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 editor- Hello fellow GDUISters,

This is your extremely cheerful editor- not just cheerful but dog with a new toy cheerful! I have received more submissions for this issue of “Paws for GDUI- News You can Use” than I have for all previous issues combined. GO TEAM!!!!

As the editor I am committed to providing a publication that is as diverse in its content as it is consistent in its publication schedule. To that end- as has been mentioned previously- a new “Paws for GDUI- News You can Use” will be available Bi-monthly, on the fifth, to enjoy!

The renewed interest in contributing to “Paws” is invigorating! I encourage everyone to remember how easy it is to get involved- share a favorite podcast; an interesting, silly, absurd, or touching tidbit from your local paper; something you wrote yourself or written by someone else; a helpful app or other resource; even a yummy recipe. Remember, submissions about guide dogs, or blindness/visual impairment are not the only topics of interest to we GDUISters!

If you sent me a submission, and it isn’t in this issue, I have decided to save it for June’s “Paws” as I don’t want anyone’s contribution to get overlooked because of the issue being too long! (“Can you believe this is what I am worrying about this month? Lucky me!”)

I so appreciate the renewed dedication to making “Paws”- for GDUI and of GDUI!

Sending cyber hugs and wags, Andrea and the Super T

From the President- Hello GDUI members,

Spring has arrived! I hope you and your guide dog are enjoying the refreshing cool air and the wonderful sunshine!

Thank you to everyone who renewed their GDUI membership either with your affiliate or an at large member! It is fun to think how many guide dogs are proud to be a member as well! Your participation and support are greatly appreciated!

During the 2023 GDUI convention in Illinois we will be selling products, pouches, harness signs and other great dog items in our suite! The program committee are scheduling some terrific events that will take place virtually in June and hybrid in July. We will share convention information after the plans are in place. I am looking forward to connecting with so many of you and making more friends! The guide dog community holds a very special place in my heart.

Stay tuned for an “All Paws on Deck” 2024 cruise information from the GDUI membership chairperson, Cindy LaBon. This cruise event and planning is not a GDUI supported event, we are sharing the information to our membership for more fun in the sun!

Please feel free to share your guide dog stories, journey, toys and other information either on the GDUI chat list, or submit an article to be published in “Paws for GDUI- News You Can Use”! The more the merrier!

Wishing you, your guide dog, family and friends a very Happy Easter, Passover, and/or anything else you are celebrating! Enjoy the beautiful springtime!

Happy tails and trails!

Sarah Calhoun and Lakota

Announcement- 2023 ACVO Eye Exams

Registration for the 14th Annual ACVO/Epicur National Service Animal Eye Exam Event opened on Saturday, April 1st and will be open until 11:59pm Mountain Time on Sunday, April 30th.

www.ACVOEyeExam.org

Make sure you are fully prepared and brush up on the Qualifications, Expectations, and Registration Information.

https://www.acvoeyeexam.org/qualifications-expectations

Here is a direct link to the registration page-

www.cognitoforms.com/ACVO1/ACVONationalServiceAnimalEyeExamEvent

After you register, you will be emailed a confirmation and link to participating clinics (please check your spam/junk folder before emailing for a confirmation email to be re-sent).

Be sure to add the following to your safe senders list!

ServiceAnimal@ACVO.org

To make an appointment after registration, please call the clinic of your choosing and be sure to give the clinic your registration number. Appointments are on a first come, first serve basis. The participating clinics list you will receive after registration will include COVID guidelines and each clinics’ in-clinic vs. curbside only policy.

Please remember that locations/appointments may be limited in your area. We ask for patience and kindness to the clinics’ staff, as we would love for this event to continue to be a positive experience for all involved! Don’t forget to ‘Like’ the event on Facebook and follow us on Instagram. We will keep you current of other similar events or news throughout the year. If you have an Instagram account, post your pictures of the event with #ACVOEyeExam for everyone to see! Results-

The PawTracks Survey: What Have We Learned?

Penny Reeder

Over many years, PawTracks was a much-loved benefit of membership in GDUI. I remember the first time I listened to a PawTracks cassette. I had recently applied to the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation for my first guide dog. I was nervous and excited, and when that audiocassette arrived in the mail, I couldn’t wait to start listening. I took the cassette and the portable 4-track cassette player I used for listening to NLS books with me and listened on my long subway commute to work. I became so engrossed in the contents, I totally missed my stop and didn’t even realize that I had gone far out of my way until daylight flooded into the subway car, and I knew I was way far beyond the underground station near my office, where I should have exited the train.

PawTracks was a recorded magazine, sometimes GDUI members recorded their stories or poems, and sometimes the editor would read written contributions aloud. Ray Fournier, a legend in the world of recorded sound, transferred the recorded content to 4-track cassettes and mailed the completed magazine to GDUI members every three months. Many people loved the magazine. It was kind of like an internet radio stream long before the internet was even a thing imagined! PawTracks was a benefit of membership in GDUI that made members proud.

As time went on, lifestyles evolved. The internet became a reality featuring e-mail discussion lists, internet radio stations, blogs and podcasts and social networking.  More and more people ventured online, and recorded materials delivered quarterly could feel already out-of-date by the time PawTracks arrived in postal mailboxes. Audiocassettes – with their sometimes-spotty sound quality—were no match for the quality we came to expect from audio downloads and streaming audio. So much information became instantly available online, more and more people owned personal computers, and then smart phones became permanent fixtures in our hands and in our pockets. Life was busier in every way, and guide dog users joined e-mail discussion lists and social networks and began routinely telling their stories and even sharing their photographs online. Everyone was so much busier than they had been before e-mail in boxes overflowed and Facebook conversations beckoned. It became harder and harder for PawTracks editors to gather enough content to fill a quarterly magazine. GDUI’s publications committee felt that changing times required us to make some changes, ourselves, and, Paws for GDUI- News You Can Use was born.

Now, the magazine is an online publication, available via download, and delivered via e-mail and the GDUI.org web site. Few of us even own a cassette player any more, and members read the magazine via smart phones, laptops, and braille displays. Fewer articles are contributed by members who want to share their personal stories – not because we don’t care about sharing with each other, but because we have so many more ways to communicate, and with more immediacy. GDUI’s Publications Committee hears from members who love the magazine, who appreciate choosing a format that works best for them, and who praise our writers and our editor’s breezy style and eclectic interests.

As we grow older, however, and sometimes become exhausted by the complexity of our 21st Century lives, it’s not uncommon to indulge in bouts of intense nostalgia. Remember, we think, how it was back in the day when we found that audiocassette in the mailbox and could hardly wait to listen to our friends telling us about their guide dogs or reviewing a new product or catching us up on what was happening in GDUI – in their own voices! Bring PawTracks back was a request we heard, not from a lot of people, but occasionally, and consistently from a few members and several board members in particular.

A committee was formed to create a survey. In fact, that committee created several surveys, but none achieved majority board approval for distribution. The requests for a survey persisted, and in late 2022, President Sarah Calhoun asked us to try one more time to create a survey which would let GDUI know exactly how many people longed for a return to a recorded, quarterly magazine that they could retrieve from their postal mailboxes.

I chaired the ad hoc PawTracks Survey Committee. Liz Bottner and Olivia Norman graciously volunteered to serve on the committee. Publications Committee Chairperson, Cheryl McNeill-Fisher helped, and GDUI Secretary and Office Manager, Lynn Merrill, kindly agreed to handle phone responses and collate results.   The Ad Hoc PawTracks Survey Committee met in early January and distributed our survey via GDUI’s Announce E-Mail list. We invited members to respond by e-mail, and there was also an option for anyone who wished to respond by phone. There was ample time for members to complete the short survey, and we sent out reminders. A total of 21 GDUI members returned the survey. One return was blank, and one response came in well after the deadline had passed. The response represents22 percent of GDUI’s total membership. Overwhelmingly, members supported our current “Paws for GDUI- News You Can Use” publication. Our analysis of survey results leads us to an understanding that, although some of us may look longingly back to a time when we found something that was truly exciting in our postal mailboxes, and although all of us prefer listening to a dear friend telling us a story or recommending a product their dog just adores to hearing JAWS or VoiceOver, or using on-screen magnification or a braille display to  access the same content, there are actually very few GDUI members who want us to resume publication of a quarterly, recorded magazine that we retrieve from a physical mailbox.

Ninety-five percent of respondents told us that they prefer GDUI’s publication to include stories that focus on GDUI-specific content and blindness and guide-dog-related topics, as well. We are glad to know this.

Ninety-five percent of respondents are pleased with the online delivery method that we utilize for “Paws’.” We will continue sending you e-mail notifications when a new issue becomes available, and placing a notice and a link on the front page of GDUI.org.

Two thirds of you prefer our current digital format, which allows you to print the publication in a size, font, or color of your choice, to magnify print on your computer screen as much or as little as you need, to use a screen reader to hear content, or to use a braille display to read the downloaded file. A few respondents liked the idea of accessing a voice recording – perhaps on a dedicated telephonic mailbox. We can investigate this method of delivering audio content. A very small number of respondents expressed an interest in utilizing the same kind of cartridge system that the NLS and ACB utilize for delivering audio books and magazines to subscribers. Interest in implementing a similar process appears to be modest.

Nine of you told us that you cannot help with the publication, and, while results were coming in, 13 people shared an interest in helping, as content contributors, with editing, or as trainers to help people who need to become comfortable with downloading content from the internet or with using a screen reader to access downloaded content, or with some other aspect of maneuvering through cyberspace. One respondent even volunteered to help us with marketing!

Thank you to all of you who have volunteered to help! You can expect to hear from us if the Publications Committee doesn’t hear from you first! E-mail us at Publications@GuideDogUsersInc.org, or call 866.799.8436!

Thank you to Liz and Olivia, who helped to create the survey questions and plan for dissemination and collation of results; thank you to Lynn who spoke with several people who shared their responses via our toll-free phone line and collated all of the results; thank you, Sarah and Maria Kristic, for sending out the survey announcement and the reminder messages; and thank you to Andrea who produces such a terrific publication for GDUI! . Thank you to everyone who took time to respond to our survey. We are pleased to know how many of you are enjoying “Paws for GDUI- News You Can Use,” and we welcome your contributions, your involvement, and your interest! Whether or not we are communicating with you via a specific survey, we want to hear from all of our readers, to know what you like and what you don’t, to respond to your wishes and your preferences, and to share in the delight that all of us, who are lucky enough to work with guide dogs, experiences as we travel through our lives independently and safely alongside wagging tails and occasional doggie kisses. E-mail us at Editor@GuideDogUsersInc.org.

Resource- The Seeing Eye® Advocacy App has Launched

The Seeing Eye has developed a free app for Apple/iOS to provide information about the U.S. and Canadian laws that ensure guide dog handlers have access to public places and protect them from interference from people and other dogs. The app also contains legal resources and educational materials that can be used for self-advocacy. The information is arranged topically where feasible for easy navigation and use.

To download the app from Apple’s App Store, go to this link:

https://apps.apple.com/app/the-seeing-eye-advocacy/id6446094763

For those of you who are Android users, we ask for your patience. The Apple app was our first step and we will begin working with our developers on the Android version as soon as we can and will let you know when it’s out.

We hope this will be a useful resource for those of us who are guide dog handlers; guide dog instructors who want to know the laws when they are traveling with dogs and working in the field with students and graduates; business owners; dog owners who want to know how to manage their pet dogs around guide dogs; and anyone else who might need or want the information. This is our first version, so we appreciate your feedback and your patience. We will need to make periodic updates to fix bugs and to keep information about the laws accurate as they change. This is just the beginning.

Melissa Allman, Senior Specialist, Advocacy and Government Relations

The Seeing Eye

MAllman@seeingeye.org

From the Editor- Now a perfect place to put the above app to good, and fun, use!

Announcement- All Paws on Deck

Cindy LaBon and Goodman

Do you or your hard-working guide dog need a vacation?

Well, let us ask you this: Have you ever taken a cruise? Has your guide ever traveled onboard a cruising ship? If you and your guide have cruised before, were you able to share the fun with other enthusiastic guide dog users?

If you answered no to any of these questions, let us tell you about an amazing opportunity! A group of friends and guide dog users are planning a spectacular cruise to the Eastern Caribbean in May of 2024! Goodman and I want to tell you about the cruise and invite you and your guide and your friends or partners or significant others or spouses to come aboard!

Here’s how all of this came about. In 2018, a couple of guide dog users contacted Melanie Dyer from Creative Traveler, which is located in Belmont, North Carolina, and asked her to put together a cruise for blind and visually impaired vacationers and their guide dogs. Melanie was the perfect person to ask, since she had previously made all of the travel arrangements for a friend who was a guide dog user, and their cruises – yes, more than one! — were spectacular! Melanie understands what blind and low vision people who travel with guide dogs need, and she’s tuned into canine cruising preferences, as well! That cruise wasn’t associated with any particular guide dog school, or with GDUI, and the one we’re telling you about has been privately arranged and is also not sponsored by any particular organization.

Sixty people and forty guide dogs came on that 2019 cruise. It was wonderful! We named our group, “All Paws on Deck!” We even had these cool blue tee shirts with “All Paws on Deck” stenciled on the front and a picture of the ship on the back. Goodman and I have heard that tee shirts for 2024 Paws cruisers are already in process, and I can’t wait to find out what they’ll be like!

We all had so much fun on our first “All Paws on Deck” Carnival cruise, we started planning for another one while we were still lounging around on deck. But, you know what happened in the spring of 2020. Now, three years later, with the pandemic emergency officially declared at an end, we are finally planning another cruise!

Here is the itinerary. Melanie is recommended that cruisers plan to arrive in Miami on Saturday, the 4th of May, 2024. There’s an optional hotel package that includes shuttle transportation from the airport to the hotel and to the cruise terminal on Sunday morning. (Optional hotel shuttle transportation from the cruise terminal, the following Sunday, back to the hotel, and back to the airport, can also be arranged.)

It’s a good idea to arrive at the Miami hotel on the day before the ship is scheduled to depart, since one can never be absolutely sure that flights will arrive on schedule, and you wouldn’t want the ship to sail without you! Besides, if you arrive on Saturday, you’ll have a chance to meet all of the other members of the group and you and your dogs can get to know one another!

The Carnival ship will be the Celebration. It was christened in the fall of 2022. Here’s the itinerary: Cruise from Miami on Sunday, May 5. Then, sail to Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and St. Thomas. Return to Miami on Sunday, May 12.

For more details and answers to all of your questions, you can contact Melanie Dyer at-

Melanie@creativetraveler.com

Mr. Goodman and I are so excited about the cruise! We can hardly wait to hear who else will be planning to come along and then to welcome you onboard!

Announcement- Did you know… resetting your BARD password is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

(While some of you may know all about this- it was news to this editor.)

1. Open the BARD login page and click the Reset your BARD password here link.

2. On the reset your lost password page, type the email address associated with the BARD account in the Email Address field, then click the Submit button.

3. BARD will send the patron an email with a link that will redirect back to the BARD website, where the patron can create a new password.

The link will expire one hour from when it is requested.

Pod Casts- Check these out!

Podcast of Intersections, Roundabouts, and Rover

presentation by Lucas Franck of The Seeing Eye.

direct link to the podcast on the ACB Community feed-

Intersections, Roundabouts, and Rover 02.12.23

Penny Forward Podcast- Can I Afford a Guide Dog?

Liz, GDUI Board member, thanks for this!

The following link is to a podcast I helped record related to the cost of partnering with a guide dog. The link follows-

Penny Forward Podcast: Can I Afford a Guide Dog?

pennyforward.com

Announcement- Terrific resource for dog, and horse, gear!

If you are anything like me- as well as many of the guide handlers, puppy raisers, and pet owners I know- finding a new source for great gear is a real treat! Also, like me, I imagine you are often asked, “hey, do you know anywhere to get good gear? Well, I have a Guy! Jimmy Leach, Guiding Eyes for the Blind graduate and GDUI member, is his name and fabulous dog and horse gear is his Mojo!

Jimmy works with Leather and Biophane (non-leather, waterproof, very durable, and available in many, many colors) to create collars, leashes, long lines, and tag holders (just to name some of his inventory). He also makes cable tie-downs which have protective covering over the metal connections, appreciated by humans, dogs, and furniture everywhere. But… don’t just take my word for it, at Jimmy’s GEB graduation last year, he was introduced as Jimmy Leash (a play on his actual last name) because he makes leashes, collars, and tag holders for program puppies, dogs in training and working guides.

So- you want some of this?

The very best way to reach Jimmy is via phone-

410- 918-8890

You can e-mail him at-

jandghoovesandpaws@gmail.com

Once you fall in love with his stuff share all about him on Facebook-

Facebook.com/jandghoovesandpaws

Article-Fancy Restaurants for Dogs Are Booming Right Now

With fine dining-style small plates and artful cupcakes, there’s never been a better time for the dogs to dine out.

BY ALI FRANCIS

November 1, 2022

[From: Fancy, Dog-Friendly Restaurants are Booming Right Now | Bon Appétit (bonappetit.com)]

One of San Francisco’s newest tasting menus is also its most exclusive. On Sundays only, the popular Dogue patisserie and store serves a seven-course meal featuring high end, chef-prepared small plates.

The organic beef chuck steak

comes raw and adorned with pretty spirals of fermented carrot and a dusting of dehydrated beet powder. For dessert,

pastel cake balls and

rose-shaped tarts are made with ingredients like antelope heart and ground bone. The restaurant’s main point of difference: Instead of humans, the diners in question are

dogs.

“Honestly, I don’t know who gets more enjoyment, the dogs eating or me watching them eat,” says Rahmi Massarweh, the chef-owner of Dogue, which opened

late September this year. The “Bone Appétit” (yes, really) tasting menu costs $75 per floofer, so of course it’s spawned a slew of hot takes

on wealth inequality, capitalism, and a society in peril. But Massarweh, a dog lover and Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef, just wants to see our four-legged

friends thrive. “If you knew that your choices directly impacted how long a member of your family would live, wouldn’t you want to make the best choice for them?”

Article- Your Dog Got Into Weed and Got High?

WRITTEN BY KEELY BASTOW

PUBLISHED ON MARCH 6, 2023

[From: Your Dog Got Into Weed and Got High? Here’s What to Do. – Washingtonian]

Here’s What to Do.

For one thing, say DC veterinarians, be honest when you bring your pup in: ‘We’re not the cops.”

Pansy Suzuki, medical director of the Veterinary Emergency Group in DC, has learned to recognize the signs that a dog is high. Because she’s seeing it

more often. Since marijuana possession became

legal in the District in 2015, Suzuki says more dogs are being brought into the clinic that have gotten into their owner’s stashes or have eaten the remnants

of joints snuffed out on the sidewalk.

The first symptoms include incontinence and ataxia, which makes dogs appear drunk or unstable. “It’s common for people to think their dog is having a stroke,” she says. The dogs may also become overreactive to stimuli, throw up, or have dilated pupils.

When owners see any of these symptoms, Suzuki says, they should call their vets or bring their dogs in. Most often, treatment is done on an outpatient

basis, and includes fluids and anti-nausea medication. Weed will typically be out of the dog’s system in 24 to 48 hours. 

Most cases that come in end up being mild, Suzuki says. Dogs have a high tolerance for marijuana, but they metabolize it differently than humans, so the

effects can last longer. While weed is still in a dog’s system, she says, owners should put the dog in a confined space so it can’t trip or fall down stairs,

and it should be watched to make sure it doesn’t choke. 

Nastassia Germain is an emergency veterinarian in Georgetown and says in these cases, she closely monitors heart rate and body temperature. Both can either

spike or drop, which in severe cases can lead to a coma. Neither Germain or Suzuki have seen a fatality from ingesting weed, but Suzuki recently saw a

50-pound lab who had consumed 700 milligrams of marijuana. The dog started showing signs of seizure, had extreme incontinence, and remained in the hospital

for 24 hours. 

Germain says it’s easier when owners tell them right away if they know the dog has ingested weed, but many either don’t know or are nervous to admit it.

“We’re not the cops. We’re just happy the pet is here,” she says.

A dog’s reaction also depends on what type of marijuana it has gotten into. CBD is generally safe for dogs and even can be recommended for certain health

issues, but THC comes in different forms that interact with dogs differently, Germain says.

Ingesting a bud is less dangerous than an oil or butter, because

those are fat-soluble substances. If a dog ingests one of those, they can be absorbed into their liver and kidney, take longer to leave the system, and

become more toxic. 

Edibles can be more dangerous because they are also mixed with other substances that can be toxic, like chocolate. Sugar substances overall aren’t good

for dogs, but chocolate contains theobromine,

which dogs metabolize very slowly and can become toxic. If owners know the form of weed their dog ingested, it’s important to tell their vet so they can

estimate the severity of the case as accurately as possible, Suzuki says.

To prevent your dog from getting high in the first place, Suzuki says to treat them like children: put anything you don’t want your pet to get into well

out of reach. For edibles, put them in a container that will mask the scent.  

Most dogs will be fine and sleep off the effects of weed exposure, but Germain suggests bringing a dog in to be safe: “Often [the dogs] do well, but we

never know until we see.”

Editor’s note- I really had no choice, this simply had to be next!… “Dude, anyone hungry?”

Recipe – A Pizza with Pooch Appeal!

[This very tasty-sounding pizza recipe was found on an e-mail list populated by grads and puppy-parents for Freedom Guide Dogs. It sounds so yummy; we just have to share!]

Here is the dog approved puppy pizza recipe!

Ingredients

2 cups oat flour (Create oat flour by whirring equivalent amounts of oat flour in a high-power blender or a food processor until finely ground oats resemble wheat flour in texture.)

1 egg

Drizzle of olive oil

1/3 cup low or no sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup of chopped peppers

1/2 cup of chopped carrots

Pinch of oregano

1 cup low fat ricotta

1 cup diced cooked chicken breast

1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Combine flour, egg, oil, and broth. Add extra flour if necessary to make a

dough consistency.

Roll dough flat.

Boil pepper and carrot together until soft.

Remove vegetables from water and purée, adding oregano, and stirring until smooth.

Spread purée on crust.

Top with ricotta, chicken and parsley.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Cool before serving!

Announcement- Survey Reveals Gap in Public Perception: Seemingly Innocent Interactions Harmful to Seeing Eye® Teams

A peer-reviewed study Published in the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness in November of 2022 reveals a need for more education of the general public about the consequences of interference with guide dog teams. It is entitled “Interference With the Work of Dog Guides in Public: A Survey” and was co-authored by Melissa Allman, Kathleen Freeberg, and Dr. Katy M. Evans. Check out The press release on The Seeing Eye’s web site at:

https://www.seeingeye.org/press/press-releases/survey-reveals-gap-in-public.html

Even though most states now have some type of legislation imposing penalties for harming and interfering with guide dog teams, The Seeing Eye has observed that the problem still persists. In an effort to obtain current data and gain a more comprehensive understanding of the types of interference guide dog teams face while working their dogs, The Seeing Eye conducted a survey of its graduates in October of 2019. The survey findings revealed that the most common types of human interference handlers experienced was people talking to or making deliberate eye contact with their dogs. The study also showed that people underestimated their ability to control their pet dogs. Interference from leashed but uncontrolled dogs was the most common problem, but loose dogs still posed a threat. 36 percent of survey respondents had experienced aggressive interference from another dog.

