a yearly basis a 990-N form entitled Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax,. There is no fee.  Ironically, PTGDU was notified on September 1, 2018, by the IRS of its federal tax exempt status under section 501(c)(3) status and it was made retroactive to July 31, 2017. Therefore, the IRS, when contacted, said that PTGDU was late on filing the 990-N form. Thankfully, there is not a penalty for late filing for that year. However, if an organization does not file for three consecutive years, the tax exempt status may be lost.

You will also need to check in the location where you are incorporated to determine whether there are any other requirements. In Maine, a license is required for soliciting charitable contributions. $50 is required for the first year and then currently $25 is required for subsequent years.

PTGDU expects that 501(c)(3) status will assist PTGDU with fund raising as well as other efforts including possible grant writing. If Bruce, PTGDU’s secretary, or I, President of PTGDU, may be of further assistance, please, e mail Bruce at ptgdu2013@gmail.com or me at plamontagne@twc.com.

Pfew! We told you there‘s lots of news this month.

We hope our latest Paws for GDUI gives you some pleasure as we all cope with the sad and frustrating ramifications of COVID-19, try to find ways to achieve equality and justice and healing for everyone with whom we share the planet Earth, and experience the arrival of summer 2020.

Thank you for reading and sharing our Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! We welcome your feedback and your involvement in our organization. Thank you for your friendship and support.

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Connect with GDUI

Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

Our Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/.

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Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com:

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A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Penny Reeder

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

A Message from Your President

We Can, and Must, Work for Change

As a tragic week of violence and turmoil and shared pain and anxiety comes to an end, as we grieve the death of a good man caused by the very police officers who should be saving, not taking lives, we are all feeling like just about every aspect of our lives is unstable and outside  our control. Chaos seems to be the only ruling principle of these days and nights, and many of us are feeling alone and emotionally exhausted with nothing but enormous apprehension about what might come next. I wish I could pull just the right words out of a magical hat of reassurance. I know others have reminded us that one thing in all of this chaos and pain  that we can count on is love, love for one another, and love and respect for shared humanity, and I can definitely agree with that. Mark A. Riccobono,, president of the NFB, wrote a beautiful encouraging letter to members of the Federation. Several GDUI members have shared the letter with me. I appreciate Mark’s letter, his desire to understand, to seek truth, to help, to search – along with everyone else – for justice and an end to suffering. I thank him for sharing these words of compassion and resolve. If you haven’t read the letter, I hope you will. We are all members of the blindness community, and despite some differences in our varying approaches to solving problems, we are united in our quest to live well despite blindness and in caring for and about other members in our joint community, and in caring for the larger community of Americans of  which we are also all a part. . If there is a reliable plan for surviving this frightening pandemic and keeping all of the people we love and ourselves alive, and for finding ways to handle an economy in free fall, and, even more crucially imperative,  for ridding our country of the systematic racism that takes innocent lives, makes people of color more vulnerable to the coronavirus and illness and early death, and more likely to experience poverty, lack of opportunity, unhealthy environments and life threatening prejudice and discrimination, I join everyone else who is trying to find elusive answers, and everyone else who feels completely done with trying to find those same elusive answers, over and over, and over again! City streets in every part of the country are erupting into violence fed by righteous rage, and fear, and desolation. All we can do, I think, is to listen, to empathize, to try to understand, and – despite so many failed promises to do these same over and over again, – to re-commit ourselves once again to justice for all, a brotherhood and sisterhood of all of us, and making the changes that we so desperately need to make in our personal lives and as citizens of the larger community, and the world.

We are unlikely – most of us – to join the demonstrators exercising their civil right to gather and express outrage at yet another injustice visited upon the community of Americans who are black and advocate for change, not because we don’t share that outrage, but for more practical considerations – such as the coronavirus’s still seeking out vulnerable victims in crowded situations, and the impracticality and danger of exposing our guide dogs and ourselves to possibly life-threatening situations that would spell danger for people who don’t see and who sometimes need help with orientation. This does not mean that we cannot march with protestors virtually. We can! We participate in virtual ways when we speak up, when we decry injustice, when we refuse to stay silent, and when we know how to listen, and learn from the personal stories we hear and accounts from respected journalists that we read.

Let us all lean on each other. Let us all hang onto any and every speck of hope that we can find amid the chaos and the suffering, let us seek understanding and empathy, let us do what we can to make the world a better place, to keep on nudging that long arc of history toward justice, to teach our children and our grandchildren the values that will sustain and improve all of our lives, and let us be the change we want to see in the world.

Sincerely,

Penny

We have a few news items to share with you and the first – in case you haven’t remembered – is that

Voting in the GDUI 2020 Election is Under Way! If you haven’t voted yet, please retrieve your unique Voting ID Number from the post card you received from VoteNow in your postal mailbox, and/or the e-mail you received in your E-Mail In Box. The e-mail arrived immediately before Midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning, and if you haven’t found it in your In Box, you can call Sarah Calhoun at our toll-free number, 866.799.8436. Sarah will help you get in touch with the folks at VoteNow, who will be pleased to assist! Voting is quick and easy – and essential!

Did you miss Our Second Candidates’ Forum, or would you like to listen again? We have had some wonderful Candidates Forums during my participation in GDUI elections, but the one held on May 21 was so outstanding as to be the best one I ever experienced! The forum lasted for two hours, and every minute was dedicated to thoughtful, motivating commentary from our candidates. If you’re still trying to make up your mind before casting your votes, you won’t go wrong by listening to our most recent Candidates’ Forum.

Topic: GDUI 2020 Candidate Forum 2

Start Time : May 21, 2020 07:50 PM

 Meeting Recording:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/5u14CbDU-UxLTafG0EzTa-lxJJjceaa82yEYqPYKzEokfC4r_ulaS9b8dBI29vVq

 Access Password: 3P=iZ+8z

If you would like to listen to our recent, May 23, board meeting, that recording is also available. Thanks to Maria Kristic, here is the link and the password you will need to access the recording:

Topic: GDUI Board Meeting

Start Time : May 23, 2020 12:39 PM

 Meeting Recording:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/-vVbPbfcy2pLYKOd83ryZPZ6LoHVeaa81SkdqfQFnU77pYQqRWMX3lVkjZZQu1l6

 Access Password: 5o!SF2FK

Leader Dogs to Resume Operations, Opening in Phases. Here’s an encouraging message from David Locklin, Director of Programs at Leader Dogs.

I am very excited to inform you that under the most recent executive order signed by Governor Whitmer, Leader Dogs for the Blind is cleared to resume full operations! We have confirmed with legal counsel that our services are included in the latest wave of businesses permitted to resume operations.

We have developed a Return to Work plan that provides for our operations on campus to resume in phases. The phases of this plan were developed to ensure a safe return for the team, clients and volunteers. Please know that the health and well-being of every foot (and paw!) on campus remains our top priority. All clients, team members and volunteers will be required to complete a virtual training prior to coming to campus.

For those of you who have been accepted into training and are awaiting class placement, we will reach out to you in the coming weeks with more detailed information on what training will look like and what safety measures will be in place.

Some of you may be wondering about the status of field visits and deliveries. Please know that we are continuing to review/operate by CDC guidelines and the extension of the Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order in Michigan as it relates to travel and field visits. We will have more information for you soon, but for now, all field visits and deliveries remain suspended at this time.

We continue to accept applications and reapplications for all of our programs!

Thank you for your ongoing support and words of encouragement, especially over the past two and a half months.

We all look forward to the day we welcome clients back to campus for training!

More News from Leader Dogs! Leader Dogs for the Blind Virtual Summer Experience Camp 2020

Camp dates: Sunday, June 21–Friday, June 26, 2020
Application deadline: Friday, June 5, 2020

This free camp experience gives teens 14–17 years old in the U.S. and Canada an awesome lineup of virtual activities to build their independence! Participants will explore mobility options like guide dog travel, build leadership skills and make lasting relationships with peers. Using Zoom video conferencing, we will lead two 30-minute virtual sessions each day at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Teens can look forward to a Q&A session with a guide dog mobility instructor, a game session, a private Facebook group to keep the fun going through the week and lots more! Presenters include Leader Dog O&M Instructors, Leader Dog guide dog mobility instructors and some special surprise guests! Participants will receive a free LDB Virtual Summer Experience Camp t-shirt and a chance to win other prizes including a Humanware Victor Reader Trek.

To confirm your commitment for this week of fun, please complete the online application by Friday, June 5. You’ll need to check your email regularly after applying for updates and more information!

Karen grabs a blind guy and learns how to fly.

[From https://www.reddit.com/r/EntitledKarens/comments/gpk53w/karen_grabs_a_blind_guy_and_learns_how_to_fly/] [Editor’s Note! Thanks to the Disability Grapevine online newspaper, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DisabilityGrapeVine/, for sharing this entertaining article!] 

{Karen: Entitled white woman, blond bob haircut, who demands her way and demands to speak to the manager. Male Karens exist.}
I was having interesting conversation with a blind guy (I will call Dave) today while standing in line waiting to get into grocery store.

Line moved forward I let Dave know, when all of a sudden a lady (let’s call her Karen) with out making a sound just grabs him and tries dragging him forward.

I shout stop….. and that is as far as I got.

Dave just drops his cane, grabs her back and judo throws Karen over his shoulder though the air and onto the ground. calls out to me to help him get away from the person who is attacking him.

I grab his cane offer my arm and we move out of line and quickly go up to the security guards at front doors.

Karen is lying on ground screaming assault etc.

One guard goes to check on Karen while me and Dave talk to other guard. Dave explains he is blind and thought he was being attacked when he heard me shout stop so defended himself.

Guard one says he will call police and store manager and not to worry and moves us into store while he sorts everything out.

Second guard brings Karen up to first guard they talk we can hear Karen screaming how she was just being a good Samaritan helping a disabled person and was attacked for no reason etc. I ask Dave if he
wants to talk to her or wait for police. Dave says he will wait.Me and Dave just chat about how blind technology has improved over the last 40 years as my dad is blind and how as a kid I would act as
his guide kid (dog) and the new computer technology available now.

Police arrive about 30 minutes later the entire time Karen’s still going off at poor guards and store manager.

Cop one talks to me and Dave and gets store manager to find camera footage.

Cop two is dealing with Karen (poor guy)

We all get taken to managers office to watch footage (well except dave) cops ask Dave if he wants to press charges and they will arrest Karen for assault.

Dave says let her go as he is not going to file a complaint as long as Karen understands you never grab a blind person and to ask first if they need assistance.

Karen grumbling about he attacked her and she was just trying to be a good Samaritan etc.

I look at Karen and say your lucky dave stopped after just throwing you my dad is blind and was trained to do a lot worse count yourself lucky dave didn’t break your arm or choke you out like my dad is
trained to do.

Cops let Karen leave and store manager said she could still shop if she wanted to but had to go stand in line again but we could just go shop to separate us from her.

I helped Dave shop and we got $50 each voucher off store manager. I gave mine to Dave and offered him a lift home if he needed it instead of getting a cab.

Dave said he was fine we had a laugh and plan to meet next week for grocery shopping.

On way out security guards stopped us. Said when I bring blind people to shop just walk to front doors they will let us jump the cue as they don’t want anymore flying Karen’s and thanks for making
their day.

I looked at them said, Dude I was just chatting to Dave in line, I’m not his guide dog. Dave started laughing offered to get me a doggie treat next week when we meet up to shop.

All I could say was woof laugh with him and the guards and say catch you next time

Sorry no arrested Karen; everyone did not all stand up cheer and clap. Just a stupid Karen, found out the hard way don’t grab blind people without asking first.

And I’m looking forward to some smacko dog treats next week, lol

A Kentucky school surprised a little girl by including a photo of her service dog in the yearbook

By Alaa Elassar, CNN
Updated 5:00 AM ET, Sat May 23, 2020
(CNN) An elementary school in Kentucky saved a special spot in its yearbook for one very good girl — Ariel, a service dog.
[From: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/23/us/louisville-service-dog-yearbook-photo-kentucky-trnd/index.html]

St. Patrick Catholic School in Louisville surprised 7-year-old Hadley
Jo Lange by including a photo of the Labradoodle among its kindergarten
class. Hadley Jo suffers from epilepsy, a neurological disorder that causes seizures.

Without Ariel, Hadley Jo might not be alive. “This dog has really saved my daughter’s life,” her mom, Heather Lange, told CNN. “I don’t know how I could ever thank Ariel as a mother. She goes with her everywhere, to school, rides the bus with her, goes to her dance classes and soccer practice. She always has her
eyes on my little girl. It’s a huge sense of security.”

At school, Ariel watches over Hadley Jo constantly. The 4-year-old pooch,
who bonded with Hadley Jo when she was just a puppy, is able to recognize
when the up-and-coming first grader is having an
episode.

Ariel and Hadley Jo at school. When these episodes happen at school, Ariel alerts teachers that something is wrong by barking. During seizures, the dog also lies down next to Hadley Jo and moves her body under the child to
cushion her fall.

“It’s important for us to do all we can to foster our relationship
with families and do what we can to support students,” Nathan Sturtzel,
principal of St. Patrick Catholic School, told CNN. “We love Ariel. She’s part of Hadley Jo’s family so she’s a part of our family too. Finding a place for her in our yearbook was an easy decision and it was a lot of fun to include her. We loved it.”

Ariel is also special for reasons beyond the love and protection she
provides Hadley Jo. The Labradoodle is the only service dog in the
archdiocese of Louisville, according to Lange. A victory for children with epilepsy.

To many, Ariel’s inclusion in the yearbook is just a sweet story about
a little girl and her adorable dog. But to Lange — and other parents of
children with epilepsy — it’s a story of victory. “When I got the yearbook and saw that they included our service dog, that was one of the most touching moments of my life. The inclusiveness meant so much,” Lange said.

“It proved that we may not all look the same, we may not all learn the
same, we have differences but it’s OK. We can still be kind and inclusive
and accept each other. This yearbook is a huge reflection of that.” What is epilepsy? Here’s what you need to know about the seizure-causing spectrum of disorders.

Hadley Jo had her first seizure when she was only 17 months old. It
came on suddenly while the family was dining at a restaurant. “She was on my lap while I was eating, and out of nowhere my baby fell into my arms and her eyes rolled back into her head and she was jerking,” Lange said. “She was having a seizure right before my eyes, it was terrifying. She stopped breathing, and there I was, a mother who thought she was about to lose her child.”

Since then, seizures have become a normal part of Hadley Jo’s life.
But with her puppy by her side, she hasn’t let it affect her happy nature
and kind spirit. The Lange family knows how lucky they are to have Ariel.

Service dogs can cost anywhere between $20,000 to $60,000. They were able to afford Ariel through community fund raising, but not all families have the same opportunity. That’s why Lange partnered up with the Epilepsy Foundation of Kentuckian to launch Hope for Hadley Jo, a non-profit organization that provides funding for families whose children need service
dogs.

Ariel and Hadley Jo as they graduate from kindergarten.
Lange has also become a strong advocate for children with epilepsy,
encouraging other schools to be welcoming and accommodating to them.
“It’s very comforting knowing my daughter has a home at her school
where she is loved and accepted, even though she may not look like everyone
else,” Lange said. “St. Patrick made a choice to accept my child and her service dog. The acceptance and inclusion is a true sign of kindness and compassion.”

C 2020 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.CNN Sans T & C 2016 Cable News Network.

As the night comes to an end around midnight and we prepare to go to press, city streets across the country are, once again, erupting into chaos despite curfews and admonishments and increased presence of police officers and the national guard.

Neither our outrage nor our dedication to seeking justice have come to an end – nor has our sadness or our frustration or our crushing anxiety. Many of us remain in quarantine, wishing for the touch of a friend or a hug from a giggly grandchild, lots of us have found new ways to shop for necessities and to connect with friends and organizations and causes we support. Our guide dogs still take us to a harness that, they hope, will connect them to the work that they love, and we praise their enthusiasm and make promises about better days to come and longer trips to take. We describe this new and confusing lifestyle as “The After,” and speak of “The Before” with nostalgia and rueful shakes of our heads. We are so glad to count on all of you for the friendship and support that will carry us all through, hopefully – and we have to believe this – to a better “After!”

Soon we will be coming to you with good news from our GDUI elections! Remember to vote before the end of the day on Sunday, June 7!

Please also remember to wash your hands, pet your dog instead of touching your face, be well, and stay safe! Thank you for your support and friendship.

Thank you for reading and sharing our Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! We welcome your feedback and your involvement in our organization. Thank you for your friendship and support.

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Connect with GDUI

Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

Our Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/.

Our Facebook group can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GDUINC/.

Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com:

http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.

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: chat+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link:

business+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Penny Reeder

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

ZOOM on Over to Learn More about Our Candidates, Our Elections, and the Business of Our Board!

There are all kinds of meetings taking place inside the blindness community, and GDUI is contributing our fair share this week, as well. On Thursday, May 21, at 8:00 PM, ET, we welcome your attendance at our second Candidates’ Forum. Come and meet our 2020 candidates. Ask questions, hear stories, and become well informed as you prepare to participate in our 2020 Election.

The call-in information for this second Forum is as follows:

Guide Dog Users, Inc. is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: GDUI 2020 Candidate Forum 2

Time: May 21, 2020 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Join Meeting

Meeting ID: 380 572 719

Password: 520107

One tap mobile

+16465588656,,380572719#,,#,520107# US (New York)

+13126266799,,380572719#,#,520107# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 301 715 8592 US

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US

Meeting ID: 380 572 719

Password: 520107

Find your local number: Find Local Number

Then, on this coming Saturday, GDUI will be holding our final board meeting in advance of our coming election. Come an catch up on our ongoing work and the issues that are important to you as guide dog users. Everyone is welcomed! Here are all the ZOOM particulars you need to know:

Topic: GDUI Board Meeting

Time: May 23, 2020 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/562675137

Meeting ID: 562 675 137

One tap mobile

+16465588656,,562675137# US (New York)

+13126266799,,562675137# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Meeting ID: 562 675 137

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kjgqr0DUt

We are so grateful to our board member and candidate for GDUI Treasurer, Maria Kristic, for setting these meetings up for us, for managing the comings and goings during our calls, and for making us all feel more comfortable with this new-to-us and very current communications media choice. Thanks to Deb Lewis, as well, our current Second Vice President and candidate for that office again. Deb has managed both of our community outreach Zoom meeting events, which were carried on ACB Radio, and portions of which have appeared in our GDUI Juno Report. Visit ACB Radio’s Mainstream channel on the first Friday of every month to hear the new GDUI Juno Report:

http://acbradio.org/search/node/And, Visit this link to access GDUI Juno Report podcasts:

http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

The evening get-togethers for guide dog users across the country were fun for all of us, and we expect to sponsor more community outreach meetings as time goes on.

Speaking of Zoom… Raffle time is here again!!!!

Her name honors the virtual nature of the convention this year. Every time you reach out to touch her silky coat or fondle those irresistible sticky-up GSD ears, you will remember the 2020 way of family gatherings, doing business, learning, visiting with friends, and how Charlie gets his dogs to put a move on. She is ready to guide GDUI in to this new decade and her way in to your home and heart!

Introducing Zoom!! She is a black and tan German shepherd beauty. She’s about two feet tall, is in a sitting position with her ears up and mouth open in a big doggie smile. Zoom’s tag has been wood burnt with her name and she has her own leash. Of course, she proudly wears a magnificent, hand-crafted, Hava Original leather harness!

Getting tickets is the same as in the past with the exception of in-person sales- there will be none of that!

Important information:

Tickets are 3 for $5 or 7 for $10.

Get them as a gift to yourself or use as gifts for others- These tickets are terrific for all gift giving occasions (Graduations, Father’s Day, birthdays, appreciation gifts for hosts, thank you gifts for stylists and groomers, don’t forget your in-laws or that impossible to purchase for relative or friend).  Anyone can purchase, so encourage your friends and family to buy some for you! Their ticket purchases increase your  chances and support GDUI all at the same time.  A true WIN WIN all around!

You can purchase tickets online here: https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-2020-convention-raffle-tickets/ You’ll find adorable photos of Ms. ZOOM  on that page as well.

Or, call Sara Calhoun at 866 .799.8436.

We won’t be selling any products at our virtual convention, and there won’t be a GDUI auction this year, so your participation in our Zoom Raffle is your best opportunity to contribute financially to GDUI this summer. We appreciate your participation!

 Convention News! In just a couple more days, you’ll be able to register for the events you want to attend at the GDUI and concurrent virtual ACB Conventions! You can already peruse the ACB Conference and Convention program online by visiting this link And clicking on the pre-registration link. If you are using JAWS hit h for heading twice and you will be at the top of the events listing.

There are so many wonderful presentations and activities to look forward to – and (unless you’re a presenter), you can attend any of these meetings in your robe and slippers or  cut-offs and flip-flops – your choice! – or you can play Frisbee or do obedience or dispense Frostee Paws with your guide – anywhere inside or immediately outside your sheltering place – and no one will be the wiser! It’s all about virtual enjoyment and on-site comfort!

Registration for all ACB and GDUI programs opens for ACB members (If you’re a member of GDUI, you’re also a member of ACB!) on Thursday, May 21! Registration for non-members will be available a week later, on May 28.

Here’s much of what you need to know about our GDUI virtual convention. Visit this page for all of the details and updates: https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-2020-convention-program/ (Of course, you’ll have to be there – in whatever virtual way you choose (e.g., iPhone, Landline, iPad, PC) to hear what the guide dog instructors have to share with us, to learn from Lukas, to earn CEUs while you learn about the latest technologies, and to find out who this year’s awards will be honoring, and who will be the lucky person to become Zoom’s new owner!)

The GDUI 2020 Convention Program

Saturday, July 4

7:00 PM to 8:30 PM – Go Behind the Scenes with Disney’s Pick of the Litter

Join the Audio Description Project and Guide Dog Users Inc. for this interesting program featuring ACB’s Advocacy and Outreach Specialist, Claire Stanley, who was profiled in two episodes of “Pick of the Litter”. 

We will be listening to Episode 3: Training Begins After returning to Guide Dogs for the Blind, the dogs begin formal training; and Episode 5: Meet Your Match. The dogs in advanced training take their final exams in the hopes of being matched with clients.

Claire will answer questions and tell us some behind-the-scene stories of what it was like filming the episodes.

Co-sponsored by GDUI and the ACB audio Description Committee

Monday, July 6:

1:30PM – 2:45PM

The 20/20 Visions from the Guide Dogs Schools

3:00PM – 4:15PM

Sit, Stay, Listen…

Presenter: Lukas Franck, The Seeing Eye, Morristown, NJ

Lukas will discuss clicker training, how he evolved in to it, how well he responds to a clicker, and how he uses it in training!

Tuesday, July 7:

1:30PM – 2:45PM

Hidden Treasures

Presenters:

Steve Famiglietti, Blind Services Vocational Manager, and Adam Kosakowski, Assistive Technology Specialist

NEAT Center at Oak Hill, Hartford Connecticut

During this presentation participants will learn some tips and tricks to help them in using different pieces of software on various hardware platforms.  For instance, we will demonstrate both the built in screen reader and screen magnifier, found in Windows 10 and go over a few of the best features of these items.  We will also highlight some of our favorite settings and items which you can  customize to make using your device a better experience. 

We will be focusing on the following devices and software: Windows 10, Apple devices and Android devices.  

Topics will include:

• Customization of Voiceover on an iPhone or iPad
• Changing visual settings on an iPhone.
• Customizing Windows 10 for a better experience while using your screen reader. Simple tricks to make reading items easier with the JAWS screen reader.
• Tips and tricks for Android users.

Co-sponsored by GDUI and ACBS

3:00PM – 4:15PM:

“Harnessing Her Power at the Iditarod!”

Presenter: Katie Mehrtens, The Right Spot Pet Massage, Illinois

From vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy to obtaining a guide dog, from early childhood special education instructor to massage therapist to the Iditarod, Katie Mehrtens’ life is filled with struggles and successes and a determination to succeed.

Days are often long – and nights too short – during 2020 Shelter-in-Place. Sometimes we just yearn for a little good news (for a change)! Here’s some Good News From Us!

We are pleased to inform you that, thanks to the efforts of several GDUI board members, The 2020 Updates to our GDUI Guide Dog School Surveys Are Now on Our Web Site. You may find them under the Resources page of the site’s main menu > GDUI School Surveys or directly at https://guidedogusersinc.org/resources/gdui-school-survey/

Our Web site also now contains landing pages for the 2020 GDUI convention program and raffle ticket purchases. Both can be found in the main navigation menu on our site or directly at https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-2020-convention-program/ and https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-2020-convention-raffle-tickets/.

Our Web site has been updated with the latest approved meeting minutes from our January, 2020 board meeting. You may access our meeting minutes page at https://guidedogusersinc.org/resources/meeting-minutes/.

As of May 18, 2020, we have 538 likes of our Facebook page, 289 members in our Friends of GDUI Facebook group, and 305 followers of our Twitter handle. Our Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/, our Facebook group can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GDUINC/, and our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Help University research teams to understand more about our transportation needs and our experiences with shared ride services.  

Researchers at Clemson University are currently soliciting responses for an online survey to gauge the opinions of people who are blind or visually impaired regarding ridesharing services. This is the first of two surveys on this subject. Your participation will help engineers and policymakers better understand the needs and concerns of individuals who are visually impaired in designing ridesharing services and in the writing of related policies.

If you are an individual who is blind or low vision, we would greatly appreciate your participation. Participants will be entered in a drawing for a $300 gift card; we anticipate that approximately 500 people will be entered into the drawing. For additional information regarding the risks and benefits of the survey or to complete the survey itself, please click the link below. The survey information and the survey itself are both screen reader accessible:

https://clemson.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8H3eZiQxELYcX89

Thank you,

 Aaron Gluck

Clemson University, Research Assistant

1-864-722-9053

amgluck@g.clemson.edu

Following the current trend during these days of COVID-19, Leader Dogs for the Blind makes their summer camp experience a virtual one!

Leader Dogs for the Blind Virtual Summer Experience Camp 2020

Camp dates: Sunday, June 21–Friday, June 26, 2020
Application deadline: Friday, June 5, 2020

This free camp experience gives teens 14–17 years old in the U.S. and Canada an awesome lineup of virtual activities to build their independence! Participants will explore mobility options like guide dog travel, build leadership skills and make lasting relationships with peers. Using Zoom video conferencing, we will lead two 30-minute virtual sessions each day at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Teens can look forward to a Q&A session with a guide dog mobility instructor, a game session, a private Facebook group to keep the fun going through the week and lots more! Presenters include Leader Dog O&M Instructors, Leader Dog guide dog mobility instructors and some special surprise guests! Participants will receive a free LDB Virtual Summer Experience Camp t-shirt and a chance to win other prizes including a Humanware Victor Reader Trek.

To confirm your commitment for this week of fun, please complete the online application by Friday, June 5. You’ll need to check your email regularly after applying for updates and more information!

 Thanks,

 Rachelle

Director of Communications & Marketing
Leader Dogs for the Blind

Here, one more time, and because May 30 is drawing close, is Up-to-date News about Our Upcoming GDUI 2020 Election. Visit our election news page, https://guidedogusersinc.org/category/gdui-2020-election-news/,  to learn more about the process and the candidates, and please plan to participate in our universally accessible 2020 election.

The Board of Directors of Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI) is asking GDUI members to vote for the following positions:

President (term ending in 2022)

1^st Vice President (term ending in 2022)

2^nd Vice President (term ending in 2022)

Treasurer (term ending in 2022)

Two Director Seats (term ending in 2023)

The candidates for these positions are:

Candidate for President: Sarah Calhoun, from     Missouri            

Candidate for First Vice President: Maria Hansen (incumbent),    from              New York          

Candidate for Second Vice President: Deb Cook Lewis (incumbent), from              Washington      

Candidate for Treasurer: Maria Kristic, from New York          

Candidates for Director:

Robert Acosta, from California          

Margie Donovan, from California          

There are also two proposed amendments to the GDUI Bylaws to be voted upon during this election.                                       

Proposal 1 of 2: Add the words within brackets – 6.08-2-e_

“(e) Has missed three (3) or more [regular Board] meetings in any twelve month period without being excused.”

Rationale:  Section 6.08(2) deals with grounds for removal of a Director/Officer.  Paragraph (2e) refers to “regular” Board meetings which are scheduled well in advance.  It does not refer to “special” Board meetings which may be called with as little as two (2) days’ notice.

Proposal 2 of 2:  Add the below sentence at the end of 5.10(4):

“In the extraordinary event the Annual GDUI convention does not occur, the aforementioned transition shall take place on July 15in the year of election.” 

Rationale: GDUI needs to be prepared for the smooth transition of leadership under any extraordinary circumstance.

Section 5.10(4) currently reads:

“(4) Except in cases where persons join the Board to fill vacancies, the term of service for all Officers, Directors, or Appointees shall begin at the close of the annual GDUI convention in the year of election and shall end at the close of the annual GDUI convention in the year that elects and qualifies their successors.”

Any current GDUI member may request a copy of the candidate biographies from the Nominations Committee Chair at the following address: director5@guidedogusersinc.org.

The 2020 GDUI Elections will commence Saturday, May 30, 2020 12:00 AM (EDT) and conclude on Sunday, June 7, 2020 at 11:59 PM (EDT).

GDUI members who have paid their dues by the record date of April 9, 2020 are eligible to vote in this election. Each member has one vote.

GDUI must receive the votes of fifteen percent of the members entitled to vote in this election, or at least sixty votes, for this election to be valid.

Voting System  

Once again this year VoteNow will be handling our election.  GDUI members will have the option of voting either telephonically or online.

Your old voter ID number will no longer be valid.  Next week, , members will receive new voter ID numbers.  either by e-mail or postcard directly from VoteNow.  Please watch your inboxes and mailboxes for this important information.  No one else at GDUI will have access to your personal ID number so, if you misplace that new number, you may call a designated person at VoteNow to retrieve that information. You will also receive the number for telephonic voting and the link to the online ballot.

Many thanks to this year’s GDUI Nominating Committee:

Dixie Sanderson (Chair)

Cynthia Hawkins

Pauline Lamontagne

Deb Trevino

We hope to spend time with you at Thursday evening’s Candidates’ Forum, and at our Saturday afternoon GDUI Board meeting. Meanwhile, check out all of the amazing opportunities to connect with others on the increasingly expanding menu  of ZOOM calls, have fun planning your participation in the many intriguing activities at the ACB and GDUI Convention, wash your hands, pet your dog instead of touching your face, be well, and stay safe! Thank you for your support and friendship.

Thank you for reading and sharing our Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! We welcome your feedback and your involvement in our organization. Thank you for your friendship and support.

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Connect with GDUI

Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

Our Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/.

Our Facebook group can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GDUINC/.

Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com:

http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.

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: chat+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link:

business+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Penny Reeder

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

Election News!

Were you there on Saturday for GDUI’s first Candidates’ Forum in the lead-up to our 2020 Election, scheduled to begin on May 30? If you missed it; or if you want to listen again to our candidates’ excellent responses to the questions which members and our Nominating Committee posed; or learn about the two proposed amendments to our bylaws,  which will also be on the ballot; or if you simply want to refresh your memory about how our universally accessible election will proceed, you can listen to the Zoom recording by following the link below. Remember to submit the password when you log in.

Topic: GDUI 2020 Candidate Forum 1

Start Time: Apr 25, 2020 12:52 PM

Meeting Recording:

https://zoom.us/rec/share/1O9_Ea_gyl1LHrPux0HRWOkoNJuiT6a82yYd-vcLnR5mCmg555iJ3UIBhWaj0SwC

Access Password: 2m?Yy=D6

A second Candidates’ Forum will be scheduled on Thursday, May 21, at 8:00 p.m. We will share the Zoom information for that meeting in an announcement which will arrive in your in box closer to that date.

To access our candidates’ biographies and other information submitted to the GDUI Nominating Committee,, to read the full text of our proposed amendments, to remind yourselves of important dates and other election-related information, visit this page on our web site: https://guidedogusersinc.org/category/gdui-2020-election-news/

Convention News!

In case you haven’t heard the news, ACB’s Conference and Convention and GDUI’s 2020 Convention will be held in cyberspace this summer! Here is the statement which the ACB Board of Directors shared with members in late March.

The American Council of the Blind (ACB) Board of Directors voted unanimously to forego its annual conference and convention in Schaumburg, Illinois, amidst the growing concerns about the novel coronavirus crisis. During a special meeting convened by the board on March 30^th, the elected leadership moved to explore ways in which members, partners, and stakeholders can continue to meet virtually through an engaging and enlightening experience.

“The health and safety of our members continue to be the leading voice that has guided us,” said ACB president Dan Spoone. “I’m proud of the thoughtful deliberation each board member gave to this difficult decision and the hard work our team in Alexandria and Minneapolis undertook to assure that the interests of those we serve remain paramount.”