The article as accepted for publication is available on The Seeing Eye’s web site at:

https://www.seeingeye.org/assets/pdfs/interference-with-the-work-of.pdf

To check out an education campaign designed to help pet owners understand how to appropriately manage their dogs when they encounter guide dog teams, go to

https://guidedogatwork.org/

Article- Is it Magic?

By Ann Chiappetta M.S.

It’s still winter in New York, Punxsutawney Phil twitched his little rodent nose and told us we would have six more weeks of it and this year, darn it — he’s correct. Unless it’s in the single digits and the wind is up, my dogs love it. They dig and romp in the snow or come in with a cold nose and ears.  The best is when the towel comes out to dry them off. Bailey rubs on us like a cat and May gets all happy, pushing him out of the way to get her turn. Always gets me laughing and smiling.

I’d like to share a little bit more about   the process of being matched with a guide dog. Anthropologists tell us early man and dog met tens of thousands of years ago out of mutual need; since that time, the two have developed a bond unrivaled by any other animal and human partnership.

In fact, the matching process which occurs for guide dog teams is based on the science of both human and canine behaviors but also has something else refer to as magic.  The professional instructors keep this close to the cuff, and I wouldn’t ask them to divulge any more of it than is necessary for the unindoctrinated to understand. I mean, who wants to give away a process that’s been working for close to 100 years and probably longer? Just imagine the sheep herders of the distant past and how their dogs worked with them and protected them from predators. This was a partnership formed of mutuality and need. The ultimate working relationship is, of course, the military or law enforcement handler and dog, wherein  the team risks injury or worse each time they take point on patrol.

Getting back to less perilous situations, in guide and service dog terms, the magic of the match has been a mystery. There is something about the process   which defies explanation.  The concrete side of the matching process has been explored and recorded in journals and scores of conversations during panel discussions.   The subject is also popular when working a new dog or in the quieter, more convivial moments when getting to know a new dog. The ever-elusive question is why did they match me with this dog?  Sure, being blind is part of it. The loss of vision   makes the first step possible.  Moving on, it’s not just about how fast one walks, the location and regular routes taken and geographical challenges like transit centers, street crossings, etc. It is more than this. It is a judgement call based on the information we provide to the instructors, both verbally and non-verbally. It is developed during the Juno walks and observing the teamwork we exhibited with our former dog guide. Each handler has similar requirements but most likely an equal share of unique requirements as well. I am not an instructor nor do I profess to know how to evaluate a person’s needs in terms of a guide dog. I do know, however, what I’ve observed from over ten years of being among other handlers and instructors. I can only express how my needs were met and how my new dog has been a great match.

Moreover, instructors listen to our hopes and dreams, not just what we need at the time.   They see our potential with each training walk. Instructors witness transformations, the rise of confidence and when it is all completed, the beauty of a good match is the result. How can one explain it? Simply put, it is magic.

Here’s to   acknowledging the time and dedication of the individuals who help make the magic happen and letting them know I won’t give away the secret. 😉

Check out everything Annie by going to www.annchiappetta.com or follow my blog: www.thought-wheel.com Join my monthly email list by sending a blank email to: anniesharesnews+subscribe@groups.io

Editor’s note:

announcements and articles, for GDUI- News You Can Use, are culled from a variety of sources; Hence inclusion herein does not imply GDUI endorses, supports or verifies their contents. Information, ideas, or expressed opinions are not advice, therefore should not be treated as such. Factual errors are the responsibility of the listed source.

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 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.

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 editor: Hello fellow GDUISters

Well, I am off to an inauspicious start to the 2023 issues of Paws! While the loss of internet complicated the timeliness of this issue, I am chalking the remainder of the reason to the fabled “success” of New Year resolutions.

President Sarah, along with my co-editor, Penny, by rights should have thrown up their collective hands by this point, however, they are being their understanding, forgiving, supportive selves.

I am excited about this issue as it has lots of good information- ways to assist researchers, opportunities to increase self-awareness, improve technology skills, treat your dogs to a treat, read about a very interesting experience as shared by a GDUI member, and so much more.

Going forward, as was mentioned at the January board meeting, this newsletter will have a specific realize date. You can look for Paws to be dropping every other month on the fifth. So, enjoy February’s and I’ll catch you again in April! Until then, be kind to yourselves, your guides, and each other!

Sending cyber hugs and wags, Andrea and Super T

From the President:

Hello GDUI members!

Welcome to the first Paws, News You Can Use newsletter of 2023! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

The GDUI board of directors met On January 28, 2023, the first board meeting of the year! We welcomed two new board members and two committee chairpersons. Directors Andy Arvidson and Lolly Lijewski and committee chairperson’s Cindy Le Bon, membership and Terry Terlau, special concerns.  We are so happy to have them join us and appreciate their commitment to GDUI!

The ACB Leadership Conference will take place this March with a virtual and an in-person component. GDUI board member Liz Bottner will be our representative during the in-person event in Washington D.C.  We are grateful and appreciate Liz support and dedication to GDUI.

Please mark your calendar to join the GDUI special membership meeting on Saturday, February 11, 2023, beginning at 1:00 p.m. eastern. GDUI business and Committee chairs will give some updates, then open to the membership. Be on the lookout for the Zoom information!

Congratulations to all new guide dog teams! Whether you have a new partner or not, let us know how you are doing by posting on the GDUI chat list!

Happy tails and trails!

Sarah Calhoun & retired Lakota

GDUI President

Announcement *TIME SENSITIVE!!- HAPPENING FEBRUARY 11, 2023!!

Community call

The California Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss (CAAVL) presents “What You Need to Know About Emergency Preparedness.”

7 pm EST, 4 Pm Pacific

Presenters will be Susanne Hogan, Regional Representative/CA-CSP Coordinator; Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults; and Vance Taylor, Chief, Office of Access and Functional Needs, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Throughout the nation disasters are becoming an increasing part of the landscape, thus making emergency preparedness more important than it has ever been. What can you do to be as prepared as possible should you need to evacuate due to a natural disaster? How can you find out about your local disaster preparedness plan and what are some of the areas in which advocacy efforts are needed? To answer these questions, as well as your own questions and concerns. On Saturday February 11, at 7 PM EST, 4 Pacific,

(Submitted by Robert Acosta, President Helping Hands for the Blind

(818) 9980044

www.helpinghands4theblind.net

Announcement: Aira Communications

Update on the Prices of Add-on and Purchased Minutes

(Posted February 1, 2023)

You may have noticed in your Aira app that the prices listed for Add-on/Purchased Minutes haven’t changed and still reflect the 2022 pricing.  It’s not a mistake. We listened to your feedback about wanting offset pricing for these minutes. You can continue to buy Add-on/Purchased Minutes at 2022 prices through February 28, 2023.  Beginning on March 1, 2023, Purchased Minutes will be sold at “offset” prices as follows:

Price List

Bundle name:  25 Minutes

Retail Cost:  $100.00 US Dollars, £83.00, $158.00 NZD, $147.00 AUD

Your Cost after Aira’s Contribution:  $55.00 US Dollars, £46.00, $87.00 NZD, $81.00 AUD

Bundle name:  50 Minutes

Retail Cost:  $190.00 US Dollars, £158.00, $300.00 NZD, $280.00 AUD

Your Cost after Aira’s Contribution:  $100.00 US Dollars, £83.00, $158.00 NZD, $147.00 AUD

Bundle name:  100 Minutes

Retail Cost:  $365.00 US Dollars, £313.00, $575.00 NZD, $537.00 AUD

Your Cost after Aira’s Contribution:  $190.00 US Dollars, £158.00, $300.00 NZD, $280.00 AUD

Timeline

From February 1, 2023 through February 28, 2023, you can purchase Add-on minutes at the 2022 prices. 

Beginning on March 1, 2023, we will refer to Add-on minutes as Purchased Minutes and will only offer them at “offset “prices. 

To learn more, join us for our February 15, 2023 monthly Explorer call at 3:00 pm Pacific time.  It will be streamed live on our YouTube channel and recorded for our podcast feed.

As always, thank you for being part of our community.

Announcement: Book Newly Listed on BARD Can Help Us Care for Our Older Dogs

Thanks to Shirley Manning for sharing this reading tip for all of us who use the National Library Service’s Braille and Recorded Downloads for entertainment and information. Here’s the description provided by NLS:

Good old dog: expert advice for keeping your aging dog happy, healthy, and comfortable DB110240

Lindner , Lawrence; Dodman, Nicholas H; Cummings School of Veterinary

Medicine. Reading time: 9 hours, 48 minutes.

Read by Dwayne Glapion.

Animals and Wildlife

“The human-animal bond is never stronger or more tender than when your dog’s muzzle turns gray and the spring in their step begins to diminish. After spending the better part of a decade or more with this beloved member of your family, making sure your canine friend ages comfortably and contentedly is a natural priority. And no one knows how to ensure healthy aging better than the renowned faculty of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, who treat more than eight thousand older dogs annually. |Good Old Dog| brings their renowned expertise into your living room, providing you with essential advice on nutrition, health, and caretaking to see your dog through the golden years.” — Provided by publisher. healthy, and comfortable

Article: Short Story P-99

Lisa Gilmartin, December 28, 2022

GDUI member, president GDP Creative Tails writing group and a member of FCB-ACBU

For me, there are few joys better than hiking on the paved trails in the western United States.

The various new smells tantalizing my nostrils, the arid air on my skin, & the sounds of nature, if even in a breeze, absolutely fills my soul. The true thrill, for me, is to be one with nature. Animal encounters are always memorable, welcome or not.

I shared one of these hikes with my twin nieces, Jamie and Jesse, along with my guide Dog, Ravi, in the Santa Monica mountains up to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California. It was lovely late afternoon on a beautiful January 2020 day. We found a canyon trail starting with a very steep incline. The girls read the posted signs on the bulletin board at the start of the trail for any pertinent information. There was nothing alarming listed. So we started our accent to the steep incline. When a mountain trail is extremely steep, it cuts sharply from right to left & back; this is known as a switchback to hikers. There were many switchbacks on this trail. As we reached the last steep switchback, it plopped us directly into the parking lot of the Griffith Observatory.

By this time, the sun was slipping slowly behind the mountains to the west as we took in the view. Dusk gave way to a beautiful evening sky. While taking it all in through my senses, I could hear howling in the distance. I told my nieces under no uncertain terms, “I’m not going back that way!“

Jamie walked over to a ranger asking, “What is that noise we hear in the distance?”

He told her, “Oh, it’s nothing, just coyotes. “

Really? Nothing? She explained to him that we had hiked from the canyon below to the observatory. She asked if it was dangerous for us to go down the trail in the dark with my guide dog. He assured her that as long as a dog is on a leash, coyotes would not bother us. I was still very skeptical.

When we had our fill of the observatory, it was late. Feeling exhausted, I succumbed to walking down the trail. I thought we’ll just walk quickly down the steep trail to the car in less than 10 minutes to make it easier Since we were unfamiliar with how else to get to the car. We reached our first switchback down the steep trail as we stepped onto the trail. Jesse and Jamie walked ahead of Ravi & me. They used their flashlights on their cell phones to walk quickly back down the pitch-black mountain. trail

Just then, we all heard a little rustling before reaching the second switchback, a very short distance away. Then came an animal noise.

Jesse turned, whispering, “Animal. Turn around.“ We all turned around back towards the parking lot in pitch blackness.

Suddenly I heard a very deep, low guttural sound, GROWL, about 9” in the back of Ravi’s tail! Jamie was already at the top by the parking lot. I thought I was walking fast but I was actually not moving at all!! I was frozen! I noticed my legs felt like cement from my knees to my hips. My brain said, “RUN!” but my legs could not move.

Jesse turned around to see me frozen. Ravi was stopped just looking at me, waiting for me to direct him. The deep growling was getting louder and louder right behind Ravi. As I recall these harrowing moments, I still remember that deep growling behind me as if it had just happened. Growl

Jesse yelled to Jamie, “Jamie, come help Lisa & Ravi!” I thought about what I wanted Jamie to do. I thought I would have her go behind Ravi to protect him and scare this unseen ominous creature. After that thought, the deep growling was so loud, so close behind Ravi, that I realized Jamie could not go behind us. As Jamie ran back to me, she asked me, “What do you want me to do?!”

I Outstretched my left hand, passing her the leash saying, “Take Ravi!!” In a flash, they were gone. Jamie was holding Ravi’s leash as the handle on his harness flailed about. Jesse grabbed my left arm, pulling me up the hill, insisting I move. I was still frozen. The louder, deepening growling was now about 3 feet behind me at this point! I started to feel the hairs on the back of my neck rising. The hairs on my arm stood at attention. I knew this was literally a do-or-die situation. Feeling a tingling, flooding body, I knew I was about to be attacked. In a surprise moment in my sheer terror, I clumsily raised my right arm at a 90-degree angle, waving my hand out away from me, trying to make myself look bigger. I turned my head to the right sounding extremely verbally challenged, as if I had never been able to speak clearly in my life, saying, “leave us alone!”

With that, I seemed to have broken some sort of spell. The hairs on the back of my neck and arms were no longer standing up. My legs started to move!

I was able to race up to the first switch back into the parking lot.

Once in the parking lot, we ran to a Ranger in his 60s. We shared our harrowing close encounters with an animal kind. He asked us what the noise sounded like. I repeated my low deep guttural growling imitation.

Nonchalantly, he shared, “It’s a relatively famous mountain lion called P-99. It has even been photographed by National Geographic in an article.”

Trying my best to be an advocate for hikers, I insisted a sign be put up warning hikers that a mountain lion lives in this canyon. His response floored me. He informed me no signs would be placed.in order to not ruin the natural beauty. I found it incredulous that warning signs will not be placed to warn hikers of P99!

Needless to say, Ravi did not go on any more hikes during that trip, nor did we do any night hiking.

Please realize the need to be very careful when hiking in nature with a guide dog or any pet!

Hikers are out soaking up nature. So are the animal inhabitants looking for the next meal!

P-99 lives in the Santa Monica Mountains. She was captured and tagged and released in September 2021. At that time, it was determined she was female to be 2-3 years old. While my experience in encountering P-99 is embedded in my memory, it IS her home. She is in the category of a puma. If we do not protect our wildlife, we could lose all pumas in this area in a few decades. The balance between personal enjoyment and respecting nature is a delicate one.

Podcasts:

• Central Bark: A Guide Dogs for the Blind Podcast: Careers & Canine Connections with APH (January 26th 2023)

Theresa sits down with GDB Youth Outreach Specialist, Jane Flower, and Richard Rueda from APH CareerConnect to discuss our upcoming collaborative project: Careers & Canine Connections. Geared toward young adults ages 18-24, this FREE week-long workshop will be equal parts fun and future-focused to help prepare attendees who are blind or visually impaired to enter the workforce with confidence and an understanding of how a guide dog might fit into that plan:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/central-bark-a-guide-dogs-for-the-blind-podcast/id1603263847?i=1000594938379

• Shame and Vision Loss

(Hadley Presents- Friday, 2/3/2023)

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for feelings of shame to creep in when we’ve lost some vision. Join social worker Jeff Flodin and clinical psychologist Ed McDaniel, both of whom are visually impaired themselves, as they explore where these feelings come from and how they have worked through them in their own lives.

https://click.email.hadley.edu/?qs=51d3c300be9ffc03e7a05cfe35988fa7c889cdcd4dabef581ee9774e9b89ce192c32fce29e1cc18694db7688c8ebc8276b9f7f497826e21e

• The Kevin McNally Show – Be Curious

By Kevin McNally

Everyone has a story! I am pursuing interesting people doing interesting things. As a legally blind musician, traveler, motivational speaker, lawyer, communicator,

and much more, I remain contagiously upbeat and happy. Come with me as we meet new people and share in their stories!

Just a few of the past episodes-

• Choose Your Hard (January 19, 2023)

There is little we have control of in life. However, we do have a few areas where we have a choice.

• Weird Laws- 2023 (January 17 2023)

The world is filled with some very strange laws

• Perspective – 25 ways to be happier this year! (January 06, 2023)

Make 2023 a great year!

• Sighted World: What you know about vision loss is false (March 26, 2021)

The sighted world does not truly understand vision loss. In this episode, I detail the truth of what vision loss looks like.

• Balance and vision loss (September 05, 2022)

Did you know that a person’s balance can be severely impacted by vision loss?

• Low Vision Life: clutter be gone! (April 06, 2022)

Living a life with low vision requires teamwork from people around you.

• Fatherhood and Low Vision (December 27, 2022)

Does vision loss impact fatherhood?

Article: ACB President’s Message, Join Us at the Accessible Currency Rally

by Dan Spoone,

I’m so excited! This year’s in-person portion of the D.C. Leadership Conference will feature a rally in Lafayette Park across from the White House to raise our voices to promote inclusion on our U.S. paper currency. The 2023 D.C. Leadership Conference will offer something for everyone.

The first segment of the conference will feature a four-day virtual conference on the afternoons of Saturday, March 4 through Tuesday, March 7. This segment will include a two-day presidents’ meeting with interactive panel discussions, ACB committee updates and a keynote speaker. We will have a Sunday night “Fireside Chat” and personal interviews with our six new ACB board members who were elected in 2021 and 2022. The second two days will focus on advocacy issues with the legislative seminar. There will again be informative panel discussions, presentations from federal agency representatives and elected representatives. These presentations are always of great value to our members to help us understand the most pressing advocacy initiatives affecting our community. After Leslie’s and my experience with Southwest Airlines over the holidays, we can’t wait to talk with the FAA.

The second portion of the 2023 ACB D.C. Leadership Conference will be our first chance to get together in the nation’s capital in three years. We’re so excited. The in-person segment of the conference will be from Thursday, March 9 through Monday, March 13. The board meeting will be held on Thursday, March 9 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and broadcast on ACB Media. The Accessible Currency Rally will be held at Lafayette Park on Friday, March 10 in the afternoon. Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12 will feature interactive focus workshops in the morning followed by plated lunches with inspiring speakers. These four days will also include a wonderful package of tours with visits to Mount Vernon, the Library of Congress, the U.S. Capitol, the White House Visitor Center and a narrated tour of the of the monuments on the National Mall with opportunities to explore the monuments. There will be a “Network Dine Around” on Saturday night and an opportunity to travel to Capitol Hill on Monday to visit with your state’s representatives and senators.

We strongly encourage everyone to register for the 2023 ACB D.C. Leadership Conference. The registration fee will be $25. There will be an additional $150 in-person registration fee for those attending the in-person segment of the conference. This fee includes the two plated lunches on Saturday and Sunday, the complete tour package, transportation to the rally and a rally reception, and participation in a set of leadership focus workshops. This will be a fantastic networking opportunity for all of our ACB leaders. We look forward to seeing you at the 2023 ACB D.C. Leadership Conference!

For complete information, visit: https://acb.org/2023-leadership-announcement

Resource: Abilibits- Tasty bite size morsels from ABILITY Magazine, abilityJOBS & ABILITY Corps

abilitymagazine.com

Zhang Hong was born in Chongqing in 1975 and went blind due to glaucoma at age 21. He found his passion for mountaineering in 2015 and has conquered peaks of great height ranging from 5,800 meters to 7546 meters above sea level. He became Asia’s first blind man to summit Mt. Qomolangma from its south col (dip between peaks).

abilitymagazine.com/chinas-blind-mountaineer-zhang-hong

Article: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Some call it a Hallmark holiday while others just call it hell.  Valentine’s Day brings high-stakes expectations no matter your relationship status. If Cupid’s arrow has left you feeling more peeved than passionate this year, why not look to another species to find your Valentine?

10 reasons dogs make better valentines than humans do.

1. Dogs don’t need flowers

If you’ve ever been walking your dog when she’s stopped to smell the roses, you know that while humans see these flowers as a symbol of love, dogs see them as just another thing to pee on. If your Valentine is of the canine variety, consider yourself (and your bank account) lucky. No dog is sitting at home waiting for his human to come bursting in with a dozen overpriced, long-stemmed toilets.

2. They won’t buy you chocolate

If your New Year’s resolution involved cutting extra calories, a heart-shaped box of sugary chocolates isn’t exactly welcome a month and a half later. Some of us are still working off the results of the junk-food frenzy also known as the holiday season and would really rather get some puppy kisses than chocolate kisses at this point. Even if our pups could walk to the store to purchase a V-Day present, they wouldn’t pick out something we’ve repeatedly told them is poison.

3. They’re easy to please in the kitchen

Attempting to get to a human Valentine’s heart through his stomach can be a recipe for disaster. A home- cooked meal can be the highlight of the night, but it’s so hard to get right, especially if you’re used to cooking for canine companions with less discerning tastes. Not all of us have the culinary skills to wow a human date, but it’s guaranteed our dogs will love us even if the can opener is the only kitchen tool we’ve mastered.

4. No reservations required

If you’re the kind of cook only a dog could love, restaurant reservations are definitely required to impress a human date. It doesn’t matter if you’re going to spend 20 bucks on a heart-shaped pizza or drop some serious dough at a fancy five-star restaurant — you need to book way ahead or risk ending up in the drive-thru. Of course, if your dog is your date this V-Day, don’t stress. He’ll totally love a car ride and a value menu cheese-burger.

5. Pups don’t care what you wear

Choosing a dog as your date this Valentine’s Day also means you can say you’re going to slip into something more comfortable and actually mean it. Forget about lingerie or silk ties — your pup loves it when you wear your fur-covered sweat pants. To add extra excitement to your evening, pull your dog-walking jacket out of the closet, and you’ll have your pooch panting in no time.

6. You know what they want

Your dog’s expectations on Valentine’s Day are the same as they are any other day of the year — he wants you to come home, feed him, play with him, walk him, and cuddle him. Having a doggie date is so much simpler than dealing with a human honey. You never have to worry that your heartfelt but inexpensive gift will be met with an extravagant present and a disappointed date. Dogs know that J.Lo was right — love don’t cost a thing (but that doesn’t mean your pup wouldn’t appreciate a new chew toy).

7. Their presents aren’t pricey

Bones and balls are so much cheaper than diamonds and wristwatches, and thanks to the billion-dollar pet industry, dog lovers have near infinite choices when it comes to showing low-cost love for a canine Valentine. From blinged-out collars to heart-shaped satin beds, there are limitless ways to pamper your Valentine on a limited budget. Best of all, no dog is going to ask for a gift receipt.

8. They’ll definitely go to bed with you

For many, the big question on a Valentine’s Day date is this: Will I be spending the night alone? Many people in long-term relationships have found themselves in the proverbial dog house after picking up a last-minute Valentine’s Day card at the gas station, but a dog would never banish you to the couch just because you bought their treats at the last minute. They’re just happy to be in the bed in the first place.

9. Dogs don’t see red — or pink

If the typical Valentine’s Day color scheme of red and pink makes you want to puke, don’t worry — a doggie date won’t care if you choose to forgo the traditional hues on your night together. After all, our pups can’t even perceive pink, so go against tradition, and consider getting your best friend something in shades of blue or brown. I guarantee you he didn’t have his little doggie heart set on a color he can’t even see.

10. They just love us unconditionally

Dogs are everything a good Valentine is supposed to be. They’re devoted, adoring, and never late for a date. While a dog won’t be Instagramming your romantic Valentine’s Day carriage ride or popping the question over champagne, his commitment to you can’t be questioned. They say diamonds are forever, but the love of a dog is even stronger and worth more than the fanciest sparkler in the jewelry store.

Announcement: Surveys

• Closing: April 24th 2023- Survey on Technology Used by Visually Impaired Translators and Interpreters

A visually impaired student in Translation Studies conducting a research for her dissertation would appreciate if blind or visually impaired translators and/or interpreters would fill in this survey about the technology they use to fulfill their translation-related tasks. She is especially interested in the types of technology used and their influence on the translators’ and interpreters’ productivity:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScY7Es_ZHbfz-crZ6wjwwoUFeyMnjZR7rgnhAgJNv-dWRwcrw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Surveys help inform APH of the greatest needs in the community so they can gear their efforts toward making sure those needs are met. Ongoing APH surveys can be found here:
https://www.aph.org/rd/get-involved/surveys/

• PBS NewsHour Employment Survey (Dots and Dashes: February 6, 2023)

Are you a worker with a disability whose employment opportunities have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic? The PBS NewsHour wants to hear from you. In November, the employment rate for people who reported having a disability hit its highest level since record-keeping began in 2008. Several factors have led to this rise, including more opportunities for remote work, the tight U.S. labor market and the growing number of people with long COVID-related disabilities. Fill out the survey form here. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeaYT93mAwg2gZbR8XCre2vDtnkubwG677I8IFeHTRhw1abzg/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0Gxp_U26UrxDRkNNL-ARKNZUNwYZPtXjmltW6P5tPwYmLcXg7qAGZS-Uw

Resource: Dots and Dashes: (February 6, 2023)

• A historic Indiana lawsuit brought by Disability Rights Advocates, Indiana Disability Rights and the American Council of the Blind of Indiana seeking increased ballot accessibility for voters with print disabilities has settled. As a result of the settlement, the state has agreed to acquire a new remote accessible ballot marking tool that will allow these voters to cast their absentee ballots privately and independently. Voters will be able to access and mark their ballots digitally with their own assistive technology thanks to this tool. Once the ballot has been marked, voters will be able to submit it via email. The tool will be available to voters in time for the May 2023 primary election. Read the Disability Rights Advocates press release:

https://dralegal.org/press/indiana-voting-settlement/

• Where to Find Oscar Nominees with Audio Description

If you’re a movie fan, you probably can’t wait to watch the Oscars on ABC next month. To help you get ready, ACB’s Audio Description Project has compiled a list of nominated films and where to find the ones with audio description. The 95th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and broadcast to more than 200 territories worldwide. Until the big night, grab your popcorn and choose your own winners! For the list of nominees, and where to watch them with audio description, visit acb.org/2023-oscars-AD-films.

If you like to be entertained and informed, the ACB Audio Description Project (ADP) discussion list is for you! It’s a great way to keep up with everything in the world of audio description (also known as AD), which includes movies, live theatre, museums, educational videos, national parks, and much more. You’ll get updates on the latest films, TV and streaming series, events, and attractions that are providing AD; announcements of AD news; and invitations to share your AD experiences with the ADP advocacy team. You can choose whether to receive each message posted to the list individually or as a weekly digest. Simply send a blank email to ADP-List+subscribe@acblists.org with “Subscribe” in the subject line, and you’re in!

Hadley Presents – Listen Now!

Resource: (News Flash! Pine Tree Guide Dog Users February Monthly News Update)

Pine Tree Guide Dog Users (PTGDU)

“Opening Doors to Independence and Opportunity”

• New Educational Series Features Guide Dogs in Action

Maine’s Pine Tree Guide Dog Users recently launched a free educational series for students and others that provides information and materials about how blind people and guide dogs work together as a team, and how guide dogs use a variety of skills to safely guide their partners.

The series includes a supplemental document for teachers and other presenters; a professionally designed poster and handout of a guide dog team using five different skills; and a two-module lesson plan and worksheet for grades 2-3.

• Helpful hints- Dog Boot Basics

As Maine temperatures drop and snow begins to fall, out comes the rock salt and other harmful chemicals that can damage your dog’s paw pads. Here’s a few boot basics to help keep your favorite canine cozy and safe this winter.

The perfect fit. Dogs front paws are generally larger than their rear ones so be sure to measure all four paws when sizing for boots. Watch this short video to learn how to get a proper fit.

Break in Those Boots. Use your hands to twist, bend and roll your dog’s new boots if they have stiff soles. This helps to speed up the “breaking in” process and give your dog a more comfy fit.

. Add socks. Consider using dog boot socks to enhance comfort, improve   fit, wick moisture, provide an added layer of warmth, and make it easier to get boots on. Use them to line rear boots that are too large, or use them to help prevent rubbing caused by straps. (When not in use, be sure to keep these boot liners away from any -sock-loving scoundrels in the household.)

Snug it up. Once the boots are donned, adjust the fit on each boot while the dog is bearing weight on it. Check the tension of the boot straps about 15 minutes into your walk and throughout the trip as needed. It may take a while for your dog to adjust to wearing boots so you may want to try a few brief practice sessions before venturing out. Good luck and happy trails!

• PTGDU Recipe of the Month

A favorite recipe from the guide dog community.

Fidelco Guide Dog’s “Love Me More” Valentine Dog Treats

Prove just how much you love that special canine in your life with these heart-shaped doggie cookies

Note from editor- This sounds tasty enough for me to want for Valentine’s Day!

Dough

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup peanut butter*

2 tablespoons beet powder

1 tablespoon chia seeds

Frosting

Plain Greek yogurt

Beet powder

Bee pollen granules

*use dog-safe peanut butter that contains NO xylitol

Mix dough ingredients in a large bowl. Flour a flat surface and roll out the dough. Cut out heart shapes using a cookie cutter and place on cookie sheet.  Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely. Decorate with Greek yogurt sprinkled with beet powder and bee pollen granules.

Announcement- Great news from Uber

They now have a service animal hotline:

(833) 715-8237

Resource: Top Tech Tidbits (Thursday, February 2, 2023 – Volume 896)

https://toptechtidbits.com/

• An Open Letter From Jonathan Mosen: To Amazon’s Audible.Com Division: Please Reinstate Support For HumanWare’s Popular Victor Reader Stream Player For The Blind And Low Vision Community

On the Mosen at Large podcast, HumanWare detailed how a recent release of Audible Sync has broken support for the current generation of the Victor Reader Stream. If you are authorized already, you’re fine, but authorization for new users is broken. This issue extends to lack of support for the third generation of the Stream, which HumanWare expects to release initially to the US market sometime in February. Since this episode was published only a few hours ago, I’ve received a large number of inquiries asking if I would help set up some sort of open letter or petition to Audible about this issue. While I am not a Stream user myself, I am happy to help, because I strongly support blind people being able to access information in the way that works for them. There is no doubt that the loss of Audible support for the Stream will deprive a good number of people of their preferred means of reading Audible books, and some will unsubscribe from Audible altogether. I have now set up an open letter to Audible which you can sign if you wish. I’ve taken care to use a site that is accessible and does not needlessly collect information from you. I have had representatives from Audible on Mosen at Large in the Past. I will use those contacts to ensure the letter gets to the right place, and will also invite Audible on the podcast for comment. If you support this initiative, please spread the word via email lists and social media. Here is the link to the open letter:

https://bit.ly/AudibleStreamSupport

• Seeing AI Version 5.0 for iOS Now Includes Indoor Navigation Allowing The User to Create a Route and Later Follow The Route Using Spatial Audio Cues

What’s New: Indoor Navigation, available on iOS 14 and later, enables you to create routes through a building, and later follow that route, guided by spatial audio cues. For example, create a route from the reception desk to your office, or building entrance to a particular classroom. You can share the route with others, so they can navigate the route later on, using their own device. On the World Channel, when using headphones which support Spatial Audio, you no longer need to look in the direction of the camera. Seeing AI will adjust to the direction you’re looking, so sounds still come from the correct point in the room. Supported headphones include AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro. Improved announcements of people on the World Channel, when using a device with LiDAR. Plus, various bug fixes under the hood:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/seeing-ai/id999062298

• OneButtonPIN Improves Security For Blind And Low-Vision Users

Researchers at the University of Waterloo and the Rochester Institute of Technology have developed a new authentication method that could help blind and low-vision (BLV) users more securely access their devices. The new method, OneButtonPIN, allows users to input PIN codes using a single large button and a series of haptic vibrations:

https://coolblindtech.com/onebuttonpin-improves-security-for-blind-and-low-vision-users/

• Walking Stick Maps Surroundings And Identifies Grocery Store Items

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have used artificial intelligence technology to enhance the capabilities of white canes:

https://www.aop.org.uk/ot/science-and-vision/technology/2023/01/24/walking-stick-maps-surroundings-and-identifies-grocery-store-items

• Estee Lauder’s Voice-Enabled Makeup Assistant (VMA) App Provides Makeup Feedback To People With Visual Impairment

Applying makeup can be challenging for folks with visual impairment and many times, they have to reply on others to make sure their makeup is right. To help make this process easy without depending on others, Estée Lauder Companies recently launched a voice enabled app that can provide guidance and direction when a person applies makeup:

https://assistivetechnologyblog.com/2023/01/este-lauder-vma-vision-imapirment-makeup.html

• Opportunities to increase your knowledge and skill-set

February 21st 2023- Don’t Hesitate to Communicate, Vispero’s Own Blindness and Diversity Awareness Workshop

9AM PT, 10AM MT, 11AM CT, 12PM ET, 5PM GMT

Presenter- Amy Albin (she/her), HR Intern, Vispero. Amy has been Vispero’s HR intern since September 2022. She will lead a unique workshop to spark open conversations about how sighted and blind/vision impaired people can interact comfortably together. You will learn tools that apply not just to sighted and blind/vision impaired people but also to anyone who is a member of a marginalized group. Whether you are sighted or blind/vision impaired, you will learn techniques to facilitate constructive communication with the diverse people in all areas of your life:

https://www.tpgi.com/webinar-february-21-at-12pm-et-dont-hesitate-to-communicate-visperos-own-blindness-and-diversity-awareness-workshop/

February 22nd 2023- RUBY Handheld Magnifiers: A Vision Solution for Every Situation

(ACVREP CE Approved, Assistive Technology Webinar) | Access Ingenuity

10AM PT, 11AM MT, 12PM CT, 1PM ET, 6PM GMT

Join Ian Ramos from Access Ingenuity with Joe McDaniel from Vispero to discuss the features and benefits of all the RUBY models and the assistance each can give in specific situations.

Did you know there are five RUBY models to help with your low vision needs?

All RUBY models have a crisp, sharp image, high-contrast modes, and built-in LEDs.

The streamlined design means RUBY can go with you anywhere, giving you easy access to photos, letters, prescriptions, packaging labels, and menus, even in a dark restaurant.

With its broad range of adjustable, undistorted magnification, a RUBY video magnifier outperforms a drawerful of traditional magnifiers

Note that everybody is welcome and can benefit from this presentation.

Learning Outcomes: Features of all RUBY models. How to determine the right size for you. How adding speech capability can take you further.

Passcode: 691785

One tap mobile: +16699009128,,85815563463#,,,,*691785# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location: +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85815563463?pwd=WENJdjFQcS9rdWtoMm1QeDJwRU9mZz09#success

February 28th 2023- Tech It Out (Monthly Hadley Discussion Group)

4th Tuesday of every month at 5PM PT, 6PM MT, 7PM CT, 8PM ET, 1AM GMT (Next Day)

Learn a few tips about everyday technology from a technology expert, ask your questions, and share your experiences.

https://hadley.edu/discussion-groups/tech-it-out

Resource- Access Information News- The Week’s News in Access Information

news@accessinformationnews.com, https://accessinformationnews.com/

(Access Information News for Monday, February 6, 2023 – Volume 896)

Note From the editor- This info packed resource is new to me. I particularly appreciate the fact that, in addition to being very interesting and formative, its target audience is people with diverse disabilities- not just blindness/low-vision.

• Access Ready Seeks Guidance on New Accessible Technologies

What Technologies do you see in the market that are not accessible, but should be? What accessible technologies can you imagine that can make the lives of people with all kinds of disabilities better? We will advocate with developers to make existing technologies accessible on your behalf. We will advocate with developers to build new accessible technologies on your behalf. Give us your guidance and support. Your guidance charts our path toward what is most important. Your support funds our efforts on your

behalf:

https://accessready.org/

• Ten Things Hospitals Can Do to Be More Inclusive and Accessible- David Goldfield

During the past twelve months I have spent a lot of time visiting and supporting my wife in two different hospitals. I have become keenly aware of how these places often lack accessibility which would make the experience easier and more inclusive for both patients as well as their visitors. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the medical professionals who have done so much to assist and support my wife. The following list is in no way meant as a criticism of the doctors, nurses, surgeons, respiratory therapists and other specialists who have provided support to us. These people should be honored and respected as much as our military and its veterans. Indeed, some of the people I have met in the medical field are true warriors and war heroes and I am in awe of them and what they do. They see death on a regular basis. Many of them are called to save lives. Sometimes they do save those lives. Other times they are unable to do so. I cannot imagine the effect on them of this amazing and necessary work.

That being said I’ve had some ideas of how hospitals could be so much more inclusive. These ideas would not require technology that we don’t already have. Some would require a financial investment but they wouldn’t require new technologies to be designed. While I don’t have time right now to work on this I’d like to help engage in advocacy at a later and more convenient time to see if we can turn some of these ideas into reality:

Learn more- https://davidgoldfield.wordpress.com/2023/01/29/ten-things-hospitals-can-do-to-be-more-inclusive-and-accessible/

• Meet The First-Ever Accessibility Engineer at The Washington Post

As some newsroom roles go the way of the dinosaurs, other new jobs are being born. This is the first in an occasional series of Q&As with people who are the first to hold their title in their newsroom:

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/02/meet-the-first-ever-accessibility-engineer-at-the-washington-post/

• Colorado Woman Combats Norms by Becoming First in Her School To Obtain Black Belt In A Wheelchair

Prior to an injury that I sustained about 6 years ago now that left me with limited mobility I was a practitioner of traditional Korean Taekwondo for almost 15 years. I earned my 3rd Degree Black Belt under the late Grand Master Moo Hwan Kim and during that time taught thousands of students and competed in over a thousand full contact traditional and Olympic-stye Taekwondo sparring tournaments. And I just want to say, from experience, that martial arts families, of all styles and types, are comprised of some of the kindest people that you will ever meet. And more to the point, some of the most understanding with regard to different levels of ability. Everyone thinks that martial arts is about fighting. I certainly did. But it’s really about living. So if you live with a disability, please don’t think that martial arts aren’t for you. They may be just what the doctor ordered. 9NEWS: It is said that less than 10 percent of people who pursue karate will ever obtain their first degree black belt, and it takes years of practice to achieve that accomplishment. Of that 10 percent, one woman at 5280 Karate Academy Foundation in Lakewood, Colorado is defying even more odds. Anita Liuzzi broke barriers by becoming the first person in a wheelchair to earn a black belt at 5280 Karate Academy in Lakewood, Colorado:

https://www.9news.com/article/sports/fair-game/anita-liuzzi-wheelchair-karate-fair-game/73-a0a70c58-8a89-4572-b85b-6cc1910bf04f

• 3D-Printed Braille Playdoh Stampers

Use a 3D printer to create your own braille playdoh stamper from the free file:

https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/3d-printed-braille-playdoh-stampers/

Editor’s note:

announcements and articles, for GDUI- News You Can Use, are culled from a variety of sources; Hence inclusion herein does not imply GDUI endorses, supports or verifies their contents. Information, ideas, or expressed opinions are not advice, therefore should not be treated as such. Factual errors are the responsibility of the listed source.

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 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 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

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 editor: Hello fellow GDUISters

This issue is quite robust. That is not because I have suddenly gotten way better at my job- rather because two people lent assistance and provided material. I ask you to imagine how replete this publication could be if more than just two (my use of “just” is in no way meant to belittle, diminish, or devalue their contributions) actually through this editor a bone once and a while. Also, while it in no way lowers my level of gratitude, these two contributors are the same two who can always be counted on. They simply upped their game this tine as I am really struggling. All of this is to say, “Please help!”

I hear, third or fourth hand, that folks are less than satisfied with how this publication is going. Well, I am not so enthusiastic about it recently either, however, it is bigger than I can manage all by myself. So, if even one out of ten of you sent an article, announcement, or even a topic idea, this publication would be truly of GDUI, for GDUI!

Now, as for this issue- There is some time sensitive information (fast approaching deadlines) so I have put those at the beginning. Lots of convention information. Don’t forget to get your drawing tickets for the Hava pups!! There are articles and announcements covering a diverse topic continuum. We have drugs, money, and the Feds!!; Also, tech tips and trainings… read, enjoy, and stay safe. Give your pups kisses on their fuzzy noses from me!

Sending cyber hugs and wags, Andrea and Dynamite Dog

From the President: Hello GDUI members and friends,

As we enjoy the last days of spring and move into the sunshine-filled days of early summer, we hope everyone has had a wonderful first half of 2022!

The GDUI convention program committee has scheduled so many interesting and fun-filled programs for this year’s convention!

Whether you are participating virtually or in-person, we invite each of you to enjoy our programs! Just look at what we have lined up for you!

Furry tails, a joint event with Blind Pride International (BPI); Cryo preservation presented by Southeastern Guide Dog School; The popular guide dog school updates; Smart collars, Panel facilitated by Carl Richardson, with speakers from Guiding Eyes, IBM and North Carolina State University; and The Presentation of GDUI awards, the drawing for winners of the four plush dogs in harness, and ending with The Blessings presented by Audrey Gunter and Laurel Jean Walden!

We will be giving away door prizes during all of our events! If you would like a chance to win a prize, all you need to do is pay the

$10.00 GDUI registration fee when you register on the ACB Convention registration form.

Many of our GDUI members have recently begun working with a new guide dog! (I am just one of the GDUI members who is working and bonding with a new guide dog.) It has been fun to hear about all of the new partnerships as the new teams begin their journeys!

Congratulations as you share many miles and smiles!

In GDUI we always want to encourage our members to become as involved with our organization as you want to. A great way to get more involved and to help with our important work is to join one of our committees.

Find a committee list here: Committees – Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

(guidedogusersinc.org)

Elections will be taking place in October 2022, so please also consider running for a board position! All of the officer positions are open, plus several director positions as well. Be on the lookout toward the end of the summer for more information about the coming elections and the process for running for an officer or board director position.

Keep up with the latest happenings in GDUI by visiting our very accessible web site: www.guidedogusersinc.org

Have fun this summer, enjoy the convention and as always, please feel free to reach out to me at president@guidedogusersinc.org or, info@guidedogusersinc.org

Sarah Calhoun

Announcement: Furry-Tails Award! Deadline is May 29! So…

Hop Up!! There’s hardly any time Left to nominate your current or past guide dog

ACB Furry-Tails: Presented by Sunday edition and GDUI

Over the last 60 years, there have been so many memorable moments and people we want to honor in the American Council of the Blind.  And, there have also been so many Furry Skilled

Professionals who will always live in our hearts and memories. We want to honor these extraordinary guide dogs as well, and now, thanks to Anthony Corona’s ACB Media program, Sunday Edition, and GDUI, we have the perfect opportunity!

Sunday edition is partnering with GDUI in a program to recognize these amazing Guide dogs. This year in Omaha during the National Conference and Convention join us as we remember and honor these wonderful dogs and of course their handlers, as well. 

How Furry-Tails will work:

Sunday edition will collect nominations from March 1st until May 29th Then a committee from GDUI and Sunday edition will select 10 Furry-Tail recipients

Who will be winners at the first-ever convention Furry Tails Awards Program? A Paw shaped plaque will be awarded to each winning handler or representative of the handler and a testimonial will be

placed on the Furry-Tails webpage that will be created for this awesome program. Pictures and video testimonials will be recorded for the program and winning handlers will have the opportunity to address program attendees to share memories of their special Furry-professionals. Additionally, Sunday edition will highlight

the awardees on the weekly program in august. 

 Submissions should include:

A written testimonial of 500 to 750 words; including the story of said Furry-professional with anecdotes and accomplishments. Please include any memorable moments from the life of the nominee. Who is the handler and who will represent the handler and nominee at convention. A bright and clear picture of the nominee and one of the team. ***Pictures are optional *** Any folks who wish to share stories and memories of the nominee. 

Please send your nominations to: SundayEditionAC@gmail.com

 Use the Subject: Furry-Tails Nominee

 As we celebrate 60 memorable years of the American Council of the Blind let’s celebrate the Furry members who have added so much to our great community

together. Look for more information on Furry-Tails in the National Convention Program and announcements on Sunday edition. We look forward to brushing

through the submissions and presenting these amazing stories for ACB Members at convention. 

Sincerely Yours,

The Sunday edition Team and the Leaders of GDUI

CONVENTION NEWS!!!

GDUI 2022 Convention Update:

(Please make note of changes in our GDUI convention program schedule, listed below.)

In response to a request from ACB, there have been some adjustments in our convention schedule.  We are happy to accommodate ACB’s need for us to alter our convention schedule, and we hope that these changes will actually make your convention planning less complicated than usual. (It’s always so difficult to decide which affiliate events will take precedence over others that occupy the same time frames on each day’s schedule, or convention tours or just hanging out with friends.) In fact, the schedule changes, outlined below, may open up some additional options for fun and entertainment whether you’re planning to be in Omaha in person or celebrate Independence Day at home.

We are confident you remember that the GDUI board of directors voted to make our 2022 convention a virtual-only event. While, if attending in person, the ACB conference and convention in Omaha- all guide dog users will be welcome at all sessions and events; by making our affiliate convention virtual, the board has guaranteed that all of our events will be available via ZOOM. Therefore, when ACB asked, we were able to re-schedule several of our virtual events to occur earlier than the in-person convention week of July 1-8. As it happens, this virtual thing worked out quite well! When we requested a double session to accommodate our Guide Dog Schools Update, the only day that was available to us was the 4^th of July. Now that the schools update can be scheduled for the earlier week in June, you and all of the guide dog schools’ representatives can make plans to celebrate our country’s birthday in more traditional ways, and scheduling so many of our convention   events in June frees lots more time for you to attend other fascinating ACB special-interest affiliate programming, and to sign up for some amazing-sounding tours.

Registration for GDUI is $10.00, whether or not you are attending ACB’s convention in person or via ZOOM, and includes eligibility to win door prizes.