Nonprofits around the country have faced similar challenges these recent weeks, and such difficult decisions have brought forward a wealth of resources and strategies about holding effective virtual conferences. ACB staff and volunteers are committed to assure the experience will pull from these best practices in a manner that is both innovative and accessible.

“While some official business will have to be put on hold, we’ll continue to virtually provide many of the valuable programs and break-out sessions that make the ACB conference and convention the greatest gathering in our country for Americans who are blind and visually impaired,” said ACB executive director Eric Bridges. “The support from our leaders and corporate stakeholders has been overwhelming, and we can’t wait to have them join us for what will be an event that will be forever etched into ACB’s history.”

According to ACB’s constitution and bylaws, official business must be held in person. This means elections and other official matters will be put on hold until the 2021 convention in Phoenix. However, ACB’s convention planning committee is already exploring ways to hold virtual programming, exhibits, special-interest meetings and even door prizes through a variety of innovative formats. For more information on this year’s convention, visit www.acbconvention.org.

GDUI is excited about our virtual convention! Our convention committee has already invited several of the speakers whom we had lined up for presentations in Illinois to present on interesting topics via Zoom and ACB Radio. We are looking forward to welcoming even more guide dog users to our virtual convention – and no one will need to buy a plane ticket or make a hotel reservation. (You can even attend in your jammies! – We won’t care!)

We won’t be exchanging hugs – except for the virtual kind – or hanging out in the guide dog relief area this summer. We’ll have to supply our own luncheon, and there’s no GDUI auction this year. Product sales will be on hold until 2021. But …

Our Summer Raffle is still on!

Her name, which  pays homage to the virtual nature of the convention this year, will cause you to remember the 2020 way of family gatherings, doing business, learning, visiting with friends, and how Charlie gets his dogs to put a move on. She is ready to guide GDUI in to this new decade and her way in to your home and heart!

Introducing Zoom!!

She is a black and tan German shepherd beauty.  About two feet tall, is  in a sitting position with her ears up and mouth open in a big doggie smile. Zoom’s tag has been wood burnt with her name and she has her own leash.  Of course, she proudly wears a magnificent,  hand-crafted, Hava Original  leather  harness!

Getting tickets is the same  as in the past with the exception of in-person sales- there will be none of that!

Important information:

Tickets are 3 for $5 or 7 for $10.

Get them as a gift to yourself or use as gifts for others- These tickets are terrific for all gift giving occasions (Mother’s day, Graduation, Father’s Day, birthdays, appreciation gifts for hosts, thank you gifts for stylists and groomers, don’t forget your in-laws or that impossible to purchase for relative or friend).  Anyone can purchase, so have your friends and family buy some for you if self-gifting is not your style; their ticket purchases increase your  chances and support GDUI all at the same time.  A true WIN WIN all around!

You can purchase by calling Sara Calhoun at 866.799.8436

Or on our website at: https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-2020-convention-raffle-tickets/

(There are some very cute photos of Ms. Zoom on that page, so share with your family and friends – They won’t be able to resist buying some extra tickets and increasing your – or their – chances of bringing Zoom home!)

The winning ticket will be drawn on Tuesday, July 8 during the second session of the program.  Of course, the winner does not need to be attending to win.

We are so grateful to Hava for once again supporting GDUI and creating another Hava Original pup to want and love!

Best,

Your GDUI 2020 Convention Program Planning Team

What’s one more thing we’re not giving up on this summer?  Our Awards, of course!

we plan to honor those special people who support GDUI, who share all the important reasons we love and depend on our dogs in print and audio and other media formats, and who make all our lives with our guide dogs easier and better! Here’s a message from Charlie Crawford, Chair of the GDUI Awards Committee.

Hello fellow GDUI members and friends,

Can anyone think of anything good to say about the Covid-19 virus?  We are all familiar with the saying, when life hands you a lemon, make Lemonade!  Well, Covid-19 has prompted our governments to tell us to stay at home and not go anywhere or collect in groups greater than just a few people.  So where is the Lemonade?  I suspect that most of us are busy on our computers or smart phones and wondering what we might do next?  Well, this is a golden opportunity to nominate someone for the Lieberg-Metz, the Ethel Bender, and – or the GDUI Moffitt – Gleitz Award! 

To help you to do it, I am extending the period for nominations for our awards until May 1, 2020!  Now let’s see what awards are there and how can you submit a nomination?

First there is the Lieberg – Metz Award which honors a person or persons who have greatly influenced our guide dog  working in positive ways!  This award was given last year to Ms. Ann Chiappetta for her publications of poetry and guidance in her written works.  Our first Lieberg – Metz winner was the long Time Braille Forum Editor and GDUI Juno Report pioneer, Mr. Nolan Crabb.

Our second award is the Moffitt – Gleitz Award.  This award is given out to a Blind person(s) who has or have been exemplary in their contributions to the welfare of guide dog teams and deserve the recognition of GDUI for what they have done.  Last year, GDUI honored Mr. James A. Kutsch Jr. for his long life of contributions to the well-being of Blind persons in general and Guide Dog teams in particular.  From his development of the first talking computer to his many years as President of the Seeing Eye Inc, Jim has done nothing less than demonstrate the wonderful contributions that can be made by a really exceptional person.

Lastly, our GDUI Ethel Bender  Award is open to sighted persons who have done so much to assist GDUI in our mission to protect and further the work of our wonderful guides.  Last year’s winner was Ms. Cheryl Lawyer whose many years of service to Blind persons and to Guide Dog puppy raisers and training programs has truly been beneficial to all Guide Dog teams.

Now that you have read about what needs to be done, I know you are asking how does it get done?  Could not be easier!  All you have to do is send me an e-mail to CCrawford@RCN.Com and let me know which award you are nominating who for and your reasons for doing so.  Make sure you have your name and e-mail address in the nomination so I can get back to you, and guess what?  To make it all even easier, I have extended the deadline for submitting the nominations until May 1, 2020 which now gives you an additional few days to get that e-mail to me!

Please do consider who you would like to nominate and we really can use some nominations for the Moffitt – Gleitz and the Lieberg – Metz awards.

I Thank you for reading this and for the nominations you may submit. 

 All my best,

 Charles Crawford: Chair: GDUI Awards Committee.

A Message from Deb! Don’t miss The April GDUI Juno Report! 

So much has happened since our last Juno Report. So we have diverted from our usual format to bring you excerpts from a recent conference call sponsored by GDUI and BPI called Entertaining Your dog. We learned lots of ways to keep your dog motivated and entertained and manageable during this stressful time. More resources were shared than we had time to air, so we’ll be following up on those and sharing in upcoming publications and Juno episodes. Thanks to the 45 or so dogs with their people who attended.

The Juno report airs on ACB Radio Mainstream on Thursdays at 4 and 7 AM/PM and on Sunday at 9PM and Monday at 12AM, 9AM, and 12PM. All times are eastern.

The podcast comes out in about two weeks. Subscribe in Itunes at:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gdui-juno-report/id1107836850

Wags to all of you.

Deb

Have you ever used the Be My Eyes app?

I have used it several times and, each time, found it to be very helpful. Last summer, I called a Be My Eyes volunteer to identify a huge, beautiful flower that surprised me by popping up in front of my house. I’ve called on Be My Eyes several time to ask a volunteer to read me from the package that contained a mysterious entrée from Trader Joe’s. And, once I called to see if what I remembered about the color of my tee shirt was accurate. It wasn’t!

People also call Be My Eyes to get information about a topic they want to know more about. A topic like “Blindness!” That’s how ACB will be assisting Be My Eyes callers.

Here’s an announcement from ACB Executive Director, Eric Bridges:

We are pleased to be bringing ACB onto the Be My Eyes platform as a “Specialized Help” provider. This means that anyone in the US who needs to communicate with an ACB expert can now initiate a video call directly through the Be My Eyes app and have their call routed simultaneously to our team.

This amazing tech is not only going to boost our efficiency in supporting members and prospective members (being able to solve problems faster, in many cases, by looking at them), but it will also allow us to ensure that calls are answered promptly in all cases.

Be My Eyes has a massive global platform and will be communicating our partnership far and wide, so, as one of only a few blindness orgs on the platform, we are leading the way for others. Currently their partners include big names like Google, Microsoft and P&G so we are in good company on the Specialized Help provider list (only visible in the US) and will be visible under the “Blindness Organizations” category on the Specialized Help screen.

We are thrilled to be signing on and hope that this increased connectivity will be of great benefit not only during this difficult remote period, but will go on to show its value in the future as well!

The Seeing Eye offers suggestions to sighted pedestrians to Help guide dog Users maintain a safe distance from other pedestrians while working our dogs! Let’s share this advice far and wide, with family and friends, so that we can all travel safely and flatten the Coronavirus Curve for everyone.

[From: https://morristowngreen.com/2020/03/26/seeing-eye-give-guide-dogs-and-their-masters-extra-distance-during-pandemic/]

Seeing Eye: Give guide dogs and their masters extra distance during pandemic

…The Seeing Eye suggests the following:

• Always remember, distracting a Seeing Eye dog can make its owner vulnerable to harm.
• Guide dogs don’t understand social distancing. Please help keep a safe distance by staying six feet away.
• Please don’t let your pet near a guide dog, even if your pet is leashed. Even allowing your pet to visit or “say hi,” for just a moment, can cause the guide dog to lose focus on the important job he has to do.
• It’s helpful to let a person who is blind know that you are nearby and tell them if you have a dog with you.
• Do not pet the guide dog, call the dog’s name, make eye contact, feed or talk to the dog. It’s always best to treat the dog as if he is not there.
• Do not shout directions, take the person by the arm or interrupt them, especially when they are crossing the street. Always ask the person if they need help first.

Good Advice from Cecelia Warren, GEB grad and disaster-preparedness expert from the Maryland Department of Disabilities: Thanks to Becky Davidson and Cecelia for sharing these Pointers for making Ourselves and our dogs Ready for Emergencies while We Shelter at Home during the pandemic.

1. In addition to frequent hand washing, also wipe down high touch points such as the leash and harness handle. Handlers are constantly touching other surfaces, but we always return to pick up the leash and harness. This advice applies to door knobs, cane grips, remote controls, and other objects you frequently touch.
   In the event that the dog has to stay with a sitter, have a bag packed with essentials- food, bowls, dog medicine, photo of dog (in case the dog goes missing), monthly preventatives, nylabone/toy (optional). Draft, save, print a set of instructions for the sitter. Include veterinarian name, location, contact info.
2. Contact the veterinarian, in advance, and put a credit card on file. If your dog needs treatment or meds while you are in quarantine, your sitter will not be reluctant to call the veterinarian. No worries about who will pay the bill.
3. If your dog’s medications need refill, do it now.
4. Purchase extra dog food now. If additional restrictions are placed on travel, commerce and supply chain interruptions could occur and make it impossible to find.
5. Arrange for possible sitters now, while you are healthy. I know of service dog handlers who live in congregate settings where visitors are not permitted during quarantine or shelter in place. There is no one able to take the service dog out for walks or breaks.
6. Perhaps puppy raisers or puppy sitters in the local region can assist with caring for the guide dog if the handlers family or friends cannot help. Reach out to them through your school or on Facebook. Get to know these wonderful people who volunteer to raise our guide dogs.
7. This is not a formal protocol- but I make these suggestions after many *disasters*. 

I am sure there will be those who don’t want to have their credit card on file with their veterinarian. The credit card does not make one pay for unauthorized charges. My dog is my responsibility. If I asked anyone to care for my dog I would want them to take him to the vet if he became ill. Veterinarians are not like primary care docs that let you pay the balance after your insurance pays their part. Vets need to be paid at time of service. Out of respect for the veterinarian and the puppy sitter- I think it’s a good practice not to make money an issue. Anyway, that’s my spin. Take good care of yourself and try to avoid people for a while.

Accessible COVID-19 Surveys: Share your experiences with people and organizations who need to know our community better!

The American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) is conducting a confidential, real-time online assessment of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on healthcare and healthcare access among persons with a range of disabilities. AAHD has developed the COVID-19 & Disability Survey to collect and analyze that data.

AAHD is asking organizations to share the survey broadly amongst constituents and to encourage members to take it ASAP.

Please use this link (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/COVID-19-Disability) in your listservs, newsletters, social media platforms, and other print and electronic dissemination strategies to help reach the most people. The survey will be open from April 17^th, 2020 to May 1^st, 2020.

Make sure your voice is heard by participating in a study investigating experiences of adults who are blind or have low vision during the COVID-19 pandemic. Major community organizations and companies have joined forces to collect feedback on how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the lives of adults with visual impairments and to identify solutions for these challenges. Participants will have the opportunity to share their experiences in the following areas:
• Healthcare
• Transportation
• Employment
• Education
• Social experiences
• Access to meals, food, and supplies
• Voting

Take the survey at:

https://flatteninaccessibility.com/

This survey is open to anyone over age 18 with a visual impairment in the United States.

The World Blind Union (WBU) has developed a short survey to identify challenges faced by blind and partially sighted persons during the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.

WBU is undertaking this survey to understand how best to advocate for blind and partially sighted persons to ensure that COVID-19 response strategies are inclusive and accessible.

The survey can be completed in less than 20 minutes and it is available in English, French, and Spanish. 

WBU recognizes the unprecedented challenges emerging from this pandemic and is taking the opportunity to learn and establish practical solutions and best practices for the future. We realize that your needs and solutions may vary from country to country and we want to learn from your experiences and define best strategies to overcome the pandemic. We are confident that information and data collected will become a powerful tool for our advocacy efforts among governments, UN agencies and key stakeholders.

Your testimonies will also enable us to understand how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting your day-to-day life. The learnings and practical solutions gathered will be shared widely for the benefit of our community. We want to ensure that your voices are heard, and no one is left behind.

Please take a few minutes to fill out this important survey and circulate it widely to your networks. The survey link is: https://forms.gle/d5NEs7yVPgS14h2Y7

If you encounter any difficulties or accessibility issues while completing the survey, please kindly contact us at info@wbu.ngo. Please also note that we may contact you to follow up on some of your responses.

Thank you in advance for your collaboration.

Terry Mutuku

Communications and Strategic Development Officer

World Blind Union

Survey Time!

Are you looking to find new ways to fill the time during these long shelter-in-place days and nights? Maybe you have overdosed on Netflicks and Disney-Plus? Maybe you need a distraction to keep you from making another quick jaunt across the kitchen floor to open the refrigerator door. Or – even better! – maybe you’re looking for a way to help the researchers and organizations whose missions involve helping those of us who are blind to live better, safer, more fulfilling lives. How about spending some productive time completing several  blindness-related surveys!  

Calling all adult Braille Display users!

I hope you are all safe and sound! This email is an invitation to blind and low-vision adults, age 18 and older, to join me in helping to make Braille displays more useful and life changing by taking this brief 23 question survey. We want to know what annoys you when using Braille Displays. In return you will be entered into a drawing for an Amazon.com gift card.

You have until April 30, 2020,  to complete the survey.

Simply click here to take the survey, https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/W982W8S.

At Vispero, we want to make innovative solutions that change lives! To do so, we believe we need to listen to our users and understand their needs. Therefore this is your chance to tell us what improvements need to be made in Braille displays! Your input is directly shared with designers and project managers, and will be integrated into our products.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help us make products that change lives! Please stay safe!

 Joel Persinger

UX Manager

17757 US Hwy 19 N #560, Clearwater, FL 33764

T: 727.803.8000

JPersinger@vispero.com

www.vispero.com

HELP US IMPROVE YOUR EXPERIENCE OF ACCESSIBLE ONLINE SHOPPING

Hello,
We’re master students at the University of Washington doing a research
project looking into blind and/or visually impaired people’s
experience with online shopping activities. We want to know what’s
working well and what needs improvement. We need your help!

What participants are we looking for?
Our ideal participants are those who identify as blind or visually
impaired and have done online shopping previously.

What will I be doing in a study?
We will conduct a phone or Zoom online interview. We are going to ask
you some questions mainly related to your shopping experience.

How long will it take?
The session will take about 45 minutes.

Will I be compensated for participation?
We will offer a $15 Visa Gift Card as compensation to show our
gratitude for your participation.

How will the transcript of the interview be used?
We understand this is a sensitive topic. We want to ensure that any
collected information will be anonymized and is only for our research
project.

How do I sign up?
If you’re interested or have any questions, please feel free to reach
out to Yagmur by email at yerten@uw.edu or text/call at 202-390-3275.