Here’s what you need to know if you are planning to attend the ACB Conference and Convention in person:

So far, 7 guide dog schools have indicated that they will be present in the Exhibit Hall in July.  We hope that some trainers will be available to assist guide dog handlers who need help with orientation to the hotel, the dog relief areas and the convention center.  GDUI will not have a suite this year so, we will count on the guide dog school representatives to identify a meeting area in a convenient location where guide dog users and trainers can get together. As always, we appreciate the wonderful assistance the guide dog school representatives and trainers offer to all guide dog users attending convention.

GDUI convention program schedule

Please note that the first three events listed below are scheduled for the pre-convention week of virtual events, on June 23 and 24. All meeting events are listed in Central (convention) time.

Thursday, June 23

11:30 AM-2:15 PM guide dog school updates

virtual)- No fee

A Double session of the ever-popular updates from all the guide dog schools.

Friday, June 24

1:00-2:15PM Science for Superheroes:  Video presentation and discussion of Cryopreservation (virtual)- No fee

Demonstrating how semen samples from male breeders are frozen and stored.  Other topics touched on are genetic diversity, dual careers for dogs and superheroes for years to come.  (We thank Bruno for the sample.) 

Speaker: ZUHEY MEDINA-GONZALEZ | Director, Genetics, Reproduction, & Puppy Care

Southeastern Guide Dogs, Palmetto, FL.

Friday, June 24

2:30-3:45 PM Supercomputers and Super Pups

(virtual)- No fee

Learn how a guide dog school has teamed up with North Carolina State University and IBM to use artificial intelligence and smart collars to increase the

number of exceptional guide dogs available to provide our community with greater independence.

Panel facilitated by Carl Richardson, President, Guide Dog Users of Massachusetts (Brighton, MA);

From Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Yorktown Heights, NY.  Gerald Brenninkmeyer, Director of Canine Program Development;

Melissa Carney, Community Outreach and Graduate Support Manager;

And, Retired from GEB, Jane Russenberger, working on a special project with the International Working Dog Registry on Genetics of Working Dogs;

From IBM, Armonk, NY.   Lorraine Trapani, Executive Program Manager, Global Risk Management Import Compliance Office (ICO)IBM Government and Regulatory Affairs;

From North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. Dr. Alper Bozkurt, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering;

And Dr. David L. Roberts,

Associate Professor, Computer Engineering, and CIIGAR Lab Director (Canine Instruction with Instrumented Gadgets Administering Rewards).

The following GDUI convention programs remain on our originally-announced schedule for convention week, July 1-8, 2022:

Saturday, July 2

11:30 AM-12:45 PM Furry Tails

(Onsite and virtual)- No fee

There have been so many “Furry Skilled Professionals” over the years who will always live in our hearts and memories.  Sunday Edition and GDUI want to

recognize some of these amazing guides.  Join us as we remember and honor these wonderful dogs and their handlers. (Anthony Corona)   

Sunday, July 3

7:00-8:15 AM Guide Dogs for the Blind Breakfast

(Onsite and virtual)- No fee

GDB Grads: If you are attending the ACB convention in Omaha, get together with GDB for Breakfast!

GDB grads can connect with friends and staff; those considering the guide dog lifestyle are welcome to attend, as well. If you’d like to join GDB for breakfast please email Theresa at tstern@guidedogs.com

If you are attending convention virtually, you will be able to listen to the program via zoom or on ACB media.

Wednesday, July 6

5:30-6:45 PM GDUI: Wrap-up and Awards

(Onsite and virtual)- no fee

GDUI Awards (Margie Donovan, Awards Chair, Folsom, CA);

Drawing of four winners of plush pups in harness;

And the Blessing of past, present and future

guide dogs, puppy raisers, handlers and those who love them- (Audrey Gunter and Laurel Jean Walden, Charleston, SC).

Whether you are attending the ACB conference and convention in person, or attending events virtually, we welcome you to all of our June and July GDUI convention events, and we join you in looking forward to a fabulous GDUI convention!

Maria Hansen

GDUI Program Chair & 1st Vice President

212.929.5025

More about what Audrey and Laurel are up to!

A Message from Your Rovering Reporter Bernie: Here’s What You Need to Know about the Blessing of the Guide Dogs Scheduled for GDUI’s 2022 Convention

Hello, Pups and Peeps;

This is your rovering reporter, Bernie The Guide Dog, coming to you all almost live from the state of Inclusion at the intersection of Excitement and Exuberance! 

Today, I’d like to talk with you all about GDUI’s upcoming convention.

I’m not exactly sure what a convention is, but my Bubba Jessie knows…he’s been to lots of them.  When he talks about them he wags his tail and licks

his lips as he remembers the yummy food all those blind folks just happened to drop on the floor.  He said lots of sighted folks did, too, especially at

the last Top Dog-Charleston way back in January, ’19.  Jessie said a guide has to be careful to dodge all those other working furries and, of course some of those long, white canes.

I admit all that does sound inviting, ‘specially the part about the food, but I need to talk with you now about GDUI’s annual convention in Omaha, Nebraska scheduled for June and July!

I overheard that strange voice in Mom’s ‘puter tell about the great programs Miss Maria H and those other nice folks on her committee have put together

and I can hardly wait to learn more about those “smart collars” and “super heroes” (like me) and the updates from the guide dog schools, along with all

those other interesting programs!  I know I’ll be all ears…and, being a lab, I’ve got some big, long ears!

Did you know that I’m going to be a part of this year’s convention?  That’s right!  Bernie The Guide Dog, (that’s me), will be officiating at “The Blessing”! 

Well, actually Mom and Aunt Laurel will be doing all the talking but I need to be there to help them both with something Mom calls “moral support”.  I’m

not exactly sure about what that entails, but I think it must be good ‘cuz Mom always smiles when she talks about it and me.  We’re hoping bubba Jessie

can be there too, but he’s over 13 years old now and not feeling so well.  Mom says he’ll be there with us in spirit, regardless though.

For our “Blessing” to be successful, we’ll need YOUR help.  You see, Aunt Laurel is planning to offer some of her way cool music before she honors those

guides that have retired and does a special tribute to those who have crossed that famous”Rainbow Bridge”.  You won’t want to miss either of those.  She

does a special audible candle light memorial that Bubba Jessie says always makes our 2 legged folks sad and happy at the same time.

Mom and I will be there to pay special homage to all of us currently working guides.  Don’t worry, though.  Aunt Laurel will be doing all the singing while

Mom just listens.  No matter how much she practices, Mom just cannot carry a tune in a bucket!  I love her, anyway, though.

What we need YOU to do is to send Mom and Aunt Laurel the names of those you want mentioned during this service and be sure to tell us if they are retired

or passed on We don’t want to leave anyone out, so please send us your names by June 10, 2022. 

We didn’t forget the puppy raisers, either!  We all LOVE puppy raisers!  So, please ask all the puppy raisers you know to join us for a special blessing

of our future guides!  Here’s the email address you should send your names to:  retired51837@msn.com

Well, I’ve gotta go for now.  Mom is cooking something that smells scrumpt ta de lishus and I have to be ready for floor cleanup duty.  I know you all

understand.  So, until the next time, this is your rovering reporter, Bernie The Guide Dog wishing you all loads of love and lots of licks!

Blessings,

Bernie The Guide Dog

This year GDUI is again holding the enormously popular drawing. It is better than ever- 4 plush pups in harness thanks to Hava’s the extraordinary generosity!!!

Each pup measures 12 inches from tip of nose to tip of tail and is 10 inches tall. Tickets are three for $5.00 or seven for $10.00. These pups get along so well with one another and have even developed some “special friendships” so, feel free to purchase tickets for more than one. Also, remember, the Hava Pups are seriously coveted and make terrific gifts for other guide handlers, puppy raisers, kids, grand kids, other people’s kids, special trainers, your vet, groomer, or a pet sitter.

Get your tickets from the GDUI website using the below link

info@guidedogusersinc.org

or contact GDUI’s Office Manager, Lynn Merrill, by phone: 1-866-799-8436 

Ticket sales will end at high noon, central time, on Wednesday, July 6 and winners will be announced during the GDUI wrap-up and awards session which begins, later that same day, at 5:30 PM central time.

Let’s meet this year’s string:

list of 4 items

1. Rascal, a yellow lab in a beautiful GDA harness.  He is the youngest and loves to play.  However, when he is in harness, he is laser-focused on his job.  He looks up to the other guides and is eager to please.

(Please include picture, with caption, from website here)

2. Cocoa, a chocolate lab in a Leader harness.  She is a sweet little pixie with a heart of gold who eagerly greets each new day. After work and playtime, she’s a little cuddle bug. 

(Please include picture, with caption, from website here)

3. Banner, a black and tan German shepherd in a Fidelco harness.  Able to multi-task.  While working, playing, or even at rest, he is vigilant and taking care of his “pack”.  Very loyal.

(Please include picture, with caption, from website here)

4. Bella, a golden in a Seeing Eye harness.  Gentle and nurturing.  She has such a beautiful face.  She is an excellent worker and a calm and relaxing companion.    

(Please include picture, with caption, from website here)

Announcement: Link to an Accessible Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form

Thanks to great advocacy by Sheila Styron, Becky Davidson, Gabriel Lopez Kafati, and others, we are sharing a link to an accessible DOT form, which we believe will be acceptable to any airline you are using to travel to Omaha this summer. Gabriel successfully advocated with American Airlines to persuade them to format the DOT form they provide on the American Airlines web site as an accessible form, which a person who uses a screen reader can complete independently. Since, according to the U. S. Department of Transportation, all of the airlines are required to utilize the same form (no matter how they happen to format it on their own web pages, we believe that, if you complete the form, print it, and bring it with you to the airport, you shouldn’t have any problems boarding your plane with your guide dog.

(Disclaimer: Please note, we make no prior claims regarding the circumstance you may actually find yourself in at your particular airport or on your particular travel date. We are all too well aware that the level of training of various airline representatives and airport personnel can vary widely, so please take our advice with a proverbial grain of salt, and be prepared for other eventualities.)

Gabriel tells us that the American Airlines DOT form is good for one calendar year, they keep it on file for that year, and unless your dog’s Rabies vaccine expires before the end of the year, you won’t have to fill out the DOT form again until the next year.

We do not know which other airlines — if any — make the DOT form applicable for an entire calendar year, but, since all domestic airlines are utilizing the DOT form—whether or not they follow American Airlines’ example and assure its accessibility – we believe that the form for which we are providing the link below will make your air travel to convention easier.

Contact American – Questions, comments and suggestions – American Airlines (aa.com)  

Thank you to Janet Dickelman, ACB Convention Coordinator, and Sheila Styron for sharing the PDF form via e-mail on ACB and GDUI e-mail discussion lists, and to Becky Davidson and Gabriel Lopez Kafati for their helpful clarifications.

Announcement: Talking Prescription Labels, you may not know all the facts, I sure didn’t!

Many pharmacies today provide some type of accessible prescription label, unfortunately few people are using them. En-Vision America needs to hear from you! Even if your pharmacy does NOT offer ScripTalk they will help you get set up with the option your pharmacy provides.

1. Reach out to En-Vision America by calling 800-890-1180 or emailing customerservice@envisionamerica.com
2. Tell them what pharmacy you use
3. Let them do the rest! They will help you get set up with the option that is provided OR they will contact your pharmacy to see if they will provide ScripTalk to you.
4. ALL of these options are FREE to you

It is common that your pharmacy staff will not be aware of the options available. En-Vision America will take the frustration out of getting set up!

Amanda Tolson

Vice President of Sales, En-Vision America

825 4th Street W, Palmetto FL 34221

Toll Free: 800-890-1180

Web: www.envisionamerica.com  

Announcement: snippets of tech news and coming attractions

(Excerpted from- Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, May 19, 2022 – Volume 859

The Week’s News in Adaptive Technology, https://toptechtidbits.com/)

informative links:

• Breaking: Android 13 will Include Built-in Braille Support, Supplanting BrailleBack

Android 13 will at long last include built-in braille support without the need to download a separate app. The feature was announced by Google’s Nimer Jaber during a session at this year’s IO conference:

https://www.blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=22488

• Human-Narrated Audiobooks (Beta) Are Here

Bookshare announced that they are adding over 5,000 audiobooks to its library for members to download. Previously, Bookshare’s offerings were text-only, which members used text-to-speech software to access:

https://www.bookshare.org/cms/campaign/summer

• Video Playlist from Microsoft Ability Summit 2022

Here you will find all recorded sessions from the Microsoft Ability Summit, hosted virtually on May 10th 2022:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtSVUgxIo6Ko_SB8H9JUaCZMsxiCNu-am

• Toggle Full Screen in a Microsoft Teams Meeting

When you join a Microsoft Teams meeting, the meeting usually opens in a separate window. You can always maximize an application window by pressing Alt + Space, then X, or Windows key + Up Arrow. But you can get rid of the title bar at the top of the Teams meeting window by pressing F11. This gives a little more space for the application. It is actually the same shortcut to activate full screen in a browser window, and other applications like File Explorer:

https://sharons-shortcuts.ie/toggle-full-screen-in-a-microsoft-teams-meeting/

• 7 Common Mistakes That Are Damaging Your Smartphone

Everyone does it. We’re all human, after all. But, if you avoid these mistakes, your smartphone is guaranteed to last longer:

https://www.makeuseof.com/common-mistakes-damaging-smartphone/

• Hadley offers Invaluable Help for Visually Impaired Travelers to Make the Most of Vacation

Many of us are looking forward to traveling again this summer. For the millions of older Americans with visual impairments, however, traveling may seem like more of a challenge, especially if their eye condition is new to them. But with a little preparation and proper resources, those with low vision or blindness can continue to enjoy traveling:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hadley-offers-invaluable-help-for-visually-impaired-travelers-to-make-the-most-of-vacation-301548793.html

Learning opportunities:

• Using iOS Shortcuts- Andrew Heiskell Braille And Talking Book Library

Thursday June 9th 2022, 11AM PT, 12PM MT, 1PM CT, 2PM ET, 6PM GMT

Shortcuts can be used to automate tasks and save time. Join us to explore examples of effective shortcuts and learn to create your own. This event will take place in person and online. Email ChanceyFleet@nypl.org to RSVP in person, or register to participate online:

https://nypl.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElc-itrjgvHNDogsDg6wMe47pOluSIcXYI?_x_zm_rtaid=O_T4jl2gQk-eJ1vIXaeqDw.1648421599270.e098cddc0d3e6ab8b653afe6c5833f53&_x_zm_rhtaid=371

• Gadgets and Apps for Safe Navigation-Technology User Group, Maryland State Library

June 11th 2022- 7AM PT, 8AM MT, 9AM CT, 10AM ET, 2PM GMT (All events are currently being held via teleconference until further notice.)

Please dial (319) 527-4994 at 10 AM ET.

There are many apps and devices that can aid a visually impaired traveler through the unknown. Avoid low-hanging obstacles and other obstructions. Which ones can you afford and which ones offer the best protection?

https://www.marylandlibraries.org/Pages/Technology%20User%20Group.aspx

Announcement: TSA Performance survey (6/6/22 deadline)

The Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Improvement in Transit Security Administration Performance Survey: Responses Requested by June 6!

The Transit Security Administration has asked us to distribute their “Continuous Improvements of TSA Services” survey to our members. Responses/feedback can be sent to susan.buckland@tsa.dhs.gov by June 6, 2022.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Survey questions are pasted below.

Question #1. Please share any disability experiences or observations with TSA’s standard and/or TSA PreCheck® screening activities (e.g., Regarding program access, effective communication, physical access, provision of reasonable modifications).

Question #2. What are some “promising practices” you can share for how to successfully interact/engage with individuals with disabilities, including the following situations as they are related to your experiences?

• Traveling with a medical device, including an indwelling medical device;
• Traveling with a prosthetic;
• Traveling with a wheelchair, walker, scooter or other medical device;
• Traveling with a service animal;
• Traveling with sensitivities to touch, pressure, sound, or hypersensitivity to stimuli in the environment; or
• Other disabilities.

Question #3. What topics would you like discussed during TSA Disability and Medical Conditions Coalition Teleconferences?

Question #4. What suggestions can you make to further improve TSA services for travelers with disabilities and medical conditions?

Question #5. Is there anything else you would like to share?

Question #6. If there are other not-for-profit or advocacy organizations that you think we should engage with, please share their details.

Please send responses/feedback to susan.buckland@tsa.dhs.gov by June 6, 2022.

Article: Maine’s blind residents share firsthand knowledge & expertise about life with a guide dog

(From: https://www.sunjournal.com/2022/05/02/maine-guide-dog-group-launches-new-website/)

Pine Tree Guide Dog Users, a nonprofit organization serving Maine’s blind and visually impaired residents who are partnered with guide dogs recently launched its newly designed website.

From adorable guide dog puppies in training to extraordinary guide dog teams at work, the site features content related to all aspects of Maine life with a guide dog.

“Our new website is designed to provide accurate information and resources to a variety of audiences,” said Pauline Lamontagne, President of Pine Tree

Guide Dog Users. “It includes content about living and working with a guide dog, adjusting to vision loss, training guide dog puppies, accessing public places, and much more.”

The site offers something for everyone — whether you’re a student gathering information for a school project, a business owner trying to determine how to identify a legitimate service animal, a legislator seeking facts about Maine’s guide dog teams, a blind person wishing to learn more about what it’s like to partner with a guide dog, or anyone else who has an interest in learning more about Maine’s guide dog teams.

“The topic headers on the site are presented in bold, more visible fonts so viewers can quickly scan the contents on each page,” said Carolyn Bebee, a lead member of the Pine Tree Guide Dog Users website design committee.

The site also showcases captivating, real-life images of Maine’s guide dog teams at work, at play, and even guide dog puppies in training. Many of these photos were taken courtesy of MaineImaging.com and Maureen G. Nowak Photography. The photographs will also be used on Pine Tree Guide Dog Users new Facebook page.

www.facebook.com/ptgdu

Pine Tree Guide Dog Users (www.PineTreeGuideDogUsers.org)

is a registered nonprofit under IRS section 501(c)(3). Founded in 1997, the organization’s mission is to promote complete acceptance of guide dog teams in all aspects of life.

Article: A new dog learns some important tricks: Helping his blind owner

Perspective by John Kelly, Columnist, May 2, 2022

[From A lot of training goes into getting a guide dog ready to help its owner – The Washington Post. We thank John Kelly for writing such an informative column, and the Washington Post for helping to educate the public about the etiquette we expect from them when we are out and about with our guide dogs. Thanks to Maria Kristic, who has two Leader dogs of her own, one recently retired, and one nearly brand new, for sharing this article with Paws for GDUI News You Can Use.]

“To handle an environment like D.C., you need a dog with some oomph and some gumption,” says Kathryn Roberts, a trainer with

Leader Dogs for the Blind.

It helps if the owner has those same qualities, which is why Moira Shea and her new guide dog, Cormac — Mac, as she calls him — seem like a perfect pair.

“Find the button,” Shea says at a Connecticut Avenue NW street corner. “Find the button, Mac.”

She follows the yellow Lab — her left hand on his leather harness — as the dog strides toward the pole-mounted crosswalk button at Cathedral Avenue NW.

For the last two weeks, Shea, 66, and Roberts, 33, have been involved in a changing of the guard: The 18-month-old Mac is learning to take over from Shea’s previous guide dog, a yellow Lab named Declan.

“I don’t think people really understand how guide dogs are trained,” Shea says.

Says Roberts: “People assume it just happens, but it’s a lot of work on Moira’s part and on the dog’s part. It’s 50-50.”

On this Sunday morning, Shea and Mac — with Roberts observing from a few feet away — are going to walk up Connecticut Avenue, get on the Metro at Cleveland

Park, ride it south to Woodley Park, exit, then walk three blocks back to the house Shea shares with her husband, Christophe Lorraine.

“Forward, Mac,” Shea says, urging Mac on.

Shea has Usher syndrome, which slowly robbed her of her vision and hearing. (A cochlear implant allows her to hear.) Her first guide dog was Beau, who

came into her life in 1994. Owen was her dog when Shea lost her vision completely.

Finnegan was Shea’s next guide dog, a golden retriever who accompanied her to eight different countries, including Mexico, Italy and France. Then there was Declan.

Now it’s Mac’s turn. He spent his first year living with a “puppy raiser” in Michigan. Then he underwent five months of training at Leader Dogs’ facility in Rochester Hills, 30 miles north of Detroit.

And now he’s in Washington with Shea, who retired 10 years ago after a federal government career. He pads along the left side of the sidewalk. When a tree box intrudes into the sidewalk; he moves to the right.

The landscape is studded with obstacles: restaurant sandwich boards, rental scooters, construction pylons. Some pedestrians are so obsessed by their phones that they step aside only at the last minute.

Then there are the other dogs.

“Mac, for the most part, isn’t distracted by them,” Shea says.

When there’s a problem, it’s usually the owner’s fault. Our little caravan is just past the National Zoo when a yapping and nipping Pomeranian strains at its leash to get at Mac, who stops and sits in an apparent attempt to defuse the situation.

The Pomeranian’s human makes no attempt to reel in the dog. Roberts implores him to keep moving.

People: If you and your dog encounter a guide dog and its owner, give them a wide berth.

Mac and Shea find the elevator at the Cleveland Park station. On the platform, Shea feels along the tiled edge with her foot for the tactile bumps. When the train comes, she follows Mac aboard and takes a seat.

Shea used to have a sign on her dog’s harness that read “Don’t pet me. I’m working.”

“I don’t use it anymore,” she says. “People start talking to the dog. They think ‘As long as I’m not petting it, it’s okay.’”

She prefers a different sign: “Ignore me. I’m working.”

Says Shea: “Once the harness is on him, he knows he’s working. And he knows he can’t socialize with you. That’s why you don’t want people petting the dogs when they’re in harness, because they get confused.”

At Woodley Park, Shea and Mac ride up on the escalator, something he was trained to do in Michigan. Guide dogs tend to hop off at the end, Roberts says.

“Finnegan used to just fly off,” Shea says.

At first, Mac walks past Shea’s house and Roberts calls him back. Soon he’ll remember exactly where it is, just as he’ll know which pharmacy and dry cleaner Shea goes to. Back inside, his harness removed, Mac is just another dog, part of a pack that includes Declan, Finnegan and a golden retriever named Asia.

Declan’s a bit bigger than Mac, but at first touch they seem like twins. Shea can tell them apart by rubbing her hand down the front of the dog’s face.

Mac’s fur changes direction there, like a zipper between his eyes.

“It’s like a cowlick,” she says, her hand rubbing along it. “When I was little, I used to rescue dogs all the time. And then dogs rescued me.”

Article- Anders’ solo tour- August 2021,

(I am including this because GDUI’s esteemed past president, my co-editor, and- most importantly- my dear friend, Penny said I “had to!”- Andrea Giudice)

I find myself here again, facing the retirement of my guide dog.