Dear friends in blindness, 

As part of a collaborative research project, our small NYU-based team is recruiting interview participants to discuss different aspects of web development with a screen reader. Specifically, we would like to interview blind adults that have some web development experience (novice to expert welcome). Interviews will be conducted via zoom and will take no more than one hour. Participants will receive 25$ Amazon eGift Cards as honorarium. If you are interested, please contact Claire Kearney-Volpe at claire.kv@nyu.edu.

 Kindly, 

 Claire Kearney-Volpe and Chancey Fleet

Study on mentoring and career advancement

 My name is Tonika L. East, and I am a doctoral student in Leadership and Professional Practice at Trevecca Nazarene University. I am conducting an online study investigating mentoring and career advancement for individuals with blindness and/or visual impairments (B/VI) and how mentoring relationships affect employment outcomes. I am looking for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, over the age of 18 and who have held at least one job, to participate in my study.

This study consists of an online survey, which should take you about 30 minutes to complete. All of your responses will be anonymous and confidential. There will be an additional opportunity at the end of the online survey to participate in a follow-up focus group or interview.

To begin the study, please go to: https://www.research.net/r/blindmentor

If you have any questions before, during or after the study, feel free to contact me at 615.568.2613 or by email at tleast@trevecca.edu.

 Thank you in advance for your participation in my doctoral research project.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University invite you to participate in a survey  as part of research on supporting navigation and orientation by people with vision impairments. For this study, participants will be asked to complete a 30- minute survey about their navigation experiences. To be eligible to participate, you must be blind or visually impaired, at least 18 years old, a US resident, and navigate to somewhere new at least once per month.  Participants who complete the survey will be compensated $10. Participation is completely voluntary.

More information about the survey, and the survey itself, can be found at this link:

https://cmu.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VF2uspshol3p4h?fbclid=IwAR3yK2LZs_EOCbYf0rKpGjEBLuHGoqbweDxuS55BChHx46HekJO_pu_n6ao

Risks

The risks and discomfort associated with participation in this study are no greater than those ordinarily encountered in daily life or during other online activities.

Benefits

There may be no personal benefit from your participation in the study, but the knowledge received may be of value to humanity. The knowledge received from this study could help researchers better understand how to design interactive tactile ground surface indicators.

Compensation & Costs

You will receive $10 for your successful completion of the survey for this study. The payment will be made available as an Amazon gift card that can be redeemed. 

There will be no cost to you if you participate in this study.

Right to Ask Questions & Contact Information

 If you have any questions about this study, you should feel free to ask them by contacting the Principal Investigator now at Patrick Carrington, Assistant Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, 407 S. Craig Street, Room 201, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, Phone: (412) 268-6541, Email: pcarrington@cmu.edu. If you have questions later, desire additional information, or wish to withdraw your participation please contact the Principal Investigator by mail, phone or e-mail in accordance with the contact information listed above. 

Dogs join fight against COVID-19 by learning how to detect the virus

[From: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/dogs-join-fight-against-covid-19-b
y-learning-how-to-detect-the-virus-1.4893325] Published Sunday, April 12, 2020 9:52PM EDT

TORONTO — A British charity which has successfully trained dogs to detect
malaria is now attempting to train their canine sniffers to detect COVID-19.

Medical Detection Dogs, a charity in London, U.K. has partnered with the
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to initiate trials that will
train dogs how to sniff out the coronavirus

Dr. Claire Guest, the behavioural psychologist behind the charity, told CTV
News she is confident in these canines’ ability to help combat the spread of
the virus.

“We already train dogs in the past. absolutely no reason why a dog can’t
detect the virus,” Guest said.

Four years ago, CTV News’ Sandie Rinaldo saw first-hand how these dogs are
trained to detect serious illnesses such as prostate cancer, Parkinson’s
disease and malaria.

Kiwi, a three-year-old golden retriever at the time, showed his skills by
sniffing various negative samples of a patient with prostate cancer and one
positive sample. Within minutes, Kiwi stopped and
attentively sat in front of the positive sample.

Kiwi and other dogs in the program have been trained to be more than 80 per
cent accurate. The same structure of trial is being used to teach dogs how
to sniff human samples that have been treated in
advance for COVID-19.

“The person will be breathing out, there’ll be a lot of odour around the
body that the dog can detect, the dog has to learn that smell,” said Guest.

Upon successful trials, Guest said the dogs will be vital in detecting those
who have the virus but are not exhibiting symptoms, which could be extremely
useful when screening travellers entering the U.K.

The U.K. has faced several weeks of lockdown already, with more than 85,000
cases of the virus, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who
spent a few days in the ICU earlier this week, but
has since been released.

Research into whether dogs can sniff out COVID-19 is based on previous
research into dogs’ ability to sniff out malaria and is based on a belief
that each disease triggers a distinct odour. (AFP)

More Help with Zoom

Hello. So many of us are spending more time in our homes. Some of us may be working from home while others, though they may not currently be employed, are using their technology even more. So many individuals and organizations are hosting conferences using the Zoom Cloud Meetings platform. Many people are receiving invitations to these conferences and are finding themselves using Zoom for the first time. While Zoom is very accessible with screen readers, there’s still a lot to learn, and many of us have questions that we would like answers to. 

To that end I have created a mailing list for people to ask questions and to provide support on how to use the Zoom program. I currently have just two rules that I’d like all users to follow. 

1. All messages should be relevant to Zoom. This can include Zoom on Windows, Mac, iOS or Android. 
2. Harassment or rudeness of any kind will not be tolerated. 

To join the group, send an email to 

zoom-users+subscribe@groups.io

To send a message to the group the email address to use is 

zoom-users@groups.io

Happy Zooming! 

David Goldfield,

Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist

JAWS Certified, 2019

WWW.DavidGoldfield.org

We hope you have enjoyed our fourth issue of “Paws for GDUI News You Can Use.” Remember, this is your magazine, if you are a guide dog user, whether a member of a guide dog team or just beginning to think about getting a guide dog of your own, our goal is to reach out to you, add to your knowledge about living and working with guide dogs, answer your questions, keep you interested, and to make you feel included as a member of the largest guide dog-related membership organization in the United States. We welcome your submissions and your feedback! Send e-mail to us here: Editor@Guidedogusersinc.org. Or, call our office, and Sarah will help you get in touch with us by phone.

We know that these anxiety-filled days and nights are hard for you and your dog. They’re hard on us, and on Anders and Willow too. We enjoyed our community conference call on the topic of Keeping Our Dogs Entertained During Shelter-at-Home. If you missed it, do check it out on the April GDUI Juno Report! And, make plans to attend future GDUI calls. We’re planning another call, this one focusing on grooming our dogs while sheltering at home. Watch our web site and our lists for an announcement regarding time and Zoom access, and look for our call listed on ACB Community Conference Calls schedules. The number of ACB community calls continues to expand, as does the diversity of topics. The calls, offered many times during day time and evening hours, offer a wonderful opportunity to connect with others who are blind and visually impaired. Often it is connections like these that help all of us get through troubled times.

Visit this page on ACB’s web site to learn more about upcoming calls, and to subscribe to the list where Zoom access information is shared for daily scheduled calls: https://acb.org/ACB-community-conference-calls .

We want to highlight one more upcoming GDUI event, and that involves our up-to-date guide dog school surveys! We expect to have the updated surveys online within the next couple of weeks. Vickie Curley, our Guide Dog Schools Liaison, and Cynthia Hawkins and Dixie Sanderson, both GDUI Board members, spent countless hours contacting, re-contacting, and sometimes re-re-contacting guide dog schools and training programs to assure that the information we publish is updated and reliable! When the schools open for business again, the surveys will be so valuable for helping us compare the various programs and approaches to training so that, when we’re ready for a new guide dog, we can choose the training program that’s the best match for our personal preferences and needs. The data collection is complete, the spread sheets have been created, and we expect to be handing the documents to Steve for uploading to our web site within the next week or two.

Thank you for reading and sharing our Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! We welcome your feedback and your involvement in our organization. Thank you for your friendship and support.

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Connect with GDUI

Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

Our Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/.

Our Facebook group can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GDUINC/.

Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com:

http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.

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: chat+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link:

business+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org

A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Penny Reeder

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

From the President: Coronavirus and Us

As I think about the nightmare that virtually every one of us is living through while the outbreak of COVID-19 expands exponentially all across the world and the number of related deaths increases with every morning tally, I feel like everything I might say has already been voiced by all of us, in every headline, at the center of every waking or sleeping  nightmare, in conversations with family members and friends, parents and siblings and children… What else can I say that will help us cope, that can unravel how we could have arrived at this terrifying point in our history, that can quell the waves of panic that take our breath away and cloud our judgment and assault our spirit. How can GDUI offer any kind of helpful perspective, or strategy, or comfort?

Like all of you, I am overwhelmed. Like all of you, I do all that I can to keep myself and my family and those whom I care about safe. We all wash our hands incessantly. Armed with spray disinfectant and sanitizing wipes, we clean in ways that would make rehab teachers proud. We shelter in place and ask our guide dogs to declare work holidays and shelter along with us. We fight against despair, struggle to find hope, and want to reach out to every one we love and wrap all of you in cloaks of immunity.

Doing our best to provide help and support to all of you, Andrea and I have included many announcements and several articles and links to articles about the pandemic. We hope that the information we share here is helpful. The only other thing to say is that we will be brave, as we know all of you, and especially all of our guide dogs, will, and  we will tell one another more often than we might have even a month ago, that we care. We treasure our relationships with you, and we want you, and everyone you love, to be well, and safe.

Sincerely,

Penny

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Sheltering in Place: Distractions, Diversions, Advice, and Suggestions

We are all in various situations that involve sheltering in place. If you are a person deemed essential, because the job you do support those of us who are staying in to keep as many people as possible safe and to flatten the curve, we have so much gratitude for your heroism and dedication to the survival of our communities. Thank you. We are praying for your safety and well being.

If you and your guide dog are sheltering in place, yourselves, we have some suggestions that will, we hope, help you manage these long days and nights of enforced social distancing.

You could, for example, attend and participate in our March GDUI board meeting. We welcome your attendance and your interest in the work we do to support guide dog users and their dogs and make life better for everyone in our community. And, our board meeting could serve as a diversion, at least for a couple of hours! Here’s the Zoom invitation to our meeting. We hope you’ll come and join us.

Guide Dog Users, Inc. is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

 Topic: GDUI Board Meeting

Time: Mar 28, 2020 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/562675137

Meeting ID: 562 675 137

One tap mobile

+16465588656,,562675137# US (New York)

+13126266799,,562675137# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US

+1 301 715 8592 US

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID: 562 675 137

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/adkoW2kadE

Keeping our Guide Dogs Entertained and Interested as We Shelter in Place: An Opportunity to Share, in an Online and Telephonic Conversation with Guide Dog Users from Across the Country!

hosted by Guide Dog users Inc. and Blind LGBT Pride International

Tuesday, March 31, 8:00 PM eT, 5:00 PM PT and 2:00 PM HT

To join the call visit: https://zoom.us/j/2064346480

One tap mobile: 16699006833,,2064346480#

Phone: 669 900 6833       

Meeting ID: 206 434 6480#

We’ve been talking about all kinds of strategies for humans as we cope with the virus, but what about our guide dogs? Do you and they have the resources you need to keep things going? How is your dog coping with the new routine and new environment? Come share your resources and challenges, ask questions, receive tips from our panel and others on the call. We know your dog wants you to come, so gather up your leash, some toys and some treats and join us Tuesday evening! Oh and bring some friends — canine or human — All are welcome.

The call will be recorded and will be edited to include as part of the April GDUI Juno Report, so don’t worry if you can’t make it, but we hope you can!

Tuesday Topics Returns to ACB Radio with Discussion of the NovelCorona Virus from a Blindness Perspective.

Here’s a message from Paul Edwards, long-time host of Tuesday Topics. We’re so glad the show is back on ACB Radio, and we encourage all of you to join Paul and others who are blind in this timely discussion.

Paul’s message:

The first show will be about our experience with the virus. However, we want to focus on how blind people are equipped to cope with the pandemic. What advantages do we as blind people have dealing with the virus? What disadvantages operate for us? What could make coping easier? What are we most concerned about from the perspective of people who are
blind?

These are just some of the questions that we will explore when Tuesday Topics once again takes to the net. We will be using Zoom and we will be live! Try to get to the meeting by 7:45 so we have an idea of who is with us before we go live on ACB mainstream. I am overjoyed to have Rick Morin as my co-host for this series. Without him, this wouldn’t be happening!

Zoom allows folks to call in using their computers, using an app on their mobile phones or dialing in using either a mobile phone or a land line. If you are using your computer, go to  https://zoom.us/j/726965427. If you have downloaded the zoom app on your mobile phone you can join the meeting using the app  by opening the app and then by going to join meeting and then typing in the code 726965427. Then go to join again and double tap it. You will then be given the opportunity to connect using internet audio. Double tap that and you are connected. Make sure your audio is not muted and please use a head set so there isn’t a lot of feedback as you listen! Either using your mobile phone or a land line you can connect just as if you were dialing into a regular conference call. There are several available call in numbers but I will include only two; one from New York and one from California.

These should get you in. From New York dial 929.436.2866 and enter the code 726965427 followed by the pound key. You may be asked for another code but just hit the pound key again and you will be joined into the meeting. The same approach applies to the California number which is 669.900.6833 and the code is 726965427 followed by the pound key. After that, if you need to, hit pound again and you will be with us. Keep these numbers because they will apply to future Tuesday Topic shows every Tuesday. If you just want to listen, you can hear us on ACB Mainstream every Tuesday at 8 PM Eastern time with a repeat at 8 AM on Wednesdays and at other times during the week which will be announced on the ACB radio schedule. . Join us on March 31 at 8 PM East  tern daylight time or by 7:45 if you want to participate with us! Your opinion is a valuable resource! Share it!
Paul Edwards 

Support and Advice from ACB

At a time when our country is in a state of social distancing and government ordered or personal self-isolating, your ACB family has opportunities for you to connect with others from the comfort of your home.

 Here’s a list of ACB-affiliate-sponsored conference calls that are scheduled for up-coming days and evenings. Stay in touch with your ACB community, and please share this information widely with blind and visually impaired people you know, whether or not they are members of ACB or GDUI. We are all in this extraordinary situation together!.

 Saturday, March 28 – 8pm ET, 5pm PT, 2pm HT

Join Blind Information Technology Specialists for their Saturday night chat. These chats are informal opportunities for members and friends to get together and visit about whatever participants want to talk about. To join the call, visit https://zoom.us/j/356588666 or dial (646) 558-8656 and enter 356588666# as the meeting ID. You can also tap +16465588656,,356588666# to dial directly from your mobile device.

Saturday, March 28 – 9pm ET, 6pm PT, 3pm HT

Join President, Dan Spoone and Executive, Director Eric Bridges for a sports chat. At a time when so many major sports activities have been postponed, bring your beverage of choice and let’s get together and share our favorite sports memory, a prediction of a trade or who will win the next World Series, Super Bowl, or Kentucky Derby, and anything else on your mind. To join the call, visit https://zoom.us/j/412324476 or dial (929) 436-2866 and enter 412324476# as the meeting ID. You can also tap +19294362866,,412324476# to dial directly from your mobile device.      

Sunday, March 29 – 8pm ET, 5pm PT, 2pm HT

Join the Audio Description Project for an audio description round table. Let’s discuss where and what to watch with audio description. To join the call, visit https://zoom.us/j/731346634 or dial (929) 436-2866 and enter 731346634# as the meeting ID. You can also tap +19294362866,,731346634# to dial directly from your mobile device.

Monday, March 30 – 8:30pm ET, 5:30pm PT, 2:30pm HT

Listen in on ACB Radio to the special meeting of the ACB Board of Directors as they discuss the current impact of COVID-19 on, and make decisions concerning, our upcoming ACB Conference and Convention. Listen via ACB Radio over the phone at 605-475-8130 or online at www.acbradio.org.

To access a schedule of up-coming conference calls, as well as useful information for coping with the pandemic, visit this updated-in-real-time link on ACB’s web site:

https://acb.org/ACB-community-conference-calls.

We look forward to connecting with you!

New to Zoom? Check out this basic demo of the Zoom platform from Mystic Access:

https://www.mysticaccess.com/download/demo-of-the-zoom-conferencing-platform/

Mosen Consulting is offering a free audiobook for those who use or are interested in the remote meeting capabilities of Zoom.
Mosen’s book, “Meet Me Accessibly, a guide to Zoom Cloud Meetings from a blindness perspective”, is available for free using the link below. According to the page, “Meet Me Accessibly is a three-hour audiobook, written and narrated by Jonathan Mosen. It takes you from the basics of attending your first Zoom meeting, all the way to content sharing of your video and audio from a computer or iDevice.”

Zoom’s free plan allows for 2-person meetings, and multi-person meetings of up to 40 minutes. Pro plans start at around $15 per user per month and enable advanced sharing and moderation features.

Source: https://mosen.org/zoom/ 

Read Your Way Through Shelter in Place!

We’ll bet that one strategy you’re already adopting to get through these long evenings of distancing ourselves from others is reading. Right? ACB’S Blind LGBT Pride international is sponsoring a virtual book club of sorts that will allow us to share with one another our recommendations for books well worth downloading from BookShare, the NLS, Audible.com, Kindle, or any number of venues for accessible books. . Here’s what you need to know about attending the Monday, March 30, meeting:

Come one… Come on to our spring book share!
As in the past, be. P. I. Is the leader in social gathering virtual book discussion/shares… And our upcoming spring book share will be better than ever!

We will share interesting reads… Discuss interesting books… And generally be there to have some amazing discussion about how to occupy our time
Join us Monday night for the BPI book party!
Do you love us for our  fun, friendly, and informative events?  Then, you will love our book discussion!

Blind LGBT Pride international is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Blind LGBT Pride international’s Spring 2020 BookShare
Time: Mar 30, 2020 09:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/496009974
Meeting ID: 496 009 974

One tap mobile
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Dial by your location
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
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Meeting ID: 496 009 974
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aWKeROkhHy

More BookSharing Resources!

Bookshare’s  collection development team has put together three special collections of books that are freely available to all people, even if they are not now BookShare members. Please feel free to help spread the word:

• Free Books for All! – a collection of 208 fiction and non-fiction books of varying grade levels
• Free Upskilling Books for All! – a collection of upskilling books for anyone who is looking to learn a new skill, prepare to go back to school, or switch careers. This collection has 147 titles.  (Particularly relevant in this economic climate.)
• Free Children’s Books for All! This is a collection of young reader books (grades 2 and below). There are 43 books in this collection. (Great for story time with younger kids being homeschooled).

An Announcement from National Braille Press Concerning Coronavirus-Related Closing and Free Digital Downloads to Help You Shelter in Place

National Braille Press’s offices are now closed until at least April 7th, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Orders of physical books, products, and ReadBooks book bags will not be processed or mailed until at least April 7th. (Email agrima@nbp.org with any concerns about orders.) Digital downloads from the bookstore will still be available during the closure.

Our sales department is available to take braille for business orders and we are gladly accepting donations online and over the phone, at 617.425.2415.

Please visit our operations update page for more details and updates.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in these difficult times.

Free downloads of three NBP titles

To help with some of the practical challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re offering free digital downloads of three relevant books, between now and April 30th: 

Dinner Delivered: Accessible and Easy Ways to Receive Meals Direct to Your Door
by Kim Loftis and Chris Grabowski

Getting Visual Assistance with an iPhone
by Judith Dixon

Navigating Healthcare, When All They Can See Is that You Can’t
by Deborah Kendrick

Downloadable formats include DAISY, BRF, and Microsoft Word. Hard copy versions of these books are also available at half price. Find help and information on downloading and using these files on our Customer Service FAQs page.

If you or someone that you know could benefit from one or all of these guides, please share this announcement with them!

DAISY Consortium Support during the Pandemic:

The DAISY Consortium along with leaders in the accessible publishing and reading ecosystem will be presenting on a diverse range of topics each week. You are invited to participate in the live webinars, or afterwards review the recording at your convenience. The system we use (Zoom) is accessible, and both the live sessions and the recordings will have captions available.

These webinars will include presentations intended for industry events such as the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in California, the London Book Fair, the Canadian Tech Forum event, as well new sessions covering announcements and innovations.

You can sign up for the latest information using our webinar only email list at: https://daisy.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35211fe5dce066db327cadb21&id=c0c0c0f413&e=d1a57669b9

The presentation topics will change each week. If a topic is of interest you can sign up using the link located below the title.

The first webinar, which will be held on April 1, 2020 is titled “Helping Higher Ed Students with access to accessible course material during the COVID-19 crisis” exploring some of the innovative considerations the industry is making to support students at this challenging time.
https://daisy.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35211fe5dce066db327cadb21&id=6d5c25a035&e=d1a57669b9

April 8, 2020 will be “Publishers Faceoff to Prove the Accessibility of their titles.”
https://daisy.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35211fe5dce066db327cadb21&id=5ef8116421&e=d1a57669b9

April 15, 2020 will be “Create EPUB publications from Word with a simple tool anyone can use”
https://daisy.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35211fe5dce066db327cadb21&id=ed4aa4d471&e=d1a57669b9

April 22, 2020 will be “Making Math Accessible, One Step at a Time”
https://daisy.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35211fe5dce066db327cadb21&id=82d339151c&e=d1a57669b9

The full list of forthcoming and archived webinars will be available at:
https://daisy.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35211fe5dce066db327cadb21&id=273052c718&e=d1a57669b9

DAISY will be keeping this webinar series running throughout 2020 as a primary mechanism to keep people up to date on developments in accessible publishing and reading. We encourage anybody with a question, suggestion, or a proposal for a webinar to contact us at:
https://daisy.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35211fe5dce066db327cadb21&id=733a99a07e&e=d1a57669b9
or email us at webinars@daisy.org
The DAISY staff will review proposals and arrange the schedule.

We look forward to receiving your feedback.
The DAISY Consortium.

Audible.com Makes hundreds of children’s titles available free to families quarantined by the Coronavirus pandemic. Genres are tailored to elementary, tween, teen, and adult listeners, as well as preschoolers. Audible has eliminated all log-in or sign-up requirements. All available titles can be accessed via desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet at stories.audible.com.

More Information and Supports for You During Shelter-in-Place

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and Pets

Thanks to GDUI First Vice President, Maria Hansen, and our New York GDUI affiliate, for sharing this helpful information from the Animal Medical Center website: amcny.org

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and Pets

Last updated: 3/6/20, 4:35pm EST

At the Animal Medical Center, we’re closely monitoring the current COVID-19 outbreak and what it means for our companion animals. We will update this page with relevant information as it becomes available, however, we recommend checking trusted government agencies for the latest updates.

Recommended Sources and Articles:

Centers for Disease Control

World Health Organization

New York Times | Coronavirus and Your Dog: No Need to Panic Yet

Can COVID-19 infect companion animals?

Short Answer: It’s unclear.

A dog in Hong Kong tested “weak positive” for COVID-19, suggesting that human-to-animal transmission might be possible. However, there is still a lot that’s unknown, and the lack of other positive results in companion animals makes it hard for researchers to answer this question definitively.

So far, the dog in Hong Kong has shown no clinical signs of infection. The dog’s owner had previously tested positive for COVID-19, and it’s believed the dog’s virus came from the owner. At this time, it’s unclear whether the dog can spread the disease or if transmission stops with the dog.

As a precaution with any infectious disease, infected humans should isolate themselves from their pets as they would with any other family member and follow the hygiene and preventive measures described below.

Can COVID-19 be transmitted by companion animals?

Short Answer: It’s highly unlikely.

At this point, there is no evidence that COVID-19 can spread from an infected companion animal to a human. However, the virus is thought to spread by contact with contaminated surfaces (which can include your pet’s fur/nose/tongue), so please follow the hygiene and preventive measures described below.

How can I protect my pet?

Since there’s no vaccine for the new coronavirus, preventive steps and preparation are the best ways to protect yourself and your pet.

Practice good hygiene to stay healthy

Wash your hands often with soap and water. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds and be sure to get the back of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.

Wash your hands after touching or playing with your pets. While there is no evidence at this time that pets can spread the coronavirus, washing hands after interacting with animals is always a good idea.   

When you don’t have access to soap and water, use a hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.

Avoid close contact with people who are sick and stay home when you aren’t feeling well.

Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and then throw the tissue in the trash.

Clean and disinfect objects and surfaces you touch often.

Create an emergency plan for your pet

Have a two-week supply of your pet’s food on hand in case you’re not able to get to the store.

Create a list of the medications your pet takes, including dosages and administration instructions. Make sure you have enough medication for at least two weeks.

Identify a trusted relative, friend, or sitter who will help care for your pet if you become ill and cannot care for your pet for a period of time.

Make sure your pet is microchipped and wearing up-to-date identification tag.

If you contract COVID-19

Restrict contact with your pet, just as you would other people.

Avoid direct contact with pets, including petting, snuggling, being kissed or licked, and sharing food.

Avoid sneezing or coughing on or near your pet.

If you must care for your pet while you are sick, wash your hands before and after you interact and wear a face mask.

Social Security Offices Closed

Effective March 17, 2020, Social Security Offices Will Only Offer Phone Service

** Online Services Remain Available **

All local Social Security offices will be closed to the public for in-person service starting Tuesday, March 17, 2020.  This decision protects the population we serve—older Americans and people with underlying medical conditions—and our employees during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  However, we are still able to provide critical services.

Our secure and convenient online services remain available at www.socialsecurity.gov.  Local offices will also continue to provide critical services over the phone.  We are working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local governments, and other experts to monitor COVID-19 and will let you know as soon as we can resume in-person service. 

If you need help from Social Security:                                                   

• First, please use our secure and convenient online services available at www.socialsecurity.gov/onlineservices. You can apply for retirement, disability, and Medicare benefits online, check the status of an application or appeal, request a replacement Social Security card (in most areas), print a benefit verification letter, and much more – from anywhere and from any of your devices.  We also have a wealth of information to answer most of your Social Security questions online, without having to speak with a Social Security representative in person or by phone. Please visit our online Frequently Asked Questions at www.socialsecurity.gov/ask.

 

• If you cannot conduct your Social Security business online, please check our online field office locator for specific information about how to directly contact your local office.  Your local office still will be able to provide critical services to help you apply for benefits, answer your questions, and provide other services over the phone.

 

• If you already have an in-office appointment scheduled, we will call you to handle your appointment over the phone instead.  If you have a hearing scheduled, we will call you to discuss alternatives for continuing with your hearing, including offering a telephonic hearing.  Our call may come from a PRIVATE number and not from a U.S. Government phone.  Please remember that our employees will not threaten you or ask for any form of payment. 

 

• If you cannot complete your Social Security business online, please call our National 800 Number at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778).  Our National 800 Number has many automated service options you can use without waiting to speak with a telephone representative.  A list of automated telephone services is available online at www.socialsecurity.gov/agency/contact/phone.html.

Vispero/Freedom Scientific Steps Up To Help!

Your health and safety are just as important to us as accessibility.
We know many of you must remain at home and will need to continue to work or
attend school remotely. To ensure that your life remains accessible we are
offering those in the US and Canada a Free Home License of JAWS, ZoomText,
or Fusion which will expire June 30, 2020.

For those outside of North America, Freedom Scientific and our international
distributors are working together to provide home solutions for our
customers during the COVID-19 crisis. Please contact your country’s
distributor if you need assistance connecting to school or work from home.
Learn more: https://portal.freedomscientific.com/SponsoredSoftware

Is my email eligible to download a license?

Type your college email address and choose Search to see if you qualify. If
you don’t have a college email address, then provide your personal email
address.

Types of Sponsored Licenses
Educational institutions in the United States with up-to-date multi-user
licenses of JAWS, ZoomText, or Fusion, are qualified. All students, faculty,
and staff with an active email address are entitled to receive free home
annual licenses for their personally owned equipment.

In addition, special licenses have been created to assist students and
workers who must remain home during the COVID-19 crisis. A free short-term
Home Annual License of JAWS, ZoomText, or Fusion (expires June 30, 2020) is
available to anyone with a personal email address in the United States and
Canada.

These products require either a Microsoft Windows 10 or 7 operating system.
Remote desktop and Citrix support are not provided. Contact Freedom
Scientific Customer Service at 727-803-8000 with any questions.

A Message from AFB Concerning Their Cancelled Leadership Conference: Listen to Selected Sessions Online.

Despite having to cancel our 2020 AFB Leadership Conference, we at AFB know that knowledge sharing is vital to our community. To that end, we are thrilled to make a select portion of our conference available, free of charge, through a series of online seminars. We’re beginning with key sessions from the 2020 AFB Leadership Conference, which will now be hosted as a mini virtual event.  

We’re so grateful to Dr. Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky for providing the first virtual session, sharing her expertise on providing remote instruction to students who are blind or low vision—a critical topic now that so many schools and organizations are moving their classes online.

We miss our AFBLC community, but we look forward to connecting online at the Virtual AFB Leadership Conference.    

Save the Date: 

“Remote Instruction and Services for Blind and Low Vision Participants”
Presented by Dr. Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky,
Technology Training and Vocational Coordinator at the Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches, Florida

Wednesday, April 1, 1:00 p.m. Eastern 

Register for the Zoom Meeting:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8_OTOq_-SkGGlNTOLcYBoQ?utm_source=AFB&utm_campaign=9e77296145-afblc2020-virtual-events&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ec813cd965-9e77296145-165282813 

We will be adding new sessions to afb.org/AFBLC once a week

Refreshments – especially those that can help us get out of bed in the morning and keep us on-task when there’s work to be done and decisions to be made – are important even, maybe especially, during Shelter-in-Place. And, it’s also helpful to plan for future happiness as we wait to return to normal times and concerns. That’s why news of this Top Dog 2021 Fund-raiser comes at the perfect time!

Missouri Guide Dog Users has teamed up with White Cane Coffee for a fundraiser! All proceeds will go towards Top Dog 2021, to be held in St. Louis, Missouri!

White Cane Coffee was started by a blind woman and brothers who are on the autistic scale. They provide work for blind and disabled individuals in their community. All coffee products are labeled in both braille and print.

By using the link below to place your order, proceeds will go to Missouri Guide Dog Users! (And, you won’t even have to leave the safety of your home to place your order.)

https://whitecanecoffee.com/ref/plm3645/

Thank you for supporting our fundraiser for Top Dog 2021! Enjoy your coffee!

 Kind regards,

Missouri Guide Dog Users

Email: topdog2021.information@gmail.com 

April 6! That’s the Last Day You Can Submit Your Comments Regarding the Rules That Will Allow Us to Fly with Our Guide Dogs.

The Department of Transportation Notice of Proposed Rule Making Regarding Flying with Service Animals: Your Comments Are Important! 

GDUI’s Advocacy and Legislative Affairs Committee and our Board of Directors have worked hard over recent weeks to prepare comments to send to the U. S. Department of Transportation regarding the Notice of Proposed Rule Making concerning dogs that will be permitted to fly onboard planes. We submitted GDUI’s comments on February 20 , and, equally important, we urge all of you to submit your own comments on the proposed rules. We cannot overstate how important it is for our community to respond to the proposed rules. According to spokespersons from the U. S. Department of Transportation, over 10,000 comments have already been submitted. The regulators need to hear from each of us, as well! The deadline for submitting comments is April 6. To read our comments and learn how to submit your own, visit this link:  https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-provides-comments-regarding-u-s-department-of-transportation-notice-of-proposed-rule-making-docket-no-dot-ost-2018-0068/

When you post your own comments, please identify yourself as a guide dog user. Use your own words. We are sharing our comments to provide guidance. Sharing your personal experiences, your individual misgivings about the proposed rules you don’t agree with, and your passion for the guide dogs who allow us to travel independently and add so much to our lives: All of these aspects of the comments you share will help regulators to understand our concerns and the priority we place on our civil right to fly, unburdened and unencumbered, with our guide dogs.

More Readings to Share.

From Your Editor

Hello,
Here’s hoping you are staying  safe, sane and smart!  It can be so difficult to stay calm and reasonable in one’s thinking with the ever changing world we currently live in.  Speaking for myself there are times, with the constant news updates and seeming lack of any other conversation topic, when I struggle to keep, what I call, the COVID Crazy at bay.

I encourage you to stay centered, if not for yourself then for the sake of your guide.  My big yellow fellow is uncertain enough as our daily work together is changing and we have fewer visitors- so he doesn’t need to deal with  my stress level going off the charts too, at least not 24-7!.

There are many opportunities for connection through new, and existing, conference calls, Zoom gatherings, and other group Distance events- so pull up a spot on the floor, cuddle your guide and join in, I even hear pants are optional!
Warmly,’

Andrea

Emotional support animals can endanger the public and make life harder for people like me who rely on service dogs

March 2, 2020 7.19am EST

Deni Elliott, University of South Florida

[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to include this informative article from our life member, Deni Elliott. The article is found here: https://theconversation.com/emotional-support-animals-can-endanger-the-public-and-make-life-harder-for-people-like-me-who-rely-on-service-dogs-131122. We welcome your opinions in response.]