On February, 18, 2013 I first met Anders. He was a big furry stranger, cute and friendly but an unknown quantity as a partner. He did not bolster my confidence when, moments after meeting him, he exuberantly spun in circles chasing his tail. To make matters more ominous for my belief in him as a guide, he caught his vigorously wagging tail… and promptly fell over! My precise thought, “I am going to die, and die spectacularly!” However, I trust Guide Dogs for the Blind, and his trainer, so I figured I would try to withhold final judgement until I worked him. I am so glad I did, even at 17 months old Anders worked like a veteran guide! I have never had a guide who’s “on/off” switch is so immediately triggered by the presence or removal of the harness. Anders embodies the very essence of leaving work at work- in harness he is a Consummate professional, out of harness he is a goofy lummox!

All these years later, with our time as partners hurdling to its end, I am struggling on so many fronts- with his retirement from work, his imminent absents from my daily life, with the realization that his successor will have the legacy of Anders as my freshest point of reference. Emotions rampage, memories swirl, and there is a low-grade melancholy slithering below it all.

Anders has given Eight and a half years of service to me. He has, without complaint, guided me in the cold, hot, wet, and snow- along both familiar and completely unknown routes. Sure, I give him praise, treats, pats, and ear scritches, however, these truly fall ridiculously short of the mark when measured against all he gives me. Providing him the opportunity to retire, to no longer have life and death decisions to make with each step he takes as my guide, to no longer have all those pesky rules to follow, to have the option to “say no” when given a command- this is the greatest gift I know how to give him; the best way I know to honor his years of work! It was put to me this way recently- he gave me my freedom and independence, now I am giving him his freedom and independence.

I have confessed, in other writings, that capturing the what and how of my relationship with my guides is difficult… well, that has nothing on this. How to convey the depth and breadth of the impact of Anders on my life? How to impress upon you, the reader of this feeble attempt, the inexplicably, staggering, immensity of what I feel? How to capture with mere words the complexity of the bond Anders and I share? How to accurately communicate the dizzying array of emotions tied to our partnership, and his retirement? So many questions, not sure if I have the answers, but I am going to give it my best shot!

Who is this magical, masterful Anders Gus Giudice? He is known by many names- Derbers, Dersey Boy, Ders, Bers, BerGitieBog, AndersDahgon, Augon Daugon, Ahgon Bahgon (or just Ahgon or Bahgon), Auggie Dawggie,

Monster Pantz, Poggy Bear, Mr. Van Anderpantz (Pantz for short), Bawpie, Dear Boy, Pancake, Puddles, Poppycat, Derbawggens (this isn’t even all of them)- no matter the name by which you call him he is most undoubtedly one-of-a-kind!

I have been reflecting on the events, experiences, notable moments, joys and sorrows that all share one distinct feature, I got through them with Anders by my side. For me, all my moments- big and small, happy and sad, joyous and devastating, mad and glad, exciting and run-of-the-mill, adventurous and ordinary, vacation and work-a-day, scary and brave, home and away, frantic scampering and chilled out sauntering, familiar and unknown-are better with a guide by my side. I find myself marking life’s events by which dog I was partnered with when they occurred. So, there has been a flood of event remembrances, momentous and mondain that coincide with the tenure of Anders.

Of course, there are the not so usual, cruises, train, bus, and plane trips, planning and attending conferences- alone or with friends, and so many road trips.  The more usual daily life stuff- countless board, committee, and support group meetings, running errands in the neighborhood, walks with friends, visits to family near and far, simply doing life’s stuff. More challenging things like starting, loosing, starting, leaving, and starting jobs, dealing with health crises, having and recovering from surgeries, the apartment flood of 2019, the death of both my amazing Grandmothers, and struggling with all that the pandemic has brought to bear. Certainly, this is only the tip of the iceberg, however, it speaks to the moments that make up the minutes, days, weeks, months and years of the A Team.

Yet, all of this doesn’t touch on the quiet moments, the small things, the enormity of feelings that comprise the hugeness of life with Anders.

The sound of his gentle snores; his madly wagging tail making joyous music; the reassuring feel of his paw laying over my foot; the weight of his gaze as he stares in to my face; sneak attack chair hugs; the sweet sound of him nursing in his sleep; the way he jumps with joy- his front feet clear off the ground- when he finds me what I have asked him to find- the trash, stairs, bench, elevator, pretty much anything; when I am sitting on the floor and he gets in my lap, puts his paws on my shoulders and- oh so gently- nibbles my earlobes; the infuriating, yet somehow endearing, fact that no matter how long the leash- it is always one inch too short for him to reach the perfect busy spot; him acting as my personal weighted blanket when I lay on the floor; my trip down the collar rabbit hole, sure a collar for each month sounded so simple, 20 or so collars later it seems less wise; how he sleeps in the smallest possible circle, yet when he lies on his back and stretches out his legs he fills my entire living room; how he is all rough and tumble, reminding me of a polar bear, when he plays with his dog pals but is  all gentle and careful when playing with puppies; snuggling with him in his crate- him in a little ball and me resting my head on his hip; the wonder that he is now so reliable in his house behavior that if I forget to take out the trash he never touches the bag sitting, all enticing like, in the kitchen- this given the rocky start we had with regard to sharing living quarters; the unwavering trust I have in this steadfast, fuzzy, warrior of my independence.

The only stop on the Anders Solo Tour, kicking off in September, is with his retirement family. They, and he, are so perfectly suited to each other! Along with his retirement Mom, he will finally have the human Dad he has been seeking all these years, plus one human sibling and two fuzzy canine ones, and even 2 feline ones. My appreciation and gratitude for the generous gift, to me, they are giving by providing a wonderful, safe, joyous retirement home for my cherished Anders is more vast than the sky, deeper than the ocean, huger than the world!

After many rewrites, word changes, rereads, and tears- this missive needs to wrap up. It is a heartfelt tribute, from a much flawed me to a truly remarkable partner, outstanding guide, and all-around fabulous dog! I have no more words. This is everything I can figure out how to say and nothing close to what I want to convey.

Andrea

Article: Mastercard introduces accessible card for blind and partially sighted people

OCTOBER 25, 2021, PURCHASE, NY

(Excerpted from: https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2021/october/mastercard-introduces-accessible-card-for-blind-and-partially-sighted-people/)

2.2 billion people around the world have visual impairments. Unique notches on the Touch Card’s short side allow the person to distinguish it between a credit, debit or prepaid card

Mastercard extends its commitment to inclusivity by introducing a new accessible card standard for blind and partially sighted people, called the Touch Card. There are few effective ways for the visually impaired to quickly determine whether they’re holding a credit, debit or prepaid card, particularly as more cards move to flat designs without embossed name and numbers. Mastercard is addressing this challenge with a simple yet effective innovation.

“The Touch Card will provide a greater sense of security, inclusivity and independence to the 2.2 billion people around the world with visual impairments, “says Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer. “For the visually impaired, identifying their payment cards is a real struggle. This tactile solution allows consumers to correctly orient the card and know which payment card they are using.”

With the new Touch Card, Mastercard has improved upon a current design standard by introducing a system of notches on the side of the card to help consumers use the right card, the right way, by touch alone. The new Touch Card credit cards have a squarish notch; debit cards have a rounded notch; and prepaid cards have a triangular notch. The standard has been designed to work with point-of-sale terminals and ATMs, ensuring it can be deployed at scale.

Mastercard’s concept has been vetted and endorsed by The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in the U.K. and VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in the U.S. The card was co-designed by IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity, providing trusted solutions in the physical as well as digital space.

“As the banking industry responds to new trends and developments, it’s critical that any innovation brings progress for everyone, including those with a visual impairment,” says David Clarke, RNIB’s director of services. “We’re very pleased that Mastercard understands how important it is that blind and partially sighted people have equal and independent access to their own finances. “  

“Innovation should always be driven by the impulse to include,” adds Rajamannar, who is also the company’s Healthcare president. “With one in seven people experiencing some form of disability, designing these products with accessibility in mind gives them equal opportunity to benefit from the ease and security of a digital world. No one should be left behind.” 

Mastercard has been embedding its signature melody at checkout counters worldwide, a signal to everyone – the sight impaired in particular – that their card transaction has gone through successfully.

Mastercard’s launch of the Touch Card underscores its commitment to inclusivity. It follows the introduction of True Name™, designed in support of the transgender and non-binary communities. The company’s commitment as a brand is to not only stand against inequity but to be an agent for change.

Note: Since launch of the Touch Card, the shape of the notches were changed to reflect further refinement of the card.

Article: 10 Things Blocking Your Wi-Fi Signal at Home

There are a surprising number of things in your home—from the type of material your walls are made of to the kind of things you decorate your home with—that can degrade your Wi-Fi signal.

A Word on Router Placement

Before we dig into all the different things that can affect your Wi-Fi signal in your home, let’s start off by talking about Wi-Fi in general, router placement, and how to make the best use of the information we’re about to share.

You’ll never have a home that’s absolutely perfect for a Wi-Fi signal because having a home with stuff in it (including yourself and your family!) impacts Wi-Fi. But you can use an improved understanding of how Wi-Fi works to best place your Wi-Fi router and/or mesh nodes in your home.

It’s useful to think of your Wi-Fi router as a light bulb that radiates Wi-Fi out into the environment just like a lightbulb radiates visible light. Why do we put lights on the ceilings of rooms in our homes? Because that’s the most practical place to put a light bulb if we want the most light to reach the most area of the room without being obstructed by something.

And when we use lighting elsewhere, like a table lamp, we don’t put the table lamp behind a large appliance, we put it where the light can fall where we need it—like beside a reading chair or on our desk.

So as you read through all the different objects and materials here that can impact your Wi-Fi signal, think about ways you can move your Wi-Fi router or adjust the location of your Wi-Fi mesh nodes to avoid the materials that block or absorb the signal.

Decor Can Degrade Wi-Fi

Fish tanks are nice to look at, but you should keep your Wi-Fi gear away from them.

One of the more surprising things that can degrade your Wi-Fi signal is the decor. We tend to think about stuff like concrete walls or other large and weighty things when we contemplate Wi-Fi problems, but there are some interesting examples of decor impacting the signal.

Fish Tanks

Water, for example, is excellent at blocking Wi-Fi signals. Putting your Wi-Fi router right next to a large fish tank is like putting a dampener on it.

You’ll get a fine signal on the side of the tank where the router is located, but you’ll notice a degraded signal on the other side.

Bookshelves

Books are quite dense and, if you put enough of them together, like lining an entire wall with bookshelves, you’ve effectively built yourself a nice big signal dampener. Traversing the length of a long bookcase is even harder for Wi-Fi signals.

It’s best not to put a router or mesh node on a bookshelf at all, but this is especially true if the place you need a strong signal is at the opposite end of a long run of shelves.

Mirrors

Mirrors can also interfere with Wi-Fi signals. The coating that changes a sheet of glass into a mirror is metallic. Large wall mirrors have a bigger impact than smaller mirrors and older mirrors affect Wi-Fi more than newer ones (on account of the older mirrors containing actual silver and not the less expensive backings found in newer mirrors).

TV Sets

Televisions look like black mirrors when they’re off but it’s not the glass that causes the issue, it’s the giant metal shield inside. If you were to take your flat-screen TV apart (or computer monitors for that matter) you’d find that a metal plate covers almost the entire back.

That metal plate serves both as an electromagnetic shield and to beef up the TV’s structural integrity. It also interferes with Wi-Fi signals passing through that space so don’t stash your router right behind your TV.

Metal Decorations

Speaking of metal, metal decor can also impede your Wi-Fi. Metal wall art (even if it’s on the opposite side of the wall from where you hung your router) can impact your signal.

In one memorable case, a neighbor of mine was complaining their Wi-Fi signal was OK upstairs but absolute rubbish downstairs. Upon investigation, I found they had put their router in a large decorative metal basket. The Wi-Fi signal could pass up into the upstairs relatively unimpeded but the router was surrounded by an accidental Faraday cage on the sides.

Appliances Are Like Lead Aprons

A giant fridge is great for storing snacks, not so great for Wi-Fi.

Not everybody has huge antique mirrors in their homes or giant fish tanks. But we all have appliances, and appliances are practically lead aprons when it comes to impeding Wi-Fi signals.

Kitchen Appliances

In the kitchen, the refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, and even microwave oven are large metal objects that effectively block Wi-Fi.

When thinking about the layout of your home and the relationship of the router to the devices that need Wi-Fi, don’t overlook how much radio-wave absorbing mass is in the kitchen.

Laundry Appliance and Home Utilities

In the laundry room, your washer and dryer are equally chunky metal objects that are no friend to Wi-Fi. And although they aren’t usually thought of as an “appliance,” exactly, your furnace and water heater impact Wi-Fi signal strength too. (The water heater doubly so, as it’s not just a giant metal cylinder—but it’s filled with water, too!) For folks with the laundry, furnace, and water heater tucked away in the corner of the basement, that’s likely not much of a consideration. But, if you have a first-floor laundry and utility room, then you’ll want to consider your router’s location in relation to it.

Construction Materials Sponge Up Signals

Brick, steel, and concrete make for a cool modern living space, but terrible Wi-Fi signal strength.

Everything else we’ve talked about so far is relatively easy to deal with. If you had your Wi-Fi router sitting on a shelf right next to a giant aquarium or you realized your home office is separated from your router by your kitchen and the laundry room you’re lucky. Moving a router is trivial compared to dealing with the actual construction of your home conspiring against a good Wi-Fi signal.

Drywall Isn’t So Bad

From a Wi-Fi signal transmission standpoint, wood-stud and drywall-covered interior walls are the best. Drywall is practically invisible to Wi-Fi and while wood does absorb some of your Wi-Fi signal studs are fairly small and widely spaced.

Folks with stick-and-drywall type homes will have the best Wi-Fi signal transmission range among all other kinds of home construction.

Steel Studs and Old Lathe Walls Can Be Problematic

If your home has steel-stud construction, the steel studs interfere with the signal. Similar problems arise if you have an older home with lathe and plaster walls instead of drywall. The metal wire used to reinforce the lathe can function as a primitive faraday cage.

The more metal there is in the walls of your home, be it steel studs, wire lathe, or even the foil-lined insulation that was popular in the mid-20th century, the more transmission problems you’ll have.

Concrete Walls Are Terrible for Wi-Fi

Thick concrete walls and concrete floors aren’t particularly common in most residential construction, but there is a notable trend toward homes constructed with insulated concrete forms instead of stick-built construction. Having solid concrete exterior and even interior walls is great for energy bills and surviving tornados but it’s terrible for Wi-Fi transmission. Cinderblock walls aren’t much better, although they don’t dampen the signal as strongly as solid concrete.

And although concrete and steel construction is still fairly uncommon in stand-alone residences—at least in the United States—it’s quite common in newer condos, townhomes, and apartments. If you live in a relatively new multi-person residence, there’s a good chance it’s built with steel and concrete and not wood.

Floors Can Foil You Too

In multi-story homes and/or homes with basements, don’t forget to think about the floor itself. If you have poured concrete floors you have the same problem you’d have with concrete walls.

Foil insulation layers in flooring can cause problems, too. So can the wire grid pattern found in under-floor electric radiant heat, as can the mass of water in found in radiator-based systems. Often times such systems are embedded into concrete floors or just above them which just compounds the problem.

Unlike some of the situations we mentioned earlier on, like you unwittingly put your Wi-Fi router too close to your fish tank or it shared a wall with your hot water heater, it’s a bit tougher to wrestle with the physical structure of your home. You can’t just replace concrete walls with wood ones or change brick to drywall.

In those cases, your best bet, besides paying close attention to your home’s layout and aiming for optimum placement, is to upgrade your router–especially to a mesh system where you can place multiple nodes throughout the home to increase the overall coverage.

Note from the Editor:

Announcements and articles, for GDUI- News You Can Use, are culled from a variety of sources; Hence inclusion herein does not imply GDUI endorses, supports or verifies their contents. Information, ideas, or expressed opinions are not advice, therefore should not be treated as such. Factual errors are the responsibility of the listed source.

Sincerely,

Sarah Calhoun- President, Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice- Editor

Penny Reeder- Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President

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.

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 editor: Hello fellow GDUISters

No, this is not an April Fool’s joke, a trick, or even a figment of your imagination… it is truly the current, much awaited, Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! I realize it was October of 2021 when last your inbox was graced with such, so happy to be back!

While things trending on social media, stuff going viral, is all well and good for Influencers and the antics of nameless puppies and kittens, having my personal life do so is disconcerting to say the least. Never the less, following on the heels of the time-sucking and emotionally draining events of guide retirement, class, and moving came more fun of the not really fun variety. Difficulties with my new guide which I believed would end the partnership, were followed (literally a week after a successful follow-up with an instructor) by my Daddy and Step-Mom being hit by a car, while riding their Harley, and severely injured- doing a great job of impersonating Humpy Dumpty! Now, 7 weeks later, as all the king’s people (surgeons, physical, occupational and speech therapists) have worked their magic to put them back together, I am determined to get Paws out.

My list of apologies …. First, Madame President, I am sorry I have done this in one evening, while waiting for Paratransit to bring me home from the Rehab center where I have been visiting the parental units, hence not getting a president’s message from you. Next, to all of you, I have let you down, again, and I don’t like that at all. I take pride in GDUI, this publication and anything that has my name attached to it. My word is my honor, my promise reliable. I am not doing my best work by any stretch of my, or anyone else’s, imagination. For this I am truly sorry.

Well, having said that, here is your newest issue. Exciting news about the service animal eye exams. A few surveys looking for participants, some interesting learning opportunities, news from NBP, and fun snooze news about our dogs. Enjoy!

Sending cyber hugs and wags,

Andrea and Super T

Announcement: 2022 ACVO/Epicur National Service Animal Eye Exam Event

The 2022 Eye Exam Event is Happening on a Limited Basis!

We are pleased to announce that after working with our diplomate members and our sponsor, the 2022 ACVO/Epicur National Service Animal Eye Exam Event will be taking place in 2022 on a limited basis!

We are grateful to our members and sponsor (Epicur Pharma) for donating their time and resources. Please note that due to limitations/shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, not all clinics may be fully staffed and locations and/or appointments may be limited in your area. Due to these limitations, we ask for patience and kindness to the clinics’ staff, as we would love for this event to continue to be a positive experience for everyone involved.

Registrations will take place April 1st – 30th, with the event occurring throughout the month of May. More information about the event and qualification information can be found on the ACVOEyeExam.org website.

ACVOEyeExam.org

The list of Participating Cities will be updated by the end of March.

https://www.acvoeyeexam.org/participating-cities

Announcement: Demo of BlindShell Accessible Phone available

A demonstration of the updated BlindShell accessible cell phone was presented by J. J. Meddaugh of A T Guys at the January 21, 2022 Roundabout sponsored by the Greater Louisville Council of the Blind.

Over 100 people attended the demo.  Many people were unable to get in on the call because the Zoom room was full or for other reasons, and we have received many requests for a link to the recording.

Sound Prints is available as a podcast from the KCB website, through the iTunes store, or on the Victor Stream. Add kentucky-acb.org/soundprints.xml to your favorite podcast device, or subscribe by searching for soundprints under podcasts in the iTunes store or the Victor Stream database, and you won’t miss a single show.

Sound Prints is now available on KCB’s Audio Information Service from any landline or cell phone. Dial (773) 572 – 6318 and select number 2 from the menu.

Visit the Kentucky Council of the Blind website at

http://www.kentucky-acb.org/soundprints

and listen to current or past programs.

Sound Prints is available on CD, playable on any standard music CD player.  Request a subscription by calling us at 502-895-4598.

For more information, call the Kentucky Council of the Blind at

502-895-4598 or email us at kcb@kentucky-acb.org.

Announcement: From National Braille Press- Braille & Brew

We’re hosting Braille & Brews in 2022 to celebrate our 95th birthday! Join us over the course of the year at four different local Boston breweries. The first of our 2022 series will be at Mighty Squirrel in Waltham, MA on Sunday, April 10th. Come with a friend or two to spend a Sunday afternoon at Mighty Squirrel and enjoy the warmer weather!

(don’t worry if you are not local to Boston, you can still participate!)

Your ticket purchase will include a blindfolded flight tasting of Mighty Squirrel’s finest brews paired with some great pizza and bar snacks. This is a fantastic opportunity to socialize with friends while supporting NBP’s work and enjoying great company!

Not local? Tell us your favorite brew and make a donation using the link below to celebrate 95 years of NBP!

https://www.classy.org/event/braille-and-brew-2022/

Announcement: (from- Top Tech Tidbits Email Newsletter

(https://www.toptechtidbits.com/tidbits2022/03312022/)

Hadley Free Technology Workshops

Hadley has a great collection of free technology workshops for learning how to use your device or app:

https://hadley.edu/learn?topic_id=14

TeamViewer Scripts for JAWS | Hartgen Consultancy

You will find below a link to free JAWS scripts for TeamViewer version 15. As of later releases of TeamViewer, it is difficult to find your User ID and password. Once located, pressing the Left and Right arrow keys do not allow you to read the item character by character. With these scripts installed, pressing function key F1 will place the user ID and password into the JAWS virtual viewer for easier reading. When focused on any field, you should also now be able to press the JAWS keystroke to virtualise the focused control, Shift+Insert+V. These scripts are offered freely to the blindness community and were developed for personal use. No support is available:

https://www.hartgen.org/teamviewer

New Justice Department guidance explains businesses’ role in making sure websites can be used by everyone:

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/record-number-of-lawsuits-filed-over-accessibility-for-people-with-disabilities.aspx

Beauty’s Accessibility Shift: Inside The New Priority

Shopping with a disability can be challenging. Now, belatedly, the beauty sector is showing signs of taking action:

https://www.voguebusiness.com/beauty/beautys-accessibility-shift-inside-the-new-priority

Mastercard Puts Visual Impairment In The Spotlight

The financial services company’s new campaign is a stylish film that shows how the brand’s new Touch Card makes transactions more accessible for blind and partially-sighted people:

https://www.shots.net/news/view/mastercard-puts-visual-impairment-in-the-spotlight

Surveys

(From- Top Tech Tidbits Email Newsletter) Surveys)

CSUN Presentations

Here is a list of CSUN presentations and associated resources:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tgmba0L6Z0BkHu9Hb3jlZ3IweguAdrja649rzk8X_Dk/htmlview#gid=407013666

Survey- Help Researchers To Understand The Audio Perception Behavior of People With Visual Impairments

April 25th 2022 deadline to submit. | Hello. We are researchers from Indiana University Bloomington conducting an online survey to understand the audio perception behavior of people with visual impairments. I am inviting you to take part in a 25-30 minutes online survey from a place of your convenience. To participate in the survey, you must identify as visually impaired, must have normal hearing, and should be a native or bilingual speaker of English. You need to have access to a computer or laptop with a screen-reader and Internet connection. You should use headphones and should complete the survey in a quiet environment. For your participation, you will be paid $5 by an Amazon e-gift card. You will receive the URL link of the e-gift card within 3-5 business days after your participation. If you are interested in participating in our survey or have any questions about the study, please fill out the sign-up form below. Once you provide the details, one researcher will contact you via email or phone and send you the web link to participate in the survey. Alternatively, you may email Taslima Akter at takter@iu.edu. Please click here to sign up:

https://iu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bCt4WOvUkJworBA

Featured Webinars and Training Courses

iPhone Chat for Voiceover Users: Beyond the Basics

Andrew Heiskell, Braille And Talking Book Library

April 2nd 2022, 11:30AM PT, 12:30PM, 1:30PM CT, 2:30PM ET, 6:30PM GMT

First Saturdays (April 2, May 7, June 4) from 2:30 – 4:00 PM ET. Talk about customizing gestures and settings, exploring new apps, choosing accessories, dealing with bugs, and whatever else comes to mind. This is a space for any and all Voiceover topics that go beyond the basics of using common gestures and built-in apps. This event will take place online:

https://nypl.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vcuiqqjwtHdzr8bnEn6y-ypuxRhgkdvwz

iPhone Chat for Voiceover Beginners

Andrew Heiskell, Braille And Talking Book Library

April 2nd 2022

10AM PT, 11AM MT, 12PM CT, 1PM ET, 5PM GMT

First Saturdays (April 2, May 7, June 4) 1:00 – 2:15 PM ET. If you’re new to using Voiceover on the iPhone or if you’re still working toward confidence, this discussion group is for you. We’ll spend some time going over the theory of how screen readers work, gestures everyone needs to know, and some strategies for getting help. Then, we’ll open it up for questions and networking. This event will take place online:

https://nypl.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vcuiqqjwtHdzr8bnEn6y-ypuxRhgkdvwz

From the editor- The next 2 articles are about sleep and our pups. Interesting stuff, I don’t even think they will put you to sleep! *smile*

Article: Dog sleeping positions decoded

(https://vcahospitals.com/shop/articles/dog-sleeping-positions-decoded)

Dogs have many aww-inducing sleep positions that are just too cute not to share. Is it possible these very same sleeping styles might reveal something about our dogs’ moods or needs as well?