In 2017, Marlin Jackson boarded a cross-country flight. When he got to his row, another passenger was already in the middle seat with an emotional support dog in his lap.

According to Mr. Jackson’s attorney, “The approximately 50-pound dog growled at Mr. Jackson soon after he took his seat…and continued as Mr. Jackson attempted to buckle his seatbelt. The growling increased and the dog lunged for Mr. Jackson’s face…who could not escape due to his position against the plane’s window.” Facial wounds requiring 28 stitches were the result.

Untrained emotional support dogs don’t just attack people. They attack highly trained service dogs, as well, sometimes ending their working lives.

I can relate. I am a visually impaired person partnering with my fourth guide dog over a 20-year period. In the past decade, I have increasingly needed to cope with clueless handlers allowing their pets to interfere with my dog’s work.

As a professor of ethics, I teach students to consider first the needs of the most vulnerable. I wish I could teach the same lesson to those who risk public safety with their ill-trained dogs, most of whom are emotional support animals, a category not recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Dogs, dogs, dogs

Over the past decade, purported emotional support animals have increasingly appeared in stores, restaurants and airports. While peacocks, pigs and kangaroos make the headlines, almost all the animals found in no-pet zones are dogs. Dog biting, barking, growling, urinating and defecating are top complaints, with one airline reporting an 84% increase in dog-related incidents from 2016-2018.

The influx of inappropriate dogs has also generated unwarranted suspicion toward the approximately 10,000 Americans who, like me, partner with legitimate, trained guide dogs.

Animal public access in the U.S. is currently governed by a

patchwork system of inconsistent laws, creating confusion for people with disabilities, citizens and, particularly, gatekeepers – the store managers, restaurant owners and building supervisors tasked with deciding which dogs should be allowed in their no-pet spaces.

In other countries, IDs are issued only to professionally trained service dogs who have demonstrated ability to behave in public. In the U.S., there is no such validation. As a result, pet owners have become increasingly brazen in fraudulently claiming their animals warrant legal public access.

Service dogs versus emotional support animals

The Department of Justice, which enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act, allows people with physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or mental impairments to have public access with service dogs who have been individually trained to perform tasks that mitigate their owners’ disabilities.

The Department of Transportation and Department of Housing and Urban Development allow service dogs on public transportation and in housing, respectively, but also grant access to people with mental and emotional disorders accompanied by emotional support animals – untrained animals who need only to contribute to their owners’ emotional well being, as any good pet would.

Technically, the individual seeking access with an emotional support animal must have certification of a mental or emotional disorder, which is a much lower standard than the disability requirement of DOJ.

Some mental health professionals have been willing to attest to an individual’s “need” for an emotional support animal without having a professional relationship with them. And none vouches for the appropriateness of specific animals.

ADA service dogs may legally accompany their handlers almost anywhere. Emotional support animals may not. For example, emotional support animals currently allowed in aircraft cabins are not legally permitted in airport shops and restaurants. Emotional support animals allowed to live in college dorms may not go with their owners to class or the cafeteria.

Online purveyors of official-looking letters, vests and patches guaranteed to get dogs access in pet-free zones take advantage of the confusion between service dogs and emotional support animals, liberally mixing the classifications. They also fail to mention that the individual seeking such accommodation must have proof of a mental disorder. This omission, itself, is an ethical problem.

A predicament for gatekeepers

Gatekeepers have to weigh the consequences of confronting an individual accompanied by a dog. Denial of access to a disabled handler with a legitimate service dog can result in a US$10,000 fine by the DOJ. The fine for a handler who falsely portrays a pet as a service dog or emotional support animal ranges from $100 to $1,000 and happens only if the handler supplies identification or waits for the police.

It is cheaper and easier for gatekeepers to just hope that questionable dogs don’t put patrons at risk. Airline attendants face a unenviable dilemma, as passengers cannot escape aggressive or stressed dogs in the tight confines of an airplane.

Change on the horizon?

There are recent signs that DOT and HUD are moving toward DOJ’s more stringent regulations. On Feb. 5, 2020, DOT opened a 60-day public comment period for a plan that would reclassify emotional support animals as pets and restrict free aircraft cabin access only to service dogs. HUD recently posted new guidelines to help housing providers better determine animal access.

In my view, more federal intervention is needed. Medical documentation of disability should be the entry point for service dog access, just as it is for handicapped parking permits. Offering a nationally recognizable ID for service dog owners who voluntarily provide documentation would eliminate some fraud.

Ideally, a dog’s ability to behave appropriately in public should be proven prior to access and affirmed annually by testers, who use a public access test to verify a dog’s manners and handling of disability-specific tasks, such as that developed by Assistance Dogs International or those performed by all U.S. guide dog schools.

Some argue documentation and testing is burdensome or a violation of disabled people’s civil rights. But physicians, who diagnose ADA-defined disabilities, already provide their patients verification for state and federal benefits. Behavior tests assure handlers their dogs can work in stressful situations. And ensuring public safety protects the civil rights of all people.

Worried about your guides in this uncertain time?

[Editor’s Note: Here is something from the CDC.]

Worried about your pets and COVID-19?

Pets are part of the family – it’s natural to be worried about their health and safety during an outbreak. Here’s what we know so far about pets and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19):

• There have not been reports of pets or other animals becoming sick with COVID-19 in the United States.
• There is no evidence that pets can spread COVID-19 to people or other animals or that they might be a source of infection with this new coronavirus in the United States.
• Because all animals can carry germs that can make people sick, it’s always a good idea to practice healthy habits around pets and other animals.
• Wash your hands after handling animals, their food, waste, or supplies.
• Practice good pet hygiene and clean up after pets properly.
• Take pets to the veterinarian regularly and talk to your veterinarian if you have questions about your pet’s health.

Remember to include pets in preparedness plans

If you’re preparing your family, remember to include your furry, feathered, and scaly family members too. Get 2-weeks’ worth of supplies for your pets, such as:

• Pet food
• Medications
• Litter

Healthy Pets, Healthy People is CDC’s one-stop-shop for information on staying healthy around pets and other animals. Visit the website or follow @CDC_NCEZID for more updates.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Rd   Atlanta, GA 30329  

800.CDC.INFO (800.232.4636)   TTY: 888-232-6348

How Covid-19 can live on your phone, and how you can clean it

By Andrew Williams

[Editor’s Note: excerpted  from Article found at

https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-clean-your-phone

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.]

Protect yourself from Covid-19

Putting your phone under water likely won’t be enough

There are three common strands of advice for minimizing the spread of Coronavirus, issued by bodies like the NHS and the WHO. If you have to sneeze, do it into a tissue or your sleeve. Avoid contact with unwell people, and wash your hands with soap, often.

Your phone complicates that last one. Sanitize your hands all you like, bacteria and viruses sitting on your phone may be transferred right back to those hands as soon as you check WhatsApp or Instagram.

Few of us clean our phones regularly. And we probably should have done before now.

A 2011 study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found one in six phones analyzed showed traces of fecal matter. And you want your mobile to be free of nasties like Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter spp. as well as Covid-19.

A professor who studies infectious disease told TechRadar, “Good hygiene and disinfecting regularly touched items like door handles, surfaces and telephones are essential as it is very easy to transfer the virus onto your clean hands by touching something that someone with the virus has come into contact with or been in the vicinity of.”

Cleaning methods

But what should we use to clean our phones?

You can apply the same substances you use to clean your hands, but some are more suitable than others. The current best advice is to moisten a lint-free cloth, the kind you might use to clean a pair of glasses, add some soap and give your phone and its case a thorough wipe down.

Soap and water are a highly effective team

“Water itself doesn’t inactivate or ‘kill’ viruses but simply washes them away,” says the professor we spoke to. “Soap is far superior because it contains fat-like substances. Viruses themselves are composed of genetic material, proteins and fats. When soap interacts with viruses the fat-like substances in the soap compete with the viral lipids and cause the virus to break down.”  Another  bonus of soap and water is that when you wash with water you can cover a large surface area. “So the preference is always to be using soap and water where possible. If not, then alcohol gel with a good technique is also fine.”

All smartphone makers also recommend avoiding cleaning solutions that contain bleach or abrasives, and the use of any rough cloths. These may spoil the finish of a phone’s metal sides and cause micro-abrasions in glass that will dull its surface. We’re out to clean the phone, not ruin it.

Half-life

How long can a virus survive on your phone? Long enough for it not to be an excuse for mindful hygiene, particularly in the case of Covid-19.

“Research on the coronavirus suggests it can remain viable for up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel. This is all impacted by the environment.”

If the coronavirus can survive for days on at least parts of your phone, now is a good time to start cleaning it regularly, as well as your hands. Concerned about where to get the most up-to-date health advice? Head to the relevant website of your country’s healthcare system. That’s NHS.uk in the UK, CDC.org in the US and health.gov.au in Australia.

So, what’s the easiest way to clean your phone?

Prepare a bowl of hot (but not boiling) soapy water. Don’t use anything other than household soap as it may damage the coating on your phone.

Bring your phone to the water, and be sure to take it out of its case. Then turn your phone off before you begin to clean it.

Do not submerge your phone, unless it’s IP68 water-resistant. Even then, we’d recommend not submerging your phone entirely.

Take a cloth and moisten it using the soapy water.

Gently rub the cloth around your phone ensuring you get to every area you can find. If you have a case, do the same for that.

Ensure you don’t allow the water to get into any of the openings of the phone such as the charging port or speaker grille.

Then wipe your phone down again with a clean microfiber cloth.

Leave your phone to dry out fully before turning it back on again. Repeat this method as much as you need to.

How do I keep my phone clean?

Your hands are the main way your phone will get dirty. If you keep your hands clean, you’ll be keeping your phone clean as well.

The World Health Organization says you should wash your hands for 20 seconds at a time, so follow that advice and you should also ensure your phone is kept clean.

If you’re concerned about your phone’s cleanliness, you should repeat the steps above.

Our last article is from GDUI Affiliates Liaison, Pauline lamontagne. In case you grow tired of filling your time while stuck inside with books and movies and phone calls, and worry, you might want to do some long-overdue work to acquire not-for-profit status for your GDUI affiliate. Here, Pauline lamontagne tells you how to accomplish this worthy goal!

OBTAINING AND MAINTAINING 501)(C)(3) STATUS FOR PINE TREE GUIDE DOG USERS  Bruce Prindall and Pauline Lamontagne

Please note, here is a disclaimer. The below article is NOT legal advice.
It is an overview of Pine Tree Guide Dog Users'(PTGDU’s) experience for
obtaining federal tax exemption status under section 501(c)(3) from the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) and maintaining it.

Pine Tree Guide Dog Users (PTGDU) in July 2017 was incorporated in the State
of Maine. The paperwork was submitted to Maine’s Secretary of
State’s office under Bureau of Corporations, Elections, and Commissions .
There was a filing fee($40 in Maine.) PTGDU also had to attach its constitution and Bylaws.  On a yearly basis, a renewal statement with accompanying fee must be submitted. Thirty-five dollars was this year’s renewal fee. The fee is higher if the corporation is a for profit corporation; PTGDU is a non-profit corporation.  Please note, the agency and fees that your affiliate will need to apply will be different from Maine’s. The website http://www.nasconet.org/ may be of assistance.

Once PTGDU was incorporated, and prior to applying for 501(c)(3) status, Pine Tree Guide Dog Users had to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the federal government by submitting an SS-4 form.  There was no fee for the EIN.  The instructions are at https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iss4 and the online form is at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf.

Please note, the creation of accounts and submission of forms, with the Federal government, was done electronically. There did not appear to be a snail mail option. Also, it appeared that you could not partially complete and save a form and then return later to complete it for submission.

Prior to submitting the 1023-EZ form, a checklist of 30 questions was completed by PTGDU.( The instruction booklet is at: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023ez.pdf)

This checklist was not submitted as part of the 1023-EZ application; however, its completion was used by PTGDU to determine whether the 1023 or 1023-EZ form would be used. (Please note, if you answer yes to any of the questions on the check list you cannot use the 1023-EZ form. The 1023 form would be required.)  Among the factors that led to PTGDU’s submitting the 1023-EZ form were that PTGDU does not expect to have gross earnings of $50,000 or more on a yearly basis. Also, PTGDU will not be endorsing specific candidates. The latter would make PTGDU ineligible for non-profit status.

You will also need to determine your National Taxonomy for Exempt Entities (NTEE) , a three character code that best defines your organization type.  PTGDU used R99 for civil rights other. As previously noted, The 1023-EZ form must be completed online at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1023ez.pdf, in one sitting because once you start the form, you must finish it as there is no option to save it.  When submitting the 1023-EZ form, PTGDU had to create a pay.gov account.  The fee was $275.00. (The cost for the 1023 currently is $600.00.)  As long as PTGDU does not have gross proceeds of $50,000 or more, PTGDU must file annually a 990-N form entitled Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (there is no fee).  There is no penalty for late filing, however, if an organization does not file for three consecutive years, the tax exempt status may be lost.

You will need to check in the location where you are incorporated to determine whether there are any other requirements. In Maine, a license is required for soliciting charitable contributions. $50 is required for the first year and then $25 is required for subsequent years.  We expects that 501(c)(3) status will assist PTGDU with fund raising as well as other efforts including possible grant writing.

Pine Tree Guide Dog Users appreciates the grant of $400 from President Bob Acosta’s Helping Hands for the Blind organization! It was given with the understanding that the money would be used for obtaining PTGDU’s 501(c)(3) status as well as writing an article so that others would benefit.

If Bruce, PTGDU’s secretary, or I, President of PTGDU, may be of further assistance, please, e mail Bruce at ptgdu2013@gmail.com or me at plamontagne@twc.com

A Final Note from Penny and Andrea

You have reached the end of our fourth issue of Paws for GDUI News You Can Use for 2020. Who would have imagined when we launched this publication that, so precipitously, our lives would turn upside down, anxiety would become the watchword of every day, and nearly every item we have included in this issue would describe, or offer support for coping with the pandemic we are all experiencing?  

We hope this publication is helpful to all of you. Please do shelter in place. Sing Happy Birthday twice as you wash your hands many times each day. Comfort your guide dogs and they comfort you with their enthusiasm for life in general and all the affection they give so freely. Let us all reach out to one another, hope for the future, and share all the mutual affection we feel for each other and our community. We will look forward to sharing “Paws for GDUI…” again at the end of April, and for all the months yet to come. Thank you all for your friendship and support.

Sincerely,

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Paws for GDUI News You Can Use

Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

Our Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/.

Our Facebook group can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GDUINC/.

Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com:

http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.

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: chat+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link:

business+subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org.

A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Penny Reeder

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

The Department of Transportation Notice of Proposed Rule Making Regarding Flying with Service Animals: Your Comments Are Important!  

GDUI’s Advocacy and Legislative Affairs Committee and our Board of Directors have worked hard over recent weeks to prepare comments to send to the U. S. Department of Transportation regarding the Notice of Proposed Rule Making concerning dogs that will be permitted to fly onboard planes. We submitted GDUI’s comments on February 20 , and, equally important, we urge all of you to submit your own comments on the proposed rules. We cannot overstate how important it is for our community to respond to the proposed rules. According to spokespersons from the U. S. Department of Transportation, over 10,000 comments have already been submitted. The regulators need to hear from each of us, as well! The deadline for submitting comments is April 6. To read our comments and learn how to submit your own, visit this link:  https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-provides-comments-regarding-u-s-department-of-transportation-notice-of-proposed-rule-making-docket-no-dot-ost-2018-0068/

When you post your own comments, please identify yourself as a guide dog user. Use your own words. We are sharing our comments to provide guidance. Sharing your ggpersonal experiences, your individual misgivings about the proposed rules you don’t agree with, and your passion for the guide dogs who allow us to travel independently and add so much to our lives: All of these aspects of the comments you share will help regulators to understand our concerns and the priority we place on our civil right to fly, unburdened and unencumbered, with our guide dogs.

We have made our comments available to help you think about what you want to say and to motivate you to add your personal comments to ours and others for whom revised regulations are bound to affect travel plans and life styles.

The Guide Dog Users of Florida Conference Call

On Thursday, February 13, GDUF held a conference call to discuss the proposed rules described in the U. S. Department of Transportation Notice of Proposed Rule Making  the recording from that very interesting call is available at this number, using the access code and reference number, as follows:

515.606.5480

Access code: 256965 pound

Reference number 24

Our thanks to Tom Hanson, who invited us to participate on the call, to all of the GDUF members who shared their responses to proposed rule changes, to Sarah Calhoun,  Lillian Scaife, and Annie Chiappetta, who also attended, and to Kati Lear, who has made the recording available for all of us. We encourage you to listen to the recording. Our conversation, along with the document referenced above,  will help you to understand the proposed rules and to think about what you want to say when you provide your own comments to the Department of Transportation.