Science is sorely lacking in this adorable area of study, but we’ve given it a great deal of thought, and here’s what we think these poses could mean.

Put our theories to the test! Do these interpretations match your dog’s behavior?

The side slumber- Your dog is in deep sleep on their side with their feet out from under them. This is the most relaxed of all sleep positions. Your dog is feeling the Zen.

The sphinx- Just like a sphinx statue, your dog is crouched square on all fours but resting their head on their front legs. Your dog is full of energy and ready to jump into action at any moment.

The superman- It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s your dog taking a nap on their belly with their back legs stretched out behind them and their front legs sticking out ahead. Your little superhero is all tuckered out from a long day of play and is in need of a good stretch to boot.

The curl- Your dog is curled up into a tiny ball. Bonus: the tip of their tail is resting on their cute little nose! Your furry friend is feeling the cold and is keeping warm in this cozy pose.

The feet in the air- Wave your feet in the air like you just don’t care! Maybe that’s what your friend is thinking when they lie on their back with all their limbs sticking straight up. Or maybe they’re a bit on the warm side and letting off steam.

The cuddle- Easily the cutest of all, this sleeping option requires snuggling up with a favorite toy, another pet or—best of all—you! Your cuddle bug is feeling the need for love and connection.

Article: Do dogs dream?

(https://vcahospitals.com/shop/home/articles/do-dogs-dream)

If your dog had a dream journal, what do you think it would say? Although we can’t speak to our dogs to know for sure, scientists studying this fascinating question have deduced some interesting facts about our dog’s dreams.

During sleep, dogs have the same two stages of brain wave patterns as people: a slow, steady wave pattern of quiet, still sleep and a fast, irregular wave pattern of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, when the mind is more active and the eyes dart rapidly beneath the eyelids. Your dog may whine, breath rapidly and move their legs during REM sleep.

We dream, and since dogs have the same sleeping brain wave patterns as people, scientists have concluded that it is safe to assume that our furry companions do indeed dream, too!

What do we know about dog dreams?

During REM sleep, the brain functions much like it does when awake, so people—and it is believed dogs as well—dream about the events of their day. It is a chance for the brain to process all that happened while awake and sometimes even relive it through the dream. So, your dog may “sleep run” as they chase a squirrel or fetch the ball in their dreams.

Puppies, who have a lot of new information to process as they explore their new world every day, tend to dream more often than adult dogs.

Interestingly, a dog’s size also affects the number and length of dreams they have. Smaller dogs have more dreams than their bigger friends. A toy poodle may dream every 10 minutes, while a Labrador retriever may only dream once every 60-90 minutes. However, the poodle’s dream may last only a minute while the Labrador’s dreams may be 5-10 minutes long.

Additionally, dogs who are tuckered out from staying active may sleep more soundly and experience longer phases of REM sleep, giving them more time to dream.

Lastly, just like ourselves, dogs who are startled out of a dream may wake feeling defensive or alarmed. In fact, many of the dog bites thar occur in children happen because the child wakes a sleeping dog.

So always remember to let sleeping dogs lie . . . and dream.

Editor’s note:

announcements and articles, for GDUI- News You Can Use, are culled from a variety of sources; Hence inclusion herein does not imply GDUI endorses, supports or verifies their contents. Information, ideas, or expressed opinions are not advice, therefore should not be treated as such. Factual errors are the responsibility of the listed source.

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

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.

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

guidedogusersinc.org

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

From the editor: Hello fellow GDUISters

Well, it has been a few months and lots has happened. It is all the happenings that have kept me swamped and away from this publication.

In early August I learned I had a class date, which meant that Mr. A would be retiring. While I wanted him to have his richly deserved retirement I struggled with the reality of his no longer being my partner. In some kind of cosmic twist, two weeks after the news of my early September class date my apartment flooded. This necessitated my relocation while my belongings were moved out, the flooring was removed and replaced, sanitizing occurred, and my stuff was moved back in (mind you nothing was actually put where it belonged). I guess the universe wanted to take my mind off of the whole retirement thing! *smile* A couple of weeks after the flood I left for San Rafael and training with my seventh guide. Upon returning from GDB I started packing up my stuff because an apartment in a non-flood zone building in my complex was available.

All of this is to say that I have been absent from pretty much everything. It has taken every emotional, and physical, resource I have to get through these three major life changes.

With Mr. A successfully ensconced in his retirement home, having graduated with my new guide, known here as Super T, and my apartment mostly unpacked I feel as if I am emerging from the fog and trying to catch the heap of dangling threads I last addressed in early August.

I am happy to have grabbed up this particular thread and hope you enjoy this issue.

Sending cyber hugs and wags, Andrea and Super T

From the President:

Greetings GDUI members and friends!

Welcome to fall and the fast-approaching holidays! With the cool days, a pleasant breeze, leaves twirling around it is a wonderful time to walk with our guide dogs while we listen to the changes of the season.

For the past few months, many GDUI committees have been quite busy! The membership committee, with the approval of the board, has lowered the annual dues to $15.00 from $25.00, affiliate dues to $10.00 from $15.00 and life time is $300.00 from $400.00! With rising costs of our day-to-day items, GDUI hopes the reduction of dues will help GDUI family and friends remain valued members and/or join this wonderful organization!

The advocacy committee is keeping up to date on the new rules and regulations from the Center of Disease Control (CDC), regarding returning to the United States after visiting a high-risk rabies country with your guide dog. These new rules went into effect July 14, 2021 and as of now will end on January 7, 2022. For more information please visit:

https://www.cdc.gov/importation/bringing-an-animal-into-the-united-states/apply-dog-import-permit.html

The GDUI fundraising committee can help you plan for the holidays with a fresh Holiday wreath and/or a fresh centerpiece! If you are looking for special sweets, GDUI has that covered as well!  How about the chance to win $1,000.00! GDUI has a Thanksgiving drawing! For more information on how to participate and order holiday items, candy and a chance to win holiday money, please visit the GDUI website at:

www.guidedogusersinc.org

GDUI is planning an after the holiday’s “Chatty Yappy” hour! We can gather by Zoom and tell each other about our holiday fun and surprises with our guide dog, family or friends! The Zoom information, date and time will be sent out soon!

Lakota has found retirement   quite nice and is very comfortable living the work free zone lifestyle! Since sniffing anything and everything is no longer off limits, Lakota is catching up on all of the sniffing she passed up while working as a guide dog!

My successor guide dog will be from Gallant Hearts in Mississippi! The school will contact me when they find just the right dog. We all know it takes time, but it’s definitely worth it!  I will keep you updated!

It has been fun learning about new guide dog teams from various schools! Please share your   adventure’s and stories on the GDUI chat lists!

Enjoy the fall season and have a great Halloween!

Warm regards,

Sarah Calhoun & Lakota

Announcement: Totally cool shirt, only available until November three!

Hi GDUI Members and Friends,

I’m passing this along from another list — and another guide dog advocacy group. Although it’s a creative fund-raiser for the NAGDU chapter in New York State, and this is a GDUI list, I think it’s worth sharing the info with you. No matter our affiliation — or not — we’re all in the same proverbial boat, too often needing to remind the people we meet on route not to distract our working dogs! Enjoy!

Penny

Greetings. The New York Association of Guide Dog Users, is currently selling t-shirts with a meaningful message, wrapped up in a little bit of attitude and a little bit of fun. The t-shirts are a dark but vibrant blue, with bright yellow writing. The message “Sure, of course you can pet my guide dog… just as soon as I am done test driving your car.” Is presented in print, with the first portion in a smaller font, such that the eye of the reader does not catch the first line and immediately result in distracting of the working dog. Rather they catch sight of the second line, glance up to make sense of the phrase with the first line, and get the message loud and clear. The sentiment is repeated in contracted Braille below the print. These shirts are being sold in order to raise funds for NYAGDU to engage in advocacy and educational efforts, but the name and logo for NYAGDU, NAGDU, the NFB, etc., do not appear on the shirt. We are proud of our division and of the NFB, but these shirts are great, and the message is an important one, so we want to ensure that anyone who wants one of these shirts will feel free to purchase and proudly wear the shirt, regardless of their affiliation(s). Further, these shirts are not school or breed specific, intentionally so. While the delivery of this message is a little sarcastic and certainly fun to wear, it is a very real concern, as interference by the public with guide dog teams constitutes a very real problem, an annoyance for sure, and sometimes a legitimate danger. We view these t-shirts as a combination of a public service announcement, an educational effort, an advocacy tool, and, yes, a fund-raiser to help us to do our work on behalf of guide and service dog handlers across New York State and across the country, regardless of which school they attended,, whether or not they owner-trained, and no matter what blindness organizations they choose to, or not to, belong to.

The shirts are $22.00 a piece, which includes shipping, to anywhere in the contiguous United States. Shirts are available in youth and adult, as well as plus sizes. Youth and plus sizes cost a bit more for us to order, but we are not passing along this cost to you, and the $22 includes whatever size you would like, shipped to anywhere within Conus. We are taking pre-orders from today, up until Wednesday, the third of November. Please send PayPal to nyagdudivision@gmail.com in the amount of $22 times the number of shirts that you would like. Then please send an email to the same email address nyagdudivision@gmail.com with your name, the address where you would like your shirt(s) to be sent, the number of shirts you would like, and what size(s) you require. Please email any questions to heather.l.bird@gmail.com or you can call, or text, (585) 739-6473.

Please note, this is a pre-order process. We want to be kind to the environment, and efficient with our own time, space, and efforts, so want to avoid the all-too-familiar situation where several dozen shirts are ordered in a range of sizes, but demand results in a surplus of one or two sizes and a dearth of others. We will take pre-orders for the next two weeks, then place the order for exactly the quantity and sizes of shirts desired, and the printing company has given us a turn-around time of two to three weeks. If you are intending to purchase any shirts for holiday gifts, they should arrive in plenty of time, even with the pre-order process.

Heather Bird, President

New York Association of Guide Dog Users,

Announcement: More about that drawing President Sarah mentioned:

The GDUI Thanksgiving Drawing: Here’s what you need to know!

A donation of just $10.00 to purchase a drawing ticket could make you the winner of a cool $1,000.00 on November 29, the first Monday after Thanksgiving Day! (Think about what you might be able to do with those thousand dollars while browsing all of those tempting cyber-Monday deals!)

Even if yours isn’t the winning ticket drawn that evening, you’ll feel good about contributing to this Guide Dog Users, Inc. fund-raising event, which will help GDUI keep our comprehensive and helpful web site updated with information that’s crucially important to every guide dog handler.

Tickets are $10 apiece, and you can purchase as many as you wish.  The more tickets you buy, the better your chances of winning those thousand dollars!  Anyone can win, so please encourage your friends to participate, as well.

To purchase your tickets online visit

https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-thanksgiving-drawing/ 

Click the Purchase Tickets button to pay via PayPal (You don’t even need to have a PayPal account!).

If you experience any problems online, call GDUI’s toll-free phoneline at

866.799.8436, and speak to our GDUI Office Manager, Lynn Merrill. She will be happy to help!

The cut-off date and time for purchasing tickets is Noon, ET, November 22. The winning ticket will be drawn at a special ZOOM event at 7:00 PM, ET, on Monday, November 29. 

Announcement: the GDUI Holiday Wreath and Centerpiece Fund-Raising Project, also mentioned by our fabulous president-

This year, Guide Dog Users, Inc. is selling beautiful holiday wreaths and sweet-smelling holiday centerpieces to raise funds which will support our universally accessible elections during the coming year.

 These Sherwood Farms Holiday Wreaths are created from an aromatic combination of Noble fir, berried Juniper and incense cedar. Touches of color are provided by red faux holly berries. Each wreath Includes a deluxe, pre-tied checkered tree bow. Price: $45

Our Sherwood Farms Centerpiece is created from

Cedar, noble fir, pine and berried juniper that’s arranged in an oasis block and bowl (approximately 12 inches in diameter) for your table. Faux white snow berries and red holly berries are included for you to customize your arrangement. Each centerpiece also includes a 10-inch tapered LED candle Price: $45

These items will be delivered fresh from the Pacific Northwest directly to your door and make wonderful gifts for friends and family. The last day to order is November 10, 2021. All items will be delivered during the first two weeks following Thanksgiving. Payment can be made through PayPal.

Visit this link to learn more and to place your orders!

GDUI Wreath and Centerpiece Fundraiser – Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI) (guidedogusersinc.org) 

If you have any problem accessing the website or ordering products you can contact Denise Weddle at 310-306-8149. She will be happy to help.

Announcement: Missouri Guide Dog Users will be hosting the Top Dog Conference in 2022

Please take a moment to look over the following included information that fully describes the upcoming Top Dog Conference to be held in St. Louis Missouri.

The conference will be held May 19th through the 22nd; of 2022. We hope you will consider joining us for the conference. 

Missouri Guide Dog Users, (MGDU), Top Dog Conference update!

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, we decided in the best interest and safety of our friends and guide dogs, to reschedule the event!

Top Dog will now be held in May of 2022. The new conference dates are: Thursday, May 19, 2022 with check out on Sunday morning, May 22, 2022. Please mark your calendars and save your pennies to enjoy this friendly get together!

Whether you have a guide dog, cane, blind or visually impaired, sighted, a puppy raiser, or just want to join in the fun, everyone is welcome to participate! MGDU will be sending out Top Dog 2022 updates. If you would like to be on our mailing list, please send an email to: Topdog2021.information@gmail.com

Stay well! See you in Saint Louis in 2022!

Missouri Guide Dog Users 

Editor’s note- I have been at three of these conferences, they are fabulous!

Article: Lisa Irving and Her Dog Won in Arbitration Against Uber

By Sean Hollister

(From the Spring issue of the FORWARD, newsletter of the Golden State Guide Dog Handlers, Inc)

 Uber was sued in 2014 for discriminating against blind people and their guide dogs, and agreed to change that as part of a $2.6 million settlement two years later. But apparently, that didn’t entirely happen.

Uber will now pay an additional $1.1 million to a blind woman who said she missed work, missed her birthday celebration, missed Christmas Eve church services, and was left out in the dark, in the rain, and other such humiliations because Uber drivers refused to carry her and her dog on 14 different occasions — a number of which happened after Uber finalized its 2016 settlement.

“Uber allowed drivers who discriminated against disabled riders to continue driving without discipline,” an arbitrator concluded this week (via The San Francisco Chronicle).

This line from the arbitrator’s report is also worth considering: “When Uber did conduct an investigation, its investigators were trained, in some instances, to coach drivers to find non-discriminatory reasons for ride denials, sometimes even to ‘advocate’ to keep drivers on the platform despite discrimination complaints.”

Lisa Irving, the woman, isn’t suddenly a millionaire, by the way. The arbitrator awarded her $324,000 in damages, with the rest ($805,313) going to legal costs, including attorney fees. She spoke to the Chronicle about her dog and her memories, including one where a driver did pick her up, then got vocally angry about having a dog in the car and threatened to leave them on the side of the road. She says she was rejected at least 60 times.

Uber now has a dedicated support form for issues with service animals. “Was a service animal denied?” is the very first question. Here’s the link for the service animal policy

https://help.uber.com/riders/article/us-service-animal-policy-?nodeId=f7e32beb-af83-4977-8a45-b172ef99b4e5

Article: Sleeping Positions for Dogs

(From the Spring issue of the FORWARD, newsletter of the Golden State Guide Dog Handlers, Inc)

Does Your Dog Sleep Like This? If you’re a dog parent, I’m sure you’ve noticed that your furry family member sleeps. A lot. Which is normal, by the way. Healthy adult dogs spend an average of 12 to 14 hours a day sacked out. Pups, seniors and dogs with health problems often need even more rest.

Since our dogs spend so much time sleeping, we’re familiar with the wide assortment of positions they take, and this goes double if your pet sleeps on your bed, lap or chest. What you might not realize is there’s sometimes an evolutionary force behind your dog’s body language while snoozing. The following is a cheat sheet for interpreting the meaning behind your pet’s sleep positions.

6 Dog Sleeping Positions and What They Mean

1. Curled up in a ball (aka the donut or fuzzy bagel position) — Dogs often sleep curled up in a tight ball, with their nose touching their tail. Dr. Katherine Houpt, a behavioral medicine professor at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has observed that this is the preferred position for dogs in shelters. “They almost all sleep that way when they’re undisturbed — in balls, curled up,” Houpt told PetMD. This sleeping position conserves body heat (which is why we tend to see it more often during the cooler months of the year) and also protects internal organs from predators, which is why dogs in the wild tend to dig nests and curl up in them for both warmth and protection.

2. On the back (aka crazy legs) — This is probably among the weirdest, yet cutest sleeping position dogs assume. If you find your pup stretched out on his back, with one or both front legs stretched out, he’s exposing his belly, which is a sign of submissiveness and vulnerability. His willingness to fall asleep in this position means he’s feeling very secure and relaxed in his environment. On the other hand, he could also just be feeling a bit overheated, and exposing his tummy helps cool his body down. Dogs who sleep in this position regularly are typically independent and calm.

3. The cuddler — Dogs who cuddle up with their humans, or sleep back-to-back with other pets in the household, are remembering their puppy pasts when they napped with their littermates to conserve body heat. If your dog likes to maintain contact with you while she sleeps, she’s showing she trusts you, and the feeling is probably mutual, since surveys indicate that 56% of dog parents sleep next to their dogs.

4. The belly flop (aka the superman) — This sleep position is adorably funny, because what’s not to love about a dog lying flat on his tummy with his front and back legs extended straight out? Looking down at him, it’s easy to imagine he’s about to belly flop into a pool or fly away to save the day! Dog behavior expert Dr. Stanley Coren believes this position also relates to temperature. “The fur on the dog’s underside is not as deep and insulating as the fur on the rest of his body,” he tells PetMD. “What you call the ‘Superman position’ — with limbs outstretched and belly against the floor — is also a response to a warm environment, but usually occurs in situations where the surface that the dog is lying on is relatively cooler than the air around him.” Since it’s easy for dogs to get to their feet in this position, they tend only to use it for catnaps and not for serious snoozing.

5. Side sleeping — This is the most common position dogs take for sleeping, according to Coren. And that’s a good thing, because when your dog naps lying on her side, it means she’s relaxed and comfortable in her environment. Side sleeping pups also tend to be affectionate and share a close bond with their humans.

6. The lion pose — The lion pose is similar to the belly flop, with two important distinctions: the back legs are under the haunches instead of pushed out, and the muscles of the body are contracted, preventing deep sleep. Dogs generally get into this position to relieve stress and make themselves more comfortable. It’s often seen in dogs with lots of energy to burn, who don’t feel like sleeping and are waiting for an opportunity to leap into action.

Other Ways Your Dog’s Sleep Differs from Yours

Beyond sleeping positions, the major difference between human and canine sleep patterns is the amount of time spent in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is the most restorative stage of sleep and plays a role in learning and memory. In REM sleep, the brain is active and there may be dreaming. Humans spend about 25% of their night in REM sleep, compared to about 10% for dogs. This means dogs need more total sleep to get adequate restorative sleep.

While humans tend to do best with a set sleep-wake schedule, dogs are much more flexible, so you needn’t worry about getting your dog to bed on time or up by a certain hour. Generally speaking, dogs follow their natural impulses, including sleeping when they need it, which is why they don’t often sleep for eight-hour stretches. If it seems your dog can go from deeply asleep to fully alert in the blink of an eye, and in response to even the slightest noise or disruption, it’s not in your head. One Australian study found that during an eight-hour nighttime period, dogs averaged 23 sleep-wake episodes, with the average sleep-wake cycle consisting of 16 minutes asleep followed by five minutes awake. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be aware your dog is awake — he’ll likely lie quietly. It also doesn’t mean he’s not getting quality rest, but if he seems especially restless or is unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in, you should have him checked out by your veterinarian to rule out pain or other symptoms or health conditions that could be keeping him awake.

Something I recommend for all pet parents is a grounding mat, which can help balance your dog’s circadian rhythm, particularly if he doesn’t spend much time outdoors. Wild animals are naturally grounded to the earth, which provides numerous benefits due to the transfer of electrons from the ground to their body. You can also unplug wireless routers at night to give your pet a break from electromagnetic fields (EMFs). For dogs who seem unable to settle down, a grounding mat can be very beneficial. In addition, be sure to provide a comfortable, adequately sized bed, made from natural materials, in a quiet, cozy spot. Depending on your dog’s favorite sleeping position, you can choose a dog bed to match. For instance, dogs who sleep curled up may like a round bed with deep sides, whereas side sleepers may prefer a cushioned, flatter surface to spread out on. For belly or back sleepers, an elevated bed may help keep them cool and supported. Turn off all lights and loud sounds (TVs and radios) when going to bed; this can disrupt your dog’s ability to produce enough melatonin to sleep soundly, but don’t forget to open your blinds and shades in your home the next morning (dogs need access to direct sunlight to produce healthy daytime hormones, too!)

Editor’s note:

announcements and articles, for GDUI- News You Can Use, are culled from a variety of sources; Hence inclusion herein does not imply GDUI endorses, supports or verifies their contents. Information, ideas, or expressed opinions are not advice, therefore should not be treated as such. Factual errors are the responsibility of the listed source.

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

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.

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 editor: Hello fellow GDUISters

GDUI Convention 2021 is over and, as for Mr. A and I, much rest did ensue! 

I am taking this opportunity to recognize people, without whom, this convention would not have happened, or been so successful!

To the Convention Program Planning team- Deb Trevino, co-coordinator, Sarah Calhoun, GDUI President, Lynn Merrill, Maria Hansen, Maria Kristic, and, last but very much not least, my anonymous (name withheld to protect the innocent) Planning Partner- unnamed but eternally thanked!!! Ladies you made me look clever, creative- like all that and a Kit Kat!! “THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!” To Steve our wonderful web master, you always rise to whatever challenge I throw at you. As a result of your expertise, and prompt response to any and all requests updates and changes to gdui.org happen quickly and accessibly. I am forever grateful for the Steveafacation of the content I send your way! To all of the presenters for giving up time during their summer to share with us and be interesting, informative, and enlightening. To Hava who provided plush guides, Pawz and Rezoom, so beautifully appointed in their hand-crafted gear! To everyone who purchased tickets for the drawing and registered for GDUI at the time of overall conference registration helping raise much needed funds for GDUI to continue the life changing work we do. To the people who hosted each session, making certain untrained people such as myself didn’t derail the doings. To everyone behind the scenes at ACB for making the virtual experience so terrific and unforgettable. To all of you who attended the sessions, causing all the time, energy, and work necessary to make GDUI Convention 2021 happen fade in to a distant memory, replaced with a feeling of having hit one all the way out of the park!

I really enjoyed the program this year! I found it interesting, informative, and thought provoking. It was great fun being part of the team that put it together!

While it was not the intention to create a program that was thematic, that is what happened. Our author, Christie Bane, talked about her book, Forward Together: An Inside Look at Guide Dog Training, which delves in to the raising, training and placement of guide dogs. Dr. Giudice and Paul Fink describe some of their current research and talked about the future of autonomous vehicles (Avs; the many benefits and huge potential of this newest form of transportation, and highlighted some of the challenges that need to be addressed. 

We learned of a collaborative video, created to educate TSA, airport, and airline employees. Chelsea White- The Seeing Eye and Rabih Dow- Guide Dogs for the Blind, partners in the video, explained who is the target audience and urged all of us to share it with anyone we know, or anyone we know who knows someone, connected to TSA and airports and airlines.

Find the video here:

https://vimeo.com/547734281

David Locklin- Leader Dogs for the Blind, Lukas Franck- The Seeing Eye, and Diane Bergeron- CNIB Guide Dogs discussed the importance of knowledge sharing between guide schools. Whether helping each other through the pandemic or with the challenges faced establishing guide dog programs around the world. Additionally, we had more guide dog schools than ever before at the school update session; filling us in on how they have weathered the past year, and the creative, innovative way they have met the unusual circumstances of the pandemic. Of course, let’s not forget, the amazing, inspiring award winners!

So, focus on travel you ask? Yes, each session focused on some aspect of the guide dog world… how they grow and learn, the fabulous lives people lead and things they do while partnered with a guide dog, how the programs that breed and train them are working, individually and together, to meet the needs of their graduates and applicants, how those same guide dog programs are dedicated to bringing the freedom and independence of the guide dog life style to the whole world, we received a new tool, the video, to make air travel less frustrating,  and finally, what it might look like for us to be able to “drive” ourselves, and our guides, to a favorite local business and get a celebratory treat or beverage.

Well, space, and your attention, runs short. “Madame President, I apologize, my rhapsodizing has left no room for your usual greetings! “

Enjoy this issue and stay safe and cool!

Sending cyber hugs and wags, Andrea and Mr. A

Announcement: Want to help drive the future of driving?

Contact Dr. Nicholas Giudice to get involved with his research

nicholas.giudice@maine.edu,

Announcement: News from National Braille Press

Massive Downloadable Braille Sale!

Download and store these books before they disappear on August 31st!

Though National Braille Press moved exclusively into using the Unified English Braille code (UEB) back in 2016, we still have a handful of useful and/or fun books in downloadable electronic braille format (BRFs) in the old, English Braille American Edition code (EBAE). To help us clean up our database, we plan to remove these older BRFs, but not before we give you a chance to download them at a huge discount!

We’re offering these books as downloads only for $5.00 each between now and August 31, 2021. From cookbooks to kids book, get them now!

Take a look here: https://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/download-sale

Announcement: Totally cool source for accessible games

64 Ounce Games 

3911 Greenwood Drive

Pearland TX 77584

Richard@64ouncegames.com

https://64ozgames.com

Announcement: Hadley presents

Two interesting items from Hadley:

Now There’s a Magazine Website Specifically for You

Dorrie Rush, OE’s Chief Content Officer, joins us for a chat about this wonderful online resource chock full of tips for living well with vision loss.

You’ll find great articles on using tech tools, tips for health and well-being, stories from others living with vision loss, a terrific podcast, and more.

Audio Described National Parks

Audio Describe the World! That’s the mantra of UniDescription: a free smartphone app that provides audio descriptions and navigation tips for US National Parks and other public places.

Downloadable transcripts are available at: hadley.edu

Article: Important news about traveling with a guide dog, from the CDC

As of July 14, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) began requiring that people traveling back to the U.S. from countries where rabies is a high risk obtain a permit to return to the country with their dogs. The CDC urges people to apply for the permit 6 weeks before they intend to return to the country with their dogs. This permit requirement does apply to service dogs and you must have the permit even if your dog was vaccinated in the U.S. and you have proof of vaccination. Below is the list of countries the CDC considers to be high risk. If your travel destination is not on this list, you do not need to apply for the permit. You should review the list carefully as you make your travel plans.

Below is a link to detailed information about how to apply for the permit, including information about where to email your completed permit application.

How to Apply for a CDC Dog Import Permit

You must already have the permit when you return from the high-risk country to the U.S. You cannot apply for the permit upon your return to the U.S. If you return without a permit, your dog can be denied entry into the country.

If you have questions about this information, please reach out directly to the CDC either by email at cdcanimalimports@cdc.gov or call (800)-232-4636.

Beginning July 14, 2021, there is a temporary suspension for dogs imported from high-risk countries for dog rabies. CDC has the authority to issue a CDC Dog Import Permit for US citizens and lawful residents relocating from high-risk countries to bring their dogs into the United States. Such permits will be issued on an extremely limited basis.

First 90-Day Transition Process

From July 14 through October 14, 2021, dogs coming from high-risk countries with CDC Dog Import Permits can enter the United States at one of these 18 airports: Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago (ORD), Dallas, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York (JFK), Newark, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Juan, Seattle, and Washington, DC (Dulles).

After October 14, 2021, dogs coming from high-risk countries with CDC Dog Import Permits must enter only at approved ports of entry.

High-Risk Countries for Dog Rabies:

Updated July 14, 2021

Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti

Egypt (Temporary importation suspension of dogs from Egypt until further notice)

Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea,

Eswatini (Swaziland), Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya

Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria

Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe

Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa

South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara

Zambia, Zimbabwe

Americas & Caribbean: Belize, Bolivia, Brazil

Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador

El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras

Nicaragua, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela

Asia and the Middle East, Eastern Europe:

Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan

Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Brunei

Cambodia, China (excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan)

Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq

Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan

Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Moldova, Mongolia

Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, North Korea, Oman

Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia

Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand

Timor-Leste (East Timor), Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine

United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

If a country or political unit is not listed above, it is not considered high risk for importing dog rabies into the United States. Therefore, if the country is not listed, CDC strongly recommends a rabies vaccine certificate, but it is not required to enter the United States.

Editor’s note: I sent an e-mail requesting more detailed information about how this CDC Dog Import Permit and the restricted entry airports pertains to guide dogs. I did receive an answer, just today, and I am pasting in one line from that message: “At this time, service dogs may travel through the approved airports.” I am no expert; however, it seems careful research needs to be done if your travel includes any of the above-mentioned countries.

Article: Prevent these five common summer paw problems

(https://vcahospitals.com/shop/home/articles/prevent-these-five-common-summer-paw-problems)

Spending time outside in the fresh air and sunshine is one of the many joys of summer, but sometimes outdoor play can end up being a bit rough on dog paws. Nothing puts the kibosh on outdoor fun as fast as a paw injury. Keep the good times going by taking these steps to ensure your dog’s feet remain unharmed throughout all their summertime shenanigans. While some cuts and bruises may be unavoidable, these five classic summertime paw problems are perfectly preventable.

Burnt and torn pads:

If you’ve ever run across the street barefoot as a kid, then you undoubtedly remember just how hot and uncomfortable that blacktop can get. Walking or, even worse, running on its scorching and rough surface can easily burn and tear your dog’s paw pads. Protect those tender toes by restricting your walks and runs to the cooler hours of the day and the smoother sidewalk surfaces.

Metal edging injuries:

Metal edging is a common fixture in many backyards, which is probably why it’s also one of the most common causes of cut dog paws. Although it may seem blunt, it’s as good as a knife when a running dog lands on it at high speed. Remove the risk from your yard by opting for pet-friendly edging options like brick or poured concrete.

Torn nails:

A toenail that gets snagged during rambunctious play or a full-tilt run can end up getting pulled right off—ouch! Keep your dog’s nails trimmed short to prevent them from catching on things. If you’ve been avoiding this task because your dog isn’t a fan of nail trims, check out our tips to de-stress your pet’s pedicures.

Grass awn foreign bodies:

Grass awns, also known as foxtails, may look harmless as they barely cling to your dog’s coat, but these problematic seed pods have the uncanny ability to penetrate the skin and then slowly work their way deeper into the tissue. They often end up between dog toes, making their way into the paw itself. Keep grass awns off your dog by mowing your lawn regularly and avoiding tall grasses on walks.

Ticks:

These crafty parasites like to burrow in tricky places, and one of their common hard-to-find spots is between the toes (in the ears is their other super sneaky hideout). Because finding them can be so difficult, the best way to protect your pet from ticks is to use year-round parasite preventives.

Article: Guide Dog Raised by NHL Team Is Ready to Head to the Paralympics with His New Swimmer Owner

(Article link: https://people.com/pets/guide-dog-raised-by-nhl-team-paired-with-paralympic-swimmer/)

Anastasia Pagonis, 16, and Radar the guide dog are currently at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado

September is National Service Dog Month, but that’s not even the biggest news in Radar’s life.

The Labrador retriever guide dog was recently matched with his owner Anastasia Pagonis, a blind 16-year-old who quickly succeeded at competitive swimming after losing her eyesight two years ago. Two weeks after being introduced, Radar and Pagonis are residing at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Pagonis, one of the top athletes on the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team, is training for a chance to compete in the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo — now rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Even though the pair only knew each other for 4 days ahead of the trip from Pagonis’ home in Long Island, New York to Colorado, the swimmer says that Radar handled travel “really well.” Having Radar by her side was a welcomed change for Pagonis, who had to “rely on other people” for almost everything before being paired with the guide dog. 

“Honestly, I couldn’t be like my own person and so now that I have him, I feel so independent,” the teen tells PEOPLE about how Radar has already rapidly reshaped her life. 

“I’m gonna conquer the world with him,” she adds.

Pagonis already conquered quite a bit before meeting Radar. At 11, Pagonis, then playing soccer, was starting to lose her vision due to a genetic disease, and while she could see “pretty well at the time” she had a blind spot that caused her to ” get kicked in the face too much with the ball.” Dedicated to keeping athletics as part of her life, Pagonis spoke to her doctor about a different sport she could try that was better suited to her vision loss. Her doctor suggested swimming. 

“When I got in the water, I fell in love with it,” Pagonis says of starting the sport. “It was a place where I felt free, where I didn’t need any help getting around, and I didn’t need anything.”

Unfortunately, in 2018, Pagonis’ vision “completely blew” suddenly, leaving her only able to distinguish some variations in light.

“We didn’t understand why this was happening or what was going on,” Pagonis says of the overwhelming moment. “I went back to the doctor and I came back with autoimmune retinopathy, which is another disease on top of my genetic disease. How lucky am I?”

The sudden loss of her vision understandably rattled Pagonis who stopped swimming and went through “a really dark time” as she grappled with what this change meant for her future. With help from her supportive family, Pagonis focused on her mental health and got the help she needed to be ready to start swimming again.

“Then, we could not find a coach that wanted to train me because nobody wanted to train the blind girl,” she says of trying to restart swimming. “Nobody had faith in me.”

Until Marc Danin of Islander Aquatics happily agreed to train Pagonis, even blacking out his goggles to get a better understanding of how Pagonis experiences swimming.

“I figured it out and I got back into it and now it’s my happy place. I love it so much again. It’s honestly my favorite time of the day. My favorite time of everything. It’s my life now,” Pagonis shares.

This passion, and the support of Coach Danin and her team, has helped Pagonis rise to the position she is in now: training for a potential spot in the Paralympics. Pagonis has also embraced her vision loss and has become an advocate for blind people and everything they can achieve, using her Instagram (@anastasia_k_p) to show her support and enthusiastically educate others on what living life as a blind person is really like.

Pagonis says it is not uncommon for followers to slide into her DM to question if she is really blind because of her appearance and everything she has achieved, an impressive amount for any 16-year-old. She relishes replying to these doubters, explaining to them how real blind people, like her, rarely match the helpless stereotypes many have in their heads.

“I get put in a box all the time. I get put in a box that I can’t do this. I can’t do that,” she says. “I just feel like blindness has such a stereotype where you have to look a certain way, and act a certain way, and you can’t be an elite athlete, and you can’t wear makeup, and you can’t dress up.  You just have to be what they want you to be.”

Having Radar by her side only makes her feel more fierce and unstoppable.

“He is literally amazing and he is the smartest dog in the world,” she says of the pooch, who goes with her everywhere, including the pool. 

“He’ll just sit on the side of the deck and he’ll just chill there.”

If Pagonis heads to Tokyo in 2021 for the Paralympics, Radar will be there too, and he is uniquely prepared for the crowds, sounds, and chaos that comes with big events.

Radar, a guide dog trained by the Guide Dog Foundation, was raised by the New York Islanders hockey team. While Radar was born at the Guide Dog Foundation’s campus in Long Island, New York, and was later trained by their professionals and matched with Pagonis free of charge, the non-profit relies on volunteers to help raise and socialize their puppies before they return to campus for more advanced training.

The New York Islanders, who had partnered with the Guide Dog Foundation before to raise funds for their efforts, decided to take their support one step further by helping the foundation raise puppies, and Radar was their first. The precious pup attended Islanders games, met fans, pawed around the office, and was regularly immersed in all the sounds and sensations that come with a major sports game.

“Essentially a huge portion of what the first few months of guide dog training are is socializing the puppy and introducing them to new things,” says Ann Rina, the senior director of community relations for the Islanders.  “And what better way to do that? We have a captive audience of 15,000 fans in our arena, so why not?”

Radar quickly became a team favorite during his puppy raising period with the Islanders, and Rina says the team, and their fans, are overjoyed to see the dog grown up and already making an impact on his owner’s life. The NHL team was so smitten with being part of the process, the are in the process of raising another service puppy, this time for the Guide Dog Foundation’s sister organization, America’s VetDogs.

To keep track of Pagonis’ Paralympics journey, which hopefully ends with a gold medal for her and Radar, follow her on Instagram.

Article: Judge David Tatel’s lack of eyesight never defined him, but his blindness is woven into the culture of the influential appeals court in D.C.

By: Ann E. Marimow

The Washington Post July 8, 2021

When Judge David S. Tatel informed President Biden of his plan to step back from the federal bench this year, he closed his letter on a personal note: “My guide dog, Vixen, is pleased to know that First Dogs Champ and Major are also German Shepherds.”

In nearly three decades on the appeals court in Washington, Tatel’s lack of eyesight has never defined him. But his blindness — and more recently the attentive German shepherd at his side — is now woven into the culture of the courthouse where Tatel has been at the epicenter of consequential cases affecting major aspects of American life.

The latest formal portrait of the court’s black-robed judges features Vixen in the front row.

“For a judge who can’t see, he sees everything. Not just what is going on in the case before him, but how it matters in the future,” said Steve Vladeck, a constitutional law professor at the University of Texas and close observer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Circuit. “It’s hard to think of a judge who is more highly respected on the federal appellate bench even by those who disagree with him.”

His plan at age 79 to take a lighter caseload or “senior status” once Biden installs his successor winds down the career of a leading, liberal-leaning voice on the bench that has shaped laws affecting voting rights, the environment, Internet regulations and press freedoms.

Biden’s first slate of judicial nominees aims to quickly boost diversity in federal courts Tatel’s tenure on one of the most influential courts in the country has often thrust him into high-profile disputes involving the

government: New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s battle to protect a confidential source; the troubled military trials at Guantánamo Bay; and more recently, his unsuccessful attempt to block the Trump administration from reviving the federal death penalty.

“After so many years in D.C. in the thick of a lot of controversies, it would be easy to be cynical. But he’s never wavered in his faith in the system he’s a part of,” said Goodwin Liu, one of Tatel’s former law clerks who is a justice on the California Supreme Court. “He has always believed he could persuade his colleagues with rational argument and is open to persuasion himself.”

During oral arguments in the wood-paneled fifth-floor courtroom, it is easy to forget that Tatel is blind. He asks penetrating questions and often has a better handle on details from the dregs of thick case files than some of the attorneys arguing before him. The signs are subtle — an elbow from a colleague guiding him to his seat or the request from a fellow judge to the arguing attorney to read a specific statute out loud.

Retired judge Thomas B. Griffith, who served with Tatel for 15 years, never considered Tatel’s blindness a limitation, but rather envied how his work seemed enhanced by technology. On the bench,

Tatel uses a small Braille computer, listening through one earpiece as he clicks through his meticulous notes.

“Our joke in chambers was, I want one of those little black boxes because it’s got all the right answers, it asks all the right questions and has all the right record citations,” Griffith said.

“It’s just amazing.”

‘The brain adapts’

Tatel’s vision first posed a problem when he played baseball as a kid in Silver Spring. Diagnosed with a retinal disease at the National Eye Institute at 15, he stopped driving his third year of law school at the University of Chicago. His eyesight deteriorated dramatically during a family ski trip when he was nearly 30.

Tatel’s wife Edie, and later the couple’s four children, became his “audible artists” — reading to him, describing the world and guiding him on hikes and down ski slopes.

But after Tatel lost his eyesight, his memory improved prodigiously.

The system of workarounds and network of support he developed, in addition to advances in technology and his superior memory, gave Tatel something akin to a superpower.

Early on, when he was a lawyer in private practice in Washington, Tatel needed everything read to him — newspapers, the mail, legal briefs. Now his desk is a tangle of cords for devices that include the Braille computer that converts text to speech and an oversized iPod-like audio reader.

The computer speaks to him in a robotic, male voice that reads everything including Roman numerals and punctuation marks while mispronouncing certain words. The judge listens at a clip four, sometimes five, times the normal speed, and tears through three newspapers daily and at least half a dozen books a month.

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“The brain adapts,” he said.

By necessity, Tatel’s law clerks read drafts of opinions out loud and make edits as they go before he does light edits on his own computer.

“If a clerk read the wrong word or missed a comma, he would know and say, ‘Isn’t there a comma there or isn’t that a different word?’”

recalled Michelle Friedland, a former clerk who is now a judge on the 9th Circuit.

Tatel’s writing is sparse and not prone to rhetorical flourishes. He detests passive voice and considers footnotes clutter. Anything worth saying should be fully explored in the text of the opinion, he says.

“He has tremendous ability to think in complete paragraphs and a great command of the overall picture of what a draft looks like,” Liu said.

President Bill Clinton picked Tatel in 1994 to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg. By then, he’d had a long career as a prominent civil liberties lawyer working to desegregate public schools throughout the country. Tatel honed his judicial style in more than 700 opinions and has collaborated with more than 100 clerks, whose photos are prominently displayed in the hallway of his chambers.

Some include college debate champions who Tatel first hired as his human readers before they went on to law school and returned to his chambers. Travis Crum, his first, gave Tatel a pipeline to what Crum jokingly calls “fast talking nerds who want to go to law school.”

“With all due respect to Yale Law School,” said Crum, now a law professor, “it was the best legal education I got.”

‘He plays it straight’

Even as technology has evolved, what has not changed is Tatel’s analytical, energetic approach to the law and appreciation for the real-world impact of his decisions.

In 2012, a significant case landed with Tatel and his colleagues over a central provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required states with a history of discrimination to seek federal approval before changing voting laws. Proponents said it was needed to protect minority voting rights, but the Supreme Court had already signaled skepticism.

“I’ve read the briefs, and I realize the Supreme Court has hinted where it’s headed,” Judge Stephen F. Williams, a nominee of President Ronald Reagan, wrote in an email to Tatel. “But I remain uncertain.

What’s your view, David?”

What followed were memos, phone calls and meetings in Tatel’s chambers overlooking the National Gallery of Art in which the judges grappled over the law and the issues in a collaborative back-and-forth.

“You can’t predict how he’s going to decide based on who the plaintiff is or what the issue is. He plays it straight,” said Griffith, the third judge on the panel.

Tatel could not persuade Williams, his close friend who died last summer. But Griffith, a nominee of President George W. Bush, joined Tatel’s majority opinion upholding the law. The courts had no reason, Tatel wrote, to second guess Congress when it came to ensuring that “the right to vote — surely among the most important guarantees of political liberty in the Constitution — is not abridged on account of race.”

But, as Williams predicted, the Supreme Court reversed Tatel the next year in a 5-to-4 decision written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Republican-led state legislatures have since passed a flurry of new voting restrictions.

Geoffrey Stone, a professor and former dean of the University of Chicago Law School, said Tatel’s opinion “captured perfectly the reasons why the act was constitutional, why it was sensible and why we as a nation needed it.”

Tatel’s work has also impacted major environmental policies and shaped the future of the Internet. He was initially on the losing side when the full D.C. Circuit refused to rehear a lawsuit from Massachusetts and other states saying George W. Bush’s administration was not doing enough to fight global warming.

“If global warming is not a matter of exceptional importance, then those words have no meaning,” Tatel wrote, after delving into climate science.

He was vindicated in 2007 when the Supreme Court embraced his view and said in a 5-to-4 decision that the Clean Air Act empowers the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases.

A few years later, Tatel ended up reviewing a trio of critical cases affecting the Internet. In 2016, he and Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote a rare joint opinion upholding strict rules banning Internet providers from blocking or slowing traffic to consumers.

“Given the tremendous impact third-party Internet content has had on our society, it would be hard to deny its dominance in the broadband experience,” the judges wrote. “Over the past two decades, this content has transformed nearly every aspect of our lives, from profound actions like choosing a leader, building a career, and falling in love to more quotidian ones like hailing a cab and watching a movie.”

‘What a good dog’

On the back roads of rural Virginia, where the Tatels relocated during the pandemic, the judge and his dog log many miles exploring together. Tatel firmly grasps Vixen’s harness as she gently steers him to the side of the road, standing guard between him and the large trucks that rumble by. And during virtual court hearings or while Tatel edits an opinion, Vixen collapses on an oversized pillow awaiting the judge’s next move.