When you know how you want to respond to the NPRM, and if you find it difficult to post your comments online, you can turn to ACB for help with the process of posting your comments. If you need assistance with filing your comments electronically, please email your comments and contact information to advocacy@acb.org, and ACB will file them on your behalf.

It is important that as many individuals file comments as possible, so please do not let any technical difficulties deter you from doing so. If you have any questions while drafting your comments, please reach out to Charlie Crawford at Advocacy@GuideDogUsersInc.org, to Claire Stanley cstanley@acb.org), or Clark Rachfal (crachfal@acb.org).

Announcing the GDUI 2020 Elections

The 2020 GDUI Elections will commence on Saturday, May 30 at 12:01 A.M. EDT, and run through Sunday, June 7, 2020 at 11:59 PM.EDT.

GDUI is seeking candidates for the following positions in our May 2020 elections.

President (2-year Term)

1^st Vice President (2-year Term)

2^nd Vice President (2-year Term)

Secretary (2-year Term) 

Treasurer (2-year Term) 

2 Director Seats (3-Year Term)

GDUI members in good standing are eligible to run for a position on the GDUI Board. Interested candidates should submit an application, resume and cover letter to the Nominations Committee Chair, Dixie Sanderson Director5@GuideDogUsersInc.org by the deadline of March  21, 2020.

The information supplied within the cover letter, application and resume will be shared with the GDUI members eligible to vote in this election.

GDUI members who have paid their dues by this year’s record date of April 9, 2020 will be eligible to vote in the May elections.

GDUI is proud of our universally accessible voting system in which each member of GDUI is entitled to a voice in the election of our GDUI Board.

If you have not renewed your membership, now is the time to do so. 

An at-large membership in GDUI costs $25.00 per person per year. 

dues may be paid online by going to https://guidedogusersinc.org/join/, or by credit card by calling 1-866-799-8436.

Or by mailing your check to the above address and made payable to GDUI. 

Important dates to remember:

 In order to be eligible to vote in the 2020 GDUI election your 2020 GDUI dues must have been received on or before the record date of April 9, 2020.

We will hold 2 candidates’ Forums prior to the elections.  Phone numbers for these calls will be publicized closer to the dates. 

Candidates’ Forum 1.  Saturday, April 25, 2020, 1:00 P. M. EDT.

Candidates’ Forum 2.  Thursday May 21, 2020 8:00 P. M. EDT

Between the dates of April 1, 2020, and April 15, 2020, we encourage members to submit questions for your candidates.  Please submit your questions to the Nominations Chair, Dixie Sanderson Director5@GuideDogUsersInc.org  and include “Forum Question” in the subject line of your message.

Election period: Saturday, May 30 12:01 A.M. EDT through Sunday, June 7, 2020 11:59 P. M.EDT

Visit this page to find the application for candidacy for any of the officer or board positions for which you want to run:

https://guidedogusersinc.org/application-for-candidacy-2020/

We want to extend many thanks to Dixie Sanderson, Chair of the GDUI Nominations Committee, and committee members, Cynthia Hawkins, Pauline Lamontagne, and Deb Trevino

Bylaws

2020 is another year where members may submit suggested changes to our GDUI bylaws. The deadline to submit bylaw suggestions is March 15.  They should be submitted to  bylaws@guidedogusersinc.org or to Maria Hansen, Chair of our GDUI Bylaws Committee, directly at mhansen1@rcn.com.

The committee will evaluate all submissions and work with you to understand the rationale for your suggestion and, pending approval,  include your suggested bylaw among the items to be voted upon in May.

 We are excited to bring you yet another fun episode of the GDUI Juno report. This month we feature another segment of the GDUI program from the 2019 convention. This time we’re exploring the intricacies of pet food with Doctor Renee Streeter who is a VETERINARY nutritionist. Warning: your dog may get hungry hearing all about this, but you probably won’t. 

The GDUI Juno report airs on ACB Radio Mainstream on Thursdays at 4 and 7 AM/PM and on Sunday at 9PM and Monday at 12AM, 9AM, and 12PM. All times are eastern.

The podcast comes out in about two weeks. Subscribe in Itunes at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gdui-juno-report/id1107836850

Wags to all of you.

Deb

Good News from Southeastern!

Southeastern Guide Dogs is very excited to announce that, because of the latest additions to our Alumni Support Program, starting on March 2, 2020, you will be able to receive the following benefits for your dog – at no cost to you: 

 High-quality dog food, sponsored by 

Fromm Family Pet Food .

Trifexis (a monthly preventative providing your dog protection from fleas, heartworms and intestinal parasites), sponsored by 

Elanco .

Annual veterinary wellness visit and vaccinations,

 sponsored by select Veterinarian Partners and private donors. 

In anticipation of our 

March 2 launch date, we are now ready to accept your enrollment application. How exciting! You’ll be able to choose from the benefits listed above, which are optional   to you.

Warm regards,

Titus Herman

Chief Executive Officer

For questions and support, contact 

alumnibenefits@guidedogs.org

941.729.5665

4210 77th Street East | Palmetto, FL | 34221

  Southeastern Guide Dogs | 4210 77th Street East, Palmetto, FL 34221

Higher Ed! Hunter College is seeking applicants to its Programs in Blindness and Visual Impairment

Combined VRT and O&M Master’s Degree Program (54 credits) and VRT Masters (40 credits)

Hunter’s VRT and O&M programs are offered with hybrid distance learning. Summer labs are on campus, dorm housing is available.

VRTs are eligible for O&M Advanced Certificate program.

Application deadline for Fall 2020 is March 15

For more information, visit:https://education.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions/graduate-programs/special-education/blind-and-visually-impaired/

M-Enabling Summit, the leading conference and showcase promoting accessible technology and environments for seniors and users of all abilities, which will be held June 22-24, 2020, at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel, in Washington, D.C., is the annual meeting place for all who create and contribute to accessible ICT products, services and consumer technologies.

With its 2020 theme of “Digital Inclusion Strategies: A Catalyst for Action,” the M-Enabling Summit will highlight how organizations can successfully leverage innovative enabling technologies to make their digital workplaces, learning environments and products and services accessible to users of all abilities. It also offers an ideal platform to network with accessibility professionals, organizations, and decision makers seeking to address compliance challenges and market development opportunities.

This year’s thought-provoking agenda is set to be led by over 150 experts and industry leaders exploring how to further drive digital inclusion forward across all sectors of activity. A powerful differentiator in gaining a competitive advantage and establishing a positive culture, digital inclusion is embraced by leading organizations across all sectors of activity.

Annual M-Enabling Summit. 

REGISTRATION:

The M-Enabling Summit offers a discounted early bird registration rate through April 30th.Register today and save:

https://m-enabling.com/conference-registration/

Summer Experience Camp – Making Teens Unstoppable!

A Free Program at Leader Dogs for the Blind

 Application Deadline April 1, 2020!

Summer Experience Camp is a week of fun, friendship and skill building. The program combines activities like ziplining and tandem biking with independence building exercises and things exclusively Leader Dog—GPS training and spending time with future Leader Dogs. The combination helps increase independent travel skills, interpersonal skills and leadership skills.

The free program is for boys and girls ages 16 and 17 who are legally blind. Leader Dog covers all costs including airfare to Michigan—and everyone receives a free HumanWare Victor Reader Trek GPS device. The 2020 camp dates are June 24—July 1. Applications are due by April 1, 2020.

You can view a Fox Sports clip about camp, read camper stories and download an application at LeaderDog.org.

 Rachelle Kniffen

Director of Communications & Marketing
Leader Dogs for the Blind
1039 S. Rochester Rd. • Rochester Hills, MI 48307-3115
Direct 248.659.5013

Toll Free 888777.5332

GDUI/ACB Convention News!

In 2020 there  is exciting news for those of you registering for the American Council of the Blind Conference and Convention in Schaumburg IL.

Registration costs are  increasing from $15 to $25 for pre-registration and from $25 to $35 for onsite registration. You may wonder  why this is exciting news! As always the price of registration will include all general sessions, the exhibit hall, some affiliate programming and the many sessions offered by our sponsors and business partners.

But wait there’s more! All committee sessions that do not involve food functions will be presented at absolutely no cost! That means the outstanding transportation seminar,   legislative boot camp, information access programming and so much more will all be included in the cost of registration.

Pre-registration will open on May 21 and close on June 21^st.  Again this year we are offering an exclusive opportunity to register early for ACB members. Convention pre-registration beginning May 21st through May 27th will be open only to ACB members. Starting May  28th registration will be open to everyone. Registration prior to the convention is easy, saves time and the earlier you register the better chance you have of booking tours and attending functions that have limited capacity.
If you are not a member of the American Council of the Blind a membership at large is $10.00. To become a member contact the Minneapolis office at 612.332.3242. To take advantage of the registration special you must pay for a membership by May first.

If you are in need of a wheelchair or a scooter to use during the ACB 2020 Conference and Convention Lang Home Medical
is offering ACB a great weekly rate. 

standard wheelchairs:

$45 for 16- and 18-inch wheelchairs

$55 for a 20-inch wheelchair

$75 for a 22-inch wheelchair

$80 for a 24-inch wheelchair

transport wheelchair: $45

scooters $125

power wheelchairs $250 (very limited supply)

There will be an additional fee of $15 to cover the drop-off and pick-up of the wheelchair or scooter at the Renaissance. To reserve please call 847957.7443 and ask for Matt.

You must reserve prior to June 15th. Let Matt know you are with ACB.  Once you have made your reservation please contact ACB Convention Coordinator, Janet Dickelman. She’ll be maintaining a master list to accept the deliveries.

Don’t miss out on the fun, make your hotel reservations today!

Room rates at the Renaissance Schaumburg are $94.00 per night (up to four people in a room)

This room rate does not include tax which is currently 15.0%.

For telephone reservations call 800.468.3571, this is a central reservations number, let them know you want a reservation at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel.

Due to limited computer characters the block is listed as

AMERICN COUNCL BLIND. American is missing the second A and Council doesn’t have an I.

Rooms must be booked by June 10 2020, to guarantee the convention rate.

Please feel free to contact Janet Dickelman, with any questions either via  phone, 651.428.5059 or email

janet.dickelman@gmail.com

If you are traveling to attend the 2020 ACB Conference and Convention read on for important information regarding  transportation to the hotel.

American Taxi Dispatch

Inc offers a rate of $28 from O’Hare and $55 from Midway to the Renaissance in Schaumburg. The same rates will apply from the hotel back to the airports.

When you arrive at either airport volunteers will try and put more than one person in a taxi so the fare can be split but this may not be possible so be prepared to pay the entire fare.

The rate for Union Station or Greyhound is also $55.

You can call American Taxi Dispatch and book your ride a few days prior to your arrival, or call them when you arrive.

 Their phone number is  847.255.9600.

There are other options such as Uber, Lyft and other taxi companies; please keep in mind many of these companies add in an additional airport pickup fee.

ParaTransit in Schaumburg: Setting Up your Service During Convention

If you want to use paratransit service during convention, you will need to ask your local paratransit provider to provide a copy of your eligibility to Pace Suburban Bus which operates paratransit services throughout the entire Chicago Metropolitan area including Schaumburg.  You will need to call Pace Regional Paratransit Visitor Eligibility.  They will tell you what your local provider needs to do to send a copy of your eligibility to Pace.  While Pace has indicated this needs to be done a minimum of seven days in advance, we recommend doing this at least two weeks in advance.  You also might want to call Visitor Eligibility back before arriving at convention to make sure you’re in the system so you can schedule rides.  The Visitor Eligibility folks can also help you schedule your first trip, a good idea if you’re wanting to use paratransit for pickup from either O’Hare or Midway airports, or from Amtrak or Greyhound.  If you’re being picked up from Midway, Amtrak (Chicago Union Station) or Greyhound, there will be a transfer from a City of Chicago paratransit carrier to the North Cook County paratransit carrier.  North Cook will pick up at O’Hare.  From O’Hare, Pace will need to know what airline you’re coming in on and they can tell you where you need to go to be picked up.  If scheduling a return Paratransit pickup to O’Hare, tell them your departure airline and they’ll drop you at the correct terminal.

Using the Service While You’re Here

Our paratransit system is a regional system, meaning you can travel anywhere in the Chicago Metropolitan area if you want too.  However, it’s divided into several service areas, each served by a different paratransit operator.  If you want to travel, say into Chicago, you’ll need to make a transfer at the Rosemont Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) station, and you’ll need to make more than one phone call to schedule your ride.  To schedule paratransit rides from the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Schaumburg, call the North Cook County paratransit operator.  When you call, be prepared to give your name to the call taker, as well as the pickup address and address for your destination and the time you want to be picked up.  You need to call at least one day in advance of the day you want to travel.  The hotel address is 1551 Thoreau Drive, Schaumburg, Illinois.  Be aware that service may be limited on Sundays and holidays due to reduced fixed route service in the area on those days.  If you’re wanting to travel into Chicago, tell the call taker you want to be taken to the Rosemont CTA station to transfer to the City of Chicago paratransit service.  They’ll tell you how long you should allow in travel time between the hotel and Rosemont.  Then, call the Chicago Zone 3 Paratransit operator, tell them what time you’ll be at Rosemont and the address where you want to go in Chicago.  If you’ll be needing a return trip, give the pickup time and pickup address in Chicago to the call taker, and they’ll tell you when you can expect to arrive back at Rosemont.  You then call North Cook county back and tell them what time you’ll be at Rosemont for your return trip and they’ll set the pickup up to bring you back to the hotel.  In our system, the vehicle you’re transferring from will wait until the vehicle you’re transferring to arrives, and the driver will help you get between vehicles.  Transferring is also what you’ll need to do if scheduling a return paratransit ride to Midway Airport, Amtrak or Greyhound.  They shouldn’t ask for addresses for O’Hare or Midway, Amtrak or Greyhound.  Just be sure if going to Amtrak you tell them Chicago Union Station.

Paratransit fare is $3.25 each way, and you’re allowed to have one Personal Care Attendant with you.  If you are taking a companion who is not a PCA, you may need to pay $3.25 each way for them as well, the call taker will let you know if this is the case.  Transfers are free.  More information about the paratransit service, including numbers to call to travel to other parts of the region,  is available at www.pacebus.com, by clicking on the Paratransit Service link.  Or, you can call Pace at 312-341-8000.

Phone Numbers You Need to Know

Pace Suburban Bus, Regional Visitor Eligibility: 312.341.8000, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Ask for Visitor Eligibility

North Cook County Paratransit Operator, to schedule rides from the hotel: 800.554.7599, Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

City of Chicago Zone 3 Paratransit Operator for Scheduling Rides into Chicago: 866.926.9633, option 1, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 7 days a week

Thanks to  Illinois Council of the Blind, 217.523.4967, www.icbonline.org, for providing all of this helpful information.

Apply to Become a 2020 ACB/JPMorgan Chase Leadership Fellow

[From: The February 2020 ACB Braille Forum]Kenneth Semien Sr.

  Have you noticed how ACB has been progressing? Have you considered contributing by sharing your skills and abilities to make ACB all that it can be? Are you interested in playing a role in creating positive change for Americans who are blind, visually impaired or low vision? If you answered, “yes” to any of the above questions, you are encouraged to read below to confirm your eligibility and necessary commitment to become a member of the 2020 Class of ACB/JPMorgan Chase Leadership Fellows!

For the fifth consecutive year, JPMorgan Chase will provide full access to the ACB conference and convention for 5 ACB members who have demonstrated leadership abilities. Now is the time to take advantage of the opportunity to join the leadership inner circle or renew your commitment to assist in the growth and continuance of ACB. Get connected with previous classes of Leadership Fellows who have involved themselves in this enlightening experience while meeting other members and active leaders from around the country. By attending the 59th annual ACB convention in Schaumburg, Ill., as a Leadership Fellow, you will be introduced to tools for success through participation in informative workshops, seminars and leadership development sessions that are sure to prepare you to serve well in future leadership roles within ACB, your local chapter, and your state or special-interest affiliate.