Tatel was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in 1957 as a teen attending Montgomery Blair High School. As he studied political science at the University of Michigan and later met Edie, his vision problems did not initially interfere with biking, skiing, reading or work.

After law school, he became an investigator for the Chicago mayor’s commission to study the 1968 riots, which cemented his commitment to civil rights and education. He would go on to lead the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the national committee in D.C. During the Carter administration, he revived the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

By his early 30s, Tatel had lost his eyesight.

He learned to use a mobility cane from a woman who taught tap dancing at the Chevy Chase Community Center. But for years, he resisted getting a guide dog in part because he thought it would require a lengthy training period away from court. Some in his family were also reluctant — partly fearing they would be displaced by a dog.

“All these years, we’ve walked together,” Tatel said of Edie. “My children, too. We never walk anywhere without holding on.”

But Tatel’s thinking changed as his movements became more prescribed.

Edie walked with him from their apartment in Friendship Heights to the Metro. Law clerks took turns meeting him at Judiciary Square to walk with him to the gym to swim laps and then on to court.

Tatel first met Vixen in the summer of 2019, after his grandson shared a podcast describing a guide dog program with on-site, at-home training.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” said Tatel, who has run three marathons. “You have to give up all the techniques you’ve learned to get around and turn them over to a dog.”

Commands, hand signals, listening to traffic. Tatel engaged in two weeks of around-the-clock, painstaking work with a trainer and Vixen.

The communication slowly began to feel more instinctive as they practiced walking city streets. But it would take six months to click and they are still learning from each other.

There were minor mishaps. When Vixen took a wrong turn during an early visit to the courthouse, the U.S. marshals had to steer the judge in the right direction.

During a recent trip to the courthouse, Tatel stood with Vixen on the Metro platform in Friendship Heights and waited. The double doors of the rail car slid open and Vixen guided the judge inside.

“What a good dog,” Tatel said, patting her head as she sat at his feet for the ride.

In his letter to Biden in February, Tatel characterized his tenure on the bench as “the highest honor of my professional life. But he said after 27 years, it was time to “make room for a new generation.”

After their Metro ride to Judiciary Square, Vixen took Tatel past a homeless encampment and then slowed down to signal caution as she expertly navigated between two cylindrical jersey barriers to arrive at the courthouse doors.

Even after more than a year away, Vixen needed no prompting from the judge.

She took him into the elevator and then trotted through the warren of private hallways until they reached Tatel’s light-filled chambers with a view of the Mall.

The judge exuberantly greeted his legal assistant, Amanda Grace, and with his hand on Vixen’s head, said: “Guess who knew the way?”

Article: Fabulous weekly e-newsletter full of great stuff!

Top Tech Tidbits. The world’s #1 online resource for current news and trends in adaptive technology.

https://www.toptechtidbits.com

(Excerpted from https://www.toptechtidbits.com/tidbits2021/07292021/.)

Here are examples of the range of content found each week:

Two New NVDA Add-ons

A.) Advanced Phonetic Reading:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q75mnyttr34zjpm/EnhancedPhoneticReading_0.5a2_Gen.nvda-addon?dl=1

B.) Clock:

https://github.com/hkatic/clock/releases/download/v21.07/clock-21.07.nvda-addon

Exploring Tech Webinar with David Woodbridge

All about Smart Speakers with and without screens, and some 3rd party devices, on YouTube:

 

Intro to Grade 3 Braille, Braille with JAWS, and Braille in iOS

These are some of the recorded masterclasses available from the Braillists Foundation:

https://www.braillists.org/media/

Case For Not Using Accessibility Overlays, With Added Privacy Concerns

A.) A lot of accessibility professionals have endorsed or contributed to this document explaining why AccessiBe and similar products harm accessibility efforts:

https://overlayfactsheet.com/

B.) This post from respected authority L’onie Watson is clear about the unwelcome privacy consequences of AccessiBe:

https://tink.uk/accessibe-and-data-protection/

Using Picture Smart in JAWS and Fusion to Describe Image Files or Pictures on Web Pages

This is a short TikTok video:

https://bit.ly/3gZYFrz

Game On | 1 New Endorsement | Top Tech Tidbits BVI Technology Game Directory | 10 Games Listed

If you are a blind or visually impaired gamer and you play a game that you would like to tell other blind or visually impaired gamers about, please submit your game to the Top Tech Tidbits BVI Technology Game Directory today. And remember, if you come across a game in the Directory that you agree is awesome, please be sure to endorse it by submitting it yourself so that it moves up the list where more people will notice it:

https://www.toptechtidbits.com/blind-and-visually-impaired-technology-game-directory.html

Paid Research Project | Exploring the Experiences and Needs of People with Visual Impairments in a Kitchen | Closes: August 3rd 2021

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is conducting a research project to explore how blind and low-vision people cook in the kitchen so that we can understand their challenges, and design technologies to support cooking activities. In a study session, we will be observing participants cooking, and interviewing them about their cooking experiences. You may qualify if you are: 18+ years old AND blind or low vision for at least one year AND a US resident. (We can only offer research compensation to US residents for now due to tax requirements. Sorry for that!). We will provide a $15 Amazon gift card per hour as compensation. The study will last about 2 hours, so the total compensation will be $30. If you are interested in our study, please fill in the questionnaire in the link to sign up:

https://uwmadison.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_81FUiBOLXrZe8Yu

Game-Changing iPhone Features That Make Life with a Disability Easier

The accessibility mode may just be the greatest ally in maintaining your autonomy:

https://www.greenwichtime.com/business/article/Game-Changing-iPhone-Features-That-Make-Life-With-16340633.php

A Controversial Tool Calls Out Thousands of Hackable Websites

Say Yes To The Dress: Who is Shaela Warkentin? Meet TLC’s blind bride on Instagram

“Say Yes to The Dress” featured the second episode of its brand-new season on Saturday, July 24th 2021. The episode took many viewers by surprise as it featured the blind bride, Shaela Warkentin, whom Randy Fenoli and the other store managers assisted to find a bridal gown:

https://www.realitytitbit.com/celebrity-gossip-and-news/shaela-warkentin-say-yes-to-the-dress

 

New Award-Winning App Helps the Visually Impaired Manage Their Wardrobe

Two Industrial Design students from Carleton University have won an Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) student competition award from Universities Canada for their concept Closet, a label system that enables people with visual disabilities to independently manage their clothes:

New Award-Winning App Helps the Visually Impaired Manage Their Wardrobe

 

H&M Tops List of Accessible Websites, As Most Retailers Fail to Cater for The Visually Impaired

Clothing retailer H&M’s homepage topped the table for accessible websites, registering a perfect score of 100 on Google Lighthouse — the only site to cater for all types of visual impairments:

https://internetretailing.net/customer/customer/hm-tops-list-of-accessible-websites-as-most-retailers-fail-to-cater-for-the-visually-impaired-23469

Deaf-Blind Swimmer Withdraws From Paralympics After Being Denied Access To Personal Care Assistant

Becca Meyers, a six-time medallist, has been forced to withdraw from the competition after officials denied her access to have her Personal Care Assistant with her in Japan:

https://www.sportbible.com/australia/news-deaf-blind-swimmer-becca-meyers-withdraws-from-paralympic-games-20210722

Blind YouTube Star Molly Burke Wants To Help Young Disabled People Navigate Wellness

Molly Burke has been on YouTube for six years, sharing her life as a young blind woman to nearly two million people on a regular basis — including daily routines, unique challenge videos and anecdotes about losing her sight as a result of an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa. With her recent partnership with Schick, however, the 27-year-old aims to do more than to share her life experiences on her platform, but also to use it to make wellness more accessible:

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/blind-youtube-molly-burke-wellness-192223773.html

Introduction to Audio Description from 3Play Media

August 12th 2021 | 11AM PT, 12PM MT, 1PM CT, 2PM ET, 6PM GMT | This webinar will cover the basics of how to add audio description to online video, legal requirements for audio description, video player compatibility, examples and demos, how to create audio description, and benefits of audio description outside of accessibility:

https://go.3playmedia.com/wbnr-08-12-2021-ad

Technology User Group Helps You Prepare for the Changes Coming to Your iDevice and Computer

August 14th 2021 | 7AM PT, 8AM MT, 9AM CT, 10AM ET, 2PM GMT | On Saturday, August 14th 2021 the Technology User Group helps you prepare for the changes coming to your iDevice and computer. This September, iOS 15 will be released. Is your phone eligible for the upgrade? What new features can you expect? Is Siri going to have added skills and abilities? Also, we will look at the expected changes to Jaws and Zoomtext as they move toward a new Beta version debuting in October. You do not have to RSVP for this event. The presentation will last about 90 minutes. We look forward to meeting with you virtually and hope that you will join us for other exciting events we have planned for 2021. This presentation will be virtual and may be joined by calling:

319-527-4994

Editor’s note:

Material for GDUI- News You Can Use, is culled from a variety of sources; Hence inclusion herein does not imply GDUI endorses, supports or verifies its contents. Information, ideas, or expressed opinions are not advice, therefore should not be treated as such. Factual errors are the responsibility of the listed source.

Sincerely,

Sarah Calhoun, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Penny Reeder, Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President

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: 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 editor: Hello fellow GDUISters

Well, it has been busy and this is coming out a bit later than anticipated so I will let the content speak for itself. There is lots to this issue, studies to participate in, tips for taking better pics, a good idea for your next read, and really interesting information about recycling. Stay tuned, another Paws for GDUI News You Can Use is coming very soon full to bursting with all things convention!

Until then, keep your leash loose and our shoulders back!

Sending cyber hugs and wags, Andrea and Mr. A

From the President: Greetings everyone!

I hope this note finds you well! It has been nice getting out and about more with our guide dogs, those working with a new four-legged partner, and just enjoying the ability to visit family and friends!

Thank you to all who voted! We certainly have a wonderful, secure and easy to use system through VoteNow!

With summer just around the corner and outdoor activities being available to everyone this year, I hope you and your guide dog enjoy the sun and fresh air! If you have any fun and interesting encounters, please let us know by sending them to the GDUI chat list!

We are still compiling experiences completing the Department of Transportation forms prior to traveling by air with your guide dog. Whether you have a positive or negative encounter, please let us know! You can send your story to:

president@guidedogusersinc.org

Remember to register for the GDUI convention presentations on the ACB convention registration form. To be eligible to win a door prize during one of GDUI’s convention presentations, you need to pay the registration fee of $15.00.

Thank you for being a valued member, friend and supporter of GDUI! Not only are you supporting this wonderful organization, but the schools and people who afford us the opportunity to travel with these spectacular guide dogs! Wishing you fun, enjoyable and safe travels, four paws at a time!

Fondly,

Sarah Calhoun & Lakota

Announcement: The market research company, Eye Square, is currently conducting a new nation-wide project to help improve map and search apps for visually impaired users.

We are looking for visually impaired map and search app users to talk to us via Zoom and give us their feedback. We are especially interested in finding people who use Android mobile phones. Interviews will last about an hour, and participants will be compensated for their time.

The basic qualifications to participate are that individuals be 18 years or older and that they use a screen reader on their smartphone. Those interested will be required to go through a short screening process by phone to determine if they meet the study’s eligibility criteria

Contact Katie, if you are interested in the project or have any questions.

accessibility@eye-square.com

Announcement: Be My Eyes Introduces New Partners!

We have great news for Verizon customers! You can now connect directly with Verizon through Be My Eyes to get your questions about accessibility features for Verizon products and services answered. As one of the leading telecom providers in the US, we’re thrilled to be partnering with Verizon to help you get the most out of your phone plan and all the accessibility features.

The Verizon service is already available through the Be My Eyes app – just enter the Specialized Help menu in the Be My Eyes app, locate Verizon in the Technical category and give them a call. To start, the Verizon Accessibility Support team is available to answer your Be My Eyes calls Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 5 to 7 PM ET.

But wait, there’s more! To make things even more exciting, we’ve announced our first Careers partner, Jobs for Humanity. With the launch of their new job board, blind.jobs, they already have more than 1,000 positions available around the world, where employers have committed to interviewing the top visually impaired candidates. This is pretty amazing stuff, and they’re holding open office hours on Specialized Help a few hours per week to help people get familiar with the service they provide.

Announcement: Study relating to face coverings and mobility

COVID-19 has introduced many new barriers. This study explores the impact of face masks on echolocation and the ability to draw on other environmental cues during independent travel. We want to hear from you, even if you have not encountered barriers. You will have the opportunity to share strategies that have worked for you, which will contribute to the development of recommendations. We invite you to participate and share widely!

Mobility with Face Masks Study – Need Participants!

Attention to all persons who are blind, deafblind or who have Low Vision! We are seeking individuals 18 years or older to complete a short online survey about your experience with face masks or facial protection and with independent travel during COVID-19. This research has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Montreal. Results from this survey will inform important recommendations to address barriers related to orientation and mobility during COVID-19. Visit https://communications.guidedogs.com/e/896181/835673-lang-en/p69q/137262015?h=MVodVDWyS5PBY_PBrW4WF8e4ijt3lsQ_zHO6R19fglw to learn more or to participate! If you encounter difficulties, you may also call (514) 343-7962 to request assistance by phone.

Announcement: Book by guide dog handler Nominated for an Audio Book Award!

BY: Betsy Folwell with Hartlyn

“Short Carries: Essays from Adirondack Life” was my pandemic project says Betsy Folwell, a GDB graduate working with Hartlyn an eight-year-old black Lab. The book is a collection of articles on nature, outdoor recreation, local history and small-town life that was published as a paperback in 2009. “After visiting some GDB folks in Montreal in January 2020 I realized that my book is just not accessible to my new friends, nor, for that matter, to me as a blind person.”

“Using the Audible Creative Exchange, a platform that connects authors and narrators, I selected a price range for production and posted samples for auditions. I was blown away when 60 MP3 files came in, all women reading the same sample I chose,” Linda Jones, who has narrated scores of books for major publishers had just the right delivery for the book, which runs 8 hours and 18 minutes.

In April Jones notified the author that Short Carries is a finalist for the Independent Audiobook Awards in the nonfiction category. The winner will be announced at the Hear Now Festival in June.

The Independent Audiobook Awards website: https://communications.guidedogs.com/e/896181/2021-05-06/p68x/137262015?h=MVodVDWyS5PBY_PBrW4WF8e4ijt3lsQ_zHO6R19fglw

The HEAR Now Festival website: https://communications.guidedogs.com/e/896181/2021-05-06/p68z/137262015?h=MVodVDWyS5PBY_PBrW4WF8e4ijt3lsQ_zHO6R19fglw

The original Facebook announcement: https://communications.guidedogs.com/e/896181/kAwards-posts-3709836569069370/p692/137262015?h=MVodVDWyS5PBY_PBrW4WF8e4ijt3lsQ_zHO6R19fglw

To purchase the audiobook visit Audible.com or https://communications.guidedogs.com/e/896181/-books-toolbox-ign-itscg-30200/p696/137262015?h=MVodVDWyS5PBY_PBrW4WF8e4ijt3lsQ_zHO6R19fglw 

For a sample of Linda Jones reading from Short Carries visit https://communications.guidedogs.com/e/896181/watch-v-NoFbv6JNqHk/p698/137262015?h=MVodVDWyS5PBY_PBrW4WF8e4ijt3lsQ_zHO6R19fglw 

Article: Capturing Picture Paw-fect Moments

 BY: The GDB Marketing Team

(Excerpted from: Guide Dogs for the Blind ALUMNI NEWS- Volume 29 – Number 2)

Are you itching to capture those perfect, post-pandemic memorable moments with your dog back out at a favorite spot? Here are some pro tips from GDB’s marketing team and photo maven, Morry Angell.

Photograph people and dogs in close proximity; eg: rather than have a person standing next to a dog (where the person is tall, and the dog is short), get the dog and person’s faces in closer proximity – it may mean having the person kneel or the dog get on a bench.

Photograph dogs at their eye level, rather than from above.

If appropriate, get the dog’s attention so that they look alert. Particularly in the case of Labradors, they look best in photographs when their ears are “up” or flagged. If their ears are lying back on their head, they can look sad, nervous or scared – even if that is not the case.

While the gear- leashes, bait bags, leash luggage, etc.-   serves valid purposes, it can clutter up photographs. When it is safe to do so, consider discreetly tucking said items off to the side or behind the dog. Remember- Safety first- Always!

Be aware of the surroundings in your photographs. What is in the background and foreground? Can you move your subject or your camera to get a cleaner background or foreground? Can you remove clutter (garbage cans, odd furnishings, etc.)? Are there people in your background that shouldn’t be?

Be aware that taking your photo in front of an open window or door where the light is behind the subject can create a backlight effect where everyone looks like a shadow and is difficult to see in the image. Instead, try switching the positioning so your subject is facing the window, door or light source.

Most important, be safe and live in the moment with your dog while having fun.

Editor’s note: I included these tips because, unlike many of you, I am a total novice at taking pictures of my guide. Mr. A is tired of me prominently featuring his toes, the tip of his tail, or one nostril in my photos. When I read the above tips recently I found them helpful and thought others might too. Please remember they are simply suggestions and, while originally published by Guide Dogs for the Blind, I have excerpted the original

Article: Sustainability Through an Inclusive Lens

BY: Hillary Scanlon

(Excerpted from: Guide Dogs for the Blind ALUMNI NEWS- Volume 29 – Number 2)

When I suddenly and unexpectedly lost my vision in 2016, I felt that I was thrown into a world that I had never known before. Certainly, this world has always existed, but I did not have the time or desire to notice it until I needed to. This world, the world of inaccessibility and exclusion, is full of hurdles and hoops for people with disabilities to navigate, understand, fight against.

When I first lost my vision, I was extremely frustrated with my inability to complete seemingly simple tasks such as reading a book, texting a friend, putting toothpaste on a toothbrush, and throwing out my waste when I was in public. I never imagined that being able to dispose of waste properly in public spaces was tied to a certain level of privilege and ability. If I went to grab tea on my university campus, I had to think about what I was going to do with the cup, the lid, the tea bag, and the cardboard sleeve that I had now acquired. Should I walk up and down the hallway with my cane to see if I can into anything that feels like a waste container? If I happen to find one, should I try and determine the proper waste stream for each of the cup components? This would require me to touch and feel the containers and try to decipher which waste stream was which. If I went this route, I often ended up touching something sticky, and was then tasked with finding a hand sanitizing station and/or a washroom. If I was determined and had time that day, I would do what I described above. If I didn’t, I had a few options. First, I could just try and find the waste unit and throw out my cup in whichever stream I could find. The second option was to litter. The third option was to put my cup in my bag (which often resulted in a mess), bring it home with me, and dispose of it at home where I am familiar with the locations of the garbage, organics, and recycling. All of these options are not only inconvenient, but they are also unacceptable.

In 2019, I received my first guide dog, Margarita. She is a 60lb Yellow Lab who is the perfect combination of a co-worker, a friend, and a dog. When her harness is on, she has her game face on. When her harness is off, I usually have to convince people that she is indeed a guide dog because she is so silly and goofy. The perfect combination. I would do anything for her, and I know she would do anything for me.

As all guide dog users are aware, one of our responsibilities as a handler is to clean up after our dogs, “do their business.” Picking up waste and keeping spaces clean is part of being a community member and a steward of the environment. Properly disposing of this waste, however, is a barrier. Whether you have a bag of poop, a cup of tea, a tissue, etc., you are asked and expected by society to dispose of this waste properly. Unfortunately, society has not provided all of its members with the tools necessary to do this. That is why I developed STIL Solutions (Sustainability Through an Inclusive Lens).

At STIL Solutions, we aim to bridge the gap between sustainability and accessibility by making waste disposal more accessible to people with vision loss and other disabilities. We do this by providing communities, institutions, business, etc. with a product known as the WasteFinder. The WasteFinder is a two-part system that uses a technology similar to tactile walking surface indicators (i.e., similar to what you may interact with at a crosswalk or at the top of stairs). The first component, the Vicinity Indicator, goes on the ground (like a large mat), surrounding the waste container and alerts individuals who pass over it that they are in the vicinity of a waste container. The Vicinity Indicator is light blue and contains raised outlines of flat triangles. This unique colour and texture make it easy for individuals of all abilities to determine that they are in the vicinity of (or close to) a waste container.

The second component of the WasteFinder is the Stream Indicators. Stream Indicators are also placed on the ground, however, they are located directly in front of the appropriate waste stream, thereby enabling people with vision loss, and those of all abilities, to identify which waste stream they are directly in front of without having to touch the waste container. This is done by seeing or feeling the unique design of each Stream Indicator under your feet, mobility device, etc. STIL currently provides 3 types of Stream Indicators, the Recycling Stream Indicator, the Garbage Stream Indicator, and the Organics Stream Indicator.

The Recycling Stream Indicator

The Recycling Stream Indicator is a royal blue 12” x 12” indicator that is placed on the ground directly in front of the recycling stream. It contains a large, raised outline of a equilateral triangle, a shape that resembles the recycling symbol. If the tip of the triangle is pointed towards you (i.e., away from the waste unit), that indicates that you are directly in front of the plastics and containers waste stream. If the tip of the triangle is pointed away from you (i.e., towards the waste unit), that indicates that you are directly in front of the paper and cardboard waste stream.

What does it feel like?

If you were to stand on the Recycling Stream Container or move your mobility device over it, it may feel somewhat like a Toblerone (a pyramid-like candy bar). In other words, the top surface of the raised outline of the triangle is not flat, but rather, it is triangular.

The Garbage Stream Indicator

The Garbage Stream Indicator is a black or dark grey 12” x 12” indicator that is placed on the ground directly in front of the garbage stream. It contains a large, raised outline of a square.

What does it feel like?

If you were to stand on the Garbage Stream Container or move your mobility device over it, it may feel somewhat like a miniature step. The top of the raised outline of the square is smooth and parallel with the ground.

The Organics Stream Indicator

The Organics Stream Indicator is a forest green 12” x 12” indicator that is placed on the ground directly in front of the organics stream. It contains a large, raised outline of a circle, a shape that is often used to represent the Earth or organic materials. The circle also resembles the letter “O,” which is a great way to remember that “O” is for “organics.”

What does it feel like?

If you were to stand on the Organics Stream Container or move your mobility device over it, it may feel like you are interacting with a solid hose that has been cut in half lengthwise and placed in a circular formation. In other words, the top surface of the raised outline of the circle is not flat, but rather, it is rounded.

Product characteristics

• AODA compliant
• ADA compliant
• Weather resistant – whether you are in California or Ottawa…
• 7 Principles of Universal Design
• The use of shapes, textures, colours, rather than text, makes the product usable/accessible to people whose first language may not be English, to young children who cannot yet read, to individuals with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, to people with developmental disabilities who often rely on shapes and colours to understand and communicate with their environment.

If you are interested in the WasteFinder and would like to implement it in your space, we invite you to visit our website at www.stilsolutions.ca. We are always open to feedback and we welcome your contributions to the development of a more sustainable and accessible world.

Sincerely,

Sarah Calhoun, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Penny Reeder, Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President

Paws for GDUI News You Can Use

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