To be a qualified applicant, you are required to meet specific criteria, including but not limited to the following three elements:

18 years of age or older

Blind or visually impaired

An ACB member in good standing (current on membership dues)

Eligible applicants must be endorsed by the president of their state or special-interest affiliate. Applicants are encouraged to be sure that they meet the award criteria before requesting that their affiliate president write and submit a letter of recommendation on their behalf. The application process for this award also consists of the submission of two letters and participating in a telephone interview with a team of DKM committee members. The letter of application should begin with your complete name; physical address; email address containing the applicant’s name, along with a home and cell number, then introduce yourself to the committee by including objectives in applying for the leadership award; a brief summary of your education and relevant experience; number of years of membership in ACB, as well as previous conventions attended, if any; description of one’s role as a leader; and examples of what you bring to ACB. The affiliate president’s letter of recommendation should address the applicant’s contributions to the affiliate, ACB and community organizations; and describe the applicant’s demonstrated leadership skills and leadership potential. Thirty-minute telephone interviews will be scheduled for mid-April.

All recipients receive round-trip transportation; hotel accommodation (double occupancy), per diem stipend for meals and incidentals, convention registration fee and reception and banquet tickets. Recipients are expected to attend the convention from the opening meeting, Saturday evening, July 4th, through the Thursday evening banquet, July 9th, and to participate actively in all designated convention activities, including the daily general sessions, special-interest presentations, seminars and workshops.

Send application documents to Kelly Gasque in the ACB national office,

kgasque@acb.org

The deadline for receipt is April 3rd. Selected awardees will be notified during the latter part of April. If you have questions regarding the application process and required documentation, contact DKM chair Kenneth Semien Sr. via email, semien.k@att.net. Other beneficial information will be shared once your application has been received. Apply today, don’t be late!

GDUI Joins ACB in Commending West Virginia for Making Absentee Voting Accessible for People with Disabilities

[Excerpted from the news release found here: https://acb.org/ACB-commends-WV-accessible-absentee-voting]

Alexandria, VA — On Monday, February 3, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed into law Senate Bill 94, a bill to ensure that all voters in West Virginia are guaranteed access to the ballot box, at polling locations and when voting absentee. On behalf of our nationwide membership, and in conjunction with the Mountain State Council of the Blind, the American Council of the Blind commends West Virginia for working with us to ensure equal access to absentee voting for people with disabilities.

“A critical guarantee of our democracy is the right to privately and independently mark, cast, and verify an election ballot. This right is not always afforded to people with disabilities, at the polling location or when voting absentee. The American Council of the Blind commends Governor Justice and the West Virginia State Legislature for working with ACB to pass S.B. 94 to ensure all residents of the Mountain State may fully participate in the democratic process,” said Eric Bridges, Executive Director, American Council of the Blind. Prior to this law, blind and visually impaired West Virginians could not independently and privately vote via absentee ballot; no alternative method to traditional paper ballots existed to allow those who could not visually read the ballot to vote independently. West Virginia will now implement an alternative absentee voting method that will allow those who cannot visually read the ballot to take advantage of this alternative voting system if they wish to do so.

While advocating for this new form of access, the American Council of the Blind, Centers for Independent Living, and West Virginia voters with disabilities were represented by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, and Disability Rights of West Virginia.

“Ensuring equal access to the ballot is fundamental to our democracy. Yet, voters with disabilities have been consistently disenfranchised in absentee voting by the requirement to vote by paper ballot. We applaud West Virginia for recognizing the importance of equitable access to the voting process for all voters and the right to cast a private, independent ballot. S.B. 94 will help to remedy the historic disenfranchisement of voters with disabilities by providing an accessible, secure online option by which they can cast their ballots,” said Jonathan Smith, Executive Director, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban  Affairs.  

Is audio description your jam? Here’s lots of news you can use!

Audio Description Project (ADP), an initiative of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), aims to bring more meaning and enjoyment to entertainment, cultural, and educational experiences for blind and visually impaired people.

If the cold winds of early March are getting you down, we suggest cuddling up with your guide dog and checking out the amazing array of audio-described entertainment listed, and updated daily, on the Audio Description Project page. ADP maintains a list of described DVDs, broadcast television, movies, performing arts, museums, and national parks on the ADP web site:  http://www.acb.org/adp/. As the only repository of all audio described titles on DVD and the three video streaming services (Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, and Netflix)  the ADP WEB SITE PROVIDES A LIST OF EVERY DESCRIBED TITLE. For example, here are described video statistics AS OF February 1, from the ADP Master AD List:

SUMMARY:  3780 unique described videos and TV Series.  1722 videos were duplicated in more than one service.
22 Current Movies; 1212 DVDs; 13 Apple TV+; 387 Disney+; 71 Hulu; 1208 iTunes; 1120 Netflix; 1675 Prime-Video; 7 Other; 216 TV Series: 31 ABC, 15 CBS, 2 CW, 26 FOX, 21 NBC, 25 DISCOVERY, 21 HGTV, 25 HISTORY, 18 TBS, 10 TNT, 22 USA.

The American Council of the Blind’s  Audio Description Project Announces Call for Nominations for the

 Twelfth Annual ADP Awards-2020

This year’s ADP Awards include a call for nominations in six categories:

Achievement in Audio Description – Media

 Achievement in Audio Description – Performing Arts

Achievement in Audio Description – Museums/Visual Art/Visitor Centers

Achievement in Audio Description – International

Dr. Margaret Pfanstiehl Memorial Award in Audio Description – Research and Development

Barry Levine Memorial Award for Career Achievement in Audio Description

The call for nominations ends on Friday, May 29, 2020, with winners announced during a plenary session of the American Council of the Blind Conference and Convention and at the Audio Description Project Conference, July 2020 in Schaumburg, IL.

Nomination material, criteria and more information are available at: 

http://www.acb.org/adp/

Delaware Lawmakers Pass Groundbreaking Bill to Allow Titer Test in Lieu of Rabies Vaccine

[From:https://www.dogingtonpost.com/delaware-lawmakers-pass-groundbreaking-bill-to-allow-titer-test-in-lieu-of-rabies-vaccine/

By Brandy Arnold

Feb 7, 2020

Lawmakers in Delaware stepped up to help pets in a way that’s never been done in any state in the country. Once signed by the Governor, Maggie’s Pet Vaccine Protection Act could save the lives of countless pets moving forward.

Maggie’s Vaccine Protection Act, formally known as House Bill 214, unanimously passed in both the Delaware House and Senate, leaving just Gov. John Carney’s signature the last step in making it official. Once signed, veterinarians and pet owners will have the ability to exempt a pet from legally required rabies vaccine if the animal is sick, disabled, injured, or if other medical considerations exist which make vaccination a risk to the animal’s health and life. Instead of a vaccination, a Titer test, which measures a pet’s antibodies to combat rabies, can be used.

Delaware businessman and pet owner Al Casapulla initiated the bill after losing his beloved Shih Tzu, Maggie, to over-vaccination when state law required she be vaccinated, regardless of whether it was safe.

“I have been working on this bill since she died… I am extremely excited and very emotional,” Casapulla told the Coastal Point after learning the act had passed. “My passion to see this through was more than the passion I had when I started my business, because I knew if this gets passed we would be saving the lives of so many innocent animals and allowing vets to use their discretion on making legal, educated exemptions.”

“Maggie will be saving lives long after I am gone,” he said in an emotional Facebook post.

Governor Carney is expected to sign the bill in May.

Guide Dogs for the Blind celebrated the first litter of puppies born in the guide dog school’s new Puppy Center in San Rafael.

[From: https://patch.com/california/sanrafael/guide-dogs-blind-celebrates-new-puppy-center-marin]

Kristina Houck, Patch Staff

Feb 14, 2020

Guide Dogs For The Blind Celebrates New Puppy Center In Marin

All future guide dogs from Guide Dogs for the Blind will be born in the $23 million Puppy Center in San Rafael.

SAN RAFAEL, CA

Guide Dogs for the Blind celebrated the first litter of puppies born in the guide dog school’s new Puppy Center in San Rafael.

The puppy shower kicked off Wednesday with capturing the mom and dad’s paw prints in cement outside   the Puppy Center and ended with puppy shower games and treats for attendees.

The event was not open to the public, but a crowd of roughly 200 puppy raisers, breed custodians, trainers and staff celebrated with about 40 dogs.

All future guide dogs from the guide dog school will be born in the $23 million Puppy Center and will spend their first critical 8-10 weeks of life at the facility, according to the organization.

The Puppy Center includes areas for puppy birthing, puppy socialization and the Learning Lab, an educational center to expand the public’s understanding of what it takes to make a successful guide dog, as well as learn more about Guide Dogs for the Blind’s clients who travel through life with a guide dog at their side.

The Puppy Center’s grand opening to the public is planned for later this year.

The organization was the subject of an award-winning 2018 feature-length documentary called Pick of the Litter, which was developed into a television docu-series by the same name, which debuted late last year on subscription streaming service Disney+. 

For more information on Guide Dogs for the Blind, visit guidedogs.com

Disasters and Scary News

When we were planning the contents of this issue of “Paws for GDUI News You Can Use,” I reminded myself to remind all of you of our Disaster Assistance and Preparedness Program (DAPP). Two weeks ago, some of the scariest news stories involved terrible flooding in Mississippi, and there are doubtless still families coping with the aftermath of that disaster. If you are one of those who was affected by this weather event, and if you need financial help coping with the expenses of caring for your guide dog while you find temporary shelter, or if you are involved in any similar disaster-related emergency situation, please remember GDUI’s DAPP fund which can offer help. Visit this link to learn about the program and to find out how to apply for assistance: https://guidedogusersinc.org/resources/disaster-assistance-preparedness-program-dapp/.

Since then, when I was thinking about how GDUI could help members coping with climate disasters or the aftermath of other emergency situations, news of the global pandemic that is causing serious illnesses and even death all over the world has become the dominant theme of the breaking news that grabs all of our attention and is, frankly, terrifying. This disaster looks to be far bigger in scope than any natural disaster any of us might have experienced or anticipated, and there’s not much help that our DAPP Committee might be able to provide for preparing for such a scary emergency. We are all in the same frightening situation, and we need more than shared empathy to prepare and to cope.

As I was thinking about what to do, what kinds of items I should be stocking, how to keep everyone in our household safe, and well, I came across the article I’m pasting below and decided to share it with you. We hope that the advice provided here will keep all of us safe, and, as we take precautions, that the preparations we make will offer reassurance and quell some of our shared panic.

The CDC tells us that this could be bad.

As we plan and prepare and cope, let us draw strength from all of the relationships that sustain us. Let’s pet our guide dogs to share and derive comfort from one another. Let’s keep in touch with each other, and stay safe. – Penny Reeder, President, Guide Dog Users, Inc.

The Wuhan Virus: How to Stay Safe

As China’s epidemic continues to spread, things may seem scary. Here are 10 simple precautions that can protect you from contracting the coronavirus.

By Laurie Garrett

| January 25, 2020, 2:47 PM

[From: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/25/wuhan-coronavirus-safety-china/]

As the new Wuhan coronavirus has spread not only all over mainland China, but also worldwide, panic is rising. Inside China there is a growing sense of helplessness, as the government is compelled to take drastic measures to stop the virus, including introducing some travel restrictions in Beijing. I have received panicked queries from journalists and public health workers in China, asking, “How can we protect ourselves and our families?”

The epidemic could have been controlled fairly easily three weeks ago had there been more openness, swift action, and no attempted cover-up. But now it’s too late, and this virus is spreading globally. Because there is no vaccine or treatment for nCoV2019—the Wuhan pneumonia—and infection has spread throughout China, the government is forced to turn to its 2003 SARS playbook. And that means entire cities must be cut off, and the population of the nation must be restricted in its movements and potential disease-spreading behavior. It is not surprising then that travel out of Beijing may be forbidden; the entire mainland could go on lockdown soon.

I know people are very frightened. And I expect panic will rise in the coming days. But very simple measures can protect you.

During the SARS epidemic, I traveled all over China and Hong Kong, interviewed people infected with the virus, doctors and nurses treating the disease, government officials, police—everybody. I was never concerned that I would become infected, despite being in the room with sick individuals. And that’s because I knew what precautions to take. Here are the most important ones to know:

1. When you leave your home, wear gloves—winter mittens or outdoor gloves—and keep them on in subways, buses, and public spaces.
2. If you are in a social situation where you should remove your gloves, perhaps to shake hands or dine, do not touch your face or eyes, no matter how much something itches. Keep your hands away from contact with your face. And before you put your gloves back on, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water, scrubbing the fingers. Put your gloves on.
3. Change gloves daily, washing them thoroughly, and avoid wearing damp gloves.
4. Masks are useless when worn outdoors and may not be very helpful even indoors. Most masks deteriorate after one or two wearings. Using the same mask day after day is worse than useless—it’s disgusting, as the contents of your mouth and nose eventually coat the inside of the mask with a smelly veneer that is attractive to bacteria. I rarely wear a face mask in an epidemic, and I have been in more than 30 outbreaks. Instead, I stay away from crowds, and I keep my distance from individual people—a half meter, about 1.5 feet, is a good standard. If someone is coughing or sneezing, I ask them to put on a mask—to protect me from their potentially contaminated fluids. If they decline, I step a meter (about 3 feet) away from them, or I leave. Don’t shake hands or hug people—politely beg off, saying it’s better for both of you not to come in close contact during an epidemic.
5. Inside your household, remove all of the towels from your bathrooms and kitchen immediately, and replace them with clean towels that have the names of each family member on them. Instruct everybody in your home to only use their own towels and never touch another family member’s. Wash all towels twice a week. Damp towels provide terrific homes for viruses, like common colds, flus, and, yes, coronaviruses.
6. Be careful with doorknobs. If it’s possible to open and close doors using your elbows or shoulders, do so. Wear gloves to turn a doorknob—or wash your hands after touching it. If anybody in your home takes sick, wash your doorknobs regularly. Similarly, be cautious with stairway banisters, desktops, cell phones, toys, laptops—any objects that are hand-held. As long as you handle only your own personal objects, you will be ok—but if you need to pick up someone else’s cell phone or cooking tools or use someone else’s computer keyboard, be mindful of not touching your face and wash your hands immediately after touching the object.
7. If you share meals, do not use your personal chopsticks and utensils to remove food from a serving bowl or plate and, of course, tell your children to never drink out of anybody else’s cups or from a container of shared fluid. It is customary in China to prepare several dishes for a meal and then allow everybody at the table to use their personal chopsticks to pull food from the common dishes: Don’t do this until the epidemic is over. Place serving spoons in each dish and instruct everybody at the table to scoop what they want from the serving dishes onto their personal plates or bowls, return the serving spoon to the main dish, and then use their personal chopsticks only to pick food from their personal plate or bowl into their mouth. Wash all food and kitchenware thoroughly between meals and avoid restaurants that have poor hygiene practices.
8. Absolutely do not buy, slaughter, or consume any live animal or fish until it is known what species was the source of the virus.
9. When the weather allows, open your windows at home or work, letting your space air out. The virus cannot linger in a well-ventilated space. But of course, if it is cold or the weather is inclement, keep warm and close those windows.
10. Finally, if you are caring for a friend or family member who is running a fever, always wear a tight-fitting mask when you are near them, and place one on the ailing person (unless they are nauseated). When you replace an old, dirty mask from the face of your friend or loved one be very, very careful—assume, for the sake of your protection, that it is covered in viruses, and handle it while wearing latex gloves, place it inside of a disposable container, seal it, and then put it in the trash. While wearing those latex gloves, gently wash the patient’s face with warm soap and water, using a disposable paper towel or cotton swab, and seal it after use in a container or plastic bag before placing it in your household trash. Wear long-sleeved shirts and clothing that covers your body when you are caring for your ailing friend or relative. Clean everything your patient wears or touches very thoroughly in hot soapy water, including sheets, towels, and utensils. If you have space, isolate the sick person in your household in a room, or a corner of a room, where they are comfortable, but separated from the rest of the household. If the weather is tolerable, open a window that is on the opposite side of the room, so that air gently blows past the patient’s face and then outdoors. Of course, don’t do this if it is very cold, as your friend or loved one will be made sicker if uncomfortably cold.

The Chinese government will take very drastic actions over the next few weeks, and this will be a time of hardship for the Chinese people. As the virus spreads in other countries, similarly draconian measures may be invoked to slow the epidemic. But with these simple precautions, if taken by everybody in your household, building, office, and school, you will dramatically reduce the spread of the virus and bring the outbreak to its knees.

Be safe. Do not panic. Take commonsense precautions. As frightening as this time is, you will get through it.

Laurie Garrett is a former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prize winning science writer.

Thank you for reading and sharing our Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! We welcome your feedback and your involvement in our organization. Thank you for your friendship and support.

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

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