by Penny Reeder
As many of you know by now, I spent much of January learning to work with my new Fidelco guide dog, Glory. Just 23 months old, Glory, who is a beautiful little “gray” German shepherd, has spent the last several weeks adjusting to a sometimes chaotic household, often “peopled” by a very patient husband, four children, their various friends coming and going, a decidedly reclusive kitty — and a new human partner who had never even held a dog’s harness before her arrival!
Our first week of training with Fidelco’s very excellent, (fortunately for us) very laid back trainer, David Darr, was so overwhelming, there were times when I wondered if it had been a mistake to choose in-home/in-community training! Although my voice-mail message at the ACB office optimistically indicated that I would be “in and out,” implying that I would stay on top of items like completing the February “Braille Forum,” the fact was that by the end of every day, I was exhausted and motivated only by a need to keep all that I had learned in my head, and a desire for rest and relaxation!
With Sharon’s help and adaptability (we worked via e-mail and phone off and on during periods of time when I was not actively training), over three days, with occasional breaks during which I attempted to quiet a barking puppy, open the door for a terrified yellow cat, or an exuberant crowd of 10-year-olds, or a bemused mailman who has "seen and heard it all,” we managed to get that February Forum out only five days beyond our usual self-imposed publication deadline.
Meanwhile, Glory and I were learning to travel down sidewalks and the more prevalent cul de sacs and bike paths in our suburban neighborhood, how to stop at curbs, execute right, left, and “right around” turns, how to climb over the snow banks that still blocked occasional street corners. On Friday, we took our first subway ride downtown, and made the four-and-a-half block walk to the office. We practiced that trip on Saturday and Sunday, and by Monday, Glory and I were making the trip and even stopping for morning coffee on our own!
We learned the relatively complicated route I take each month to meetings of the Montgomery County, Md., Taxicab Advisory Committee, and on Tuesday evening, Glory and I made the trek solo. Glory sat under the table while Lee Barnes, local taxicab mogul, explained to the assembled committee that he really has no way to make his drivers comply with the law that requires them to transport visually impaired passengers with their guide dogs, and I, in turn, suggested that enforcement via fine or revocation of a license might go a long way toward getting the point across! (I thought that a corroborative growl coming from my canine companion might add an appropriate punctuation mark to my remarks, but being the well-mannered young lady that she is, Glory allowed me to make the point unassisted!)
By the end of our second week together I knew that my decision to choose Fidelco’s in-community training had been exactly the right choice. The training regimen not only allowed us to learn all the routes I routinely travel and practice over and over again on escalators, subway trains and Metro platforms, but it also enabled me to tuck in my 10-year-old every night, keep up with the comings and goings in the lives of my high-school–age children, do an occasional load of laundry, and even make dinner from time to time!
By January 29th, when we took our last subway ride with David, Glory was able to separate from her Fidelco friend with barely a second glance, I felt that I was traveling with the best sighted guide of my life, and we were ready to take on the world! Good thing, because before we had time to catch our collective breath, that’s exactly what we were doing!
The Pooch at the Press Conference
After having attended a meeting during our first week of training, where a representative from Hart InterCivic demonstrated the completely accessible E-Slate voting system to the Montgomery County Board of Elections, who are anxious to avoid our state’s becoming the next example of under, over, or uncounted votes, I was eager to attend the press conference which accompanied the introduction of the McConnell-Torricelli bill, S.218, which seeks to establish an Election Administration Commission to study federal, state, and local voting procedures and election administration and to provide matching federal funds for modernizing election procedures and systems.
On Tuesday, January 30, Glory and Krista Dubroff, legislative assistant in our national ACB office, and I bounded into the Hart Senate Office Building. We zipped through the metal detector, and Glory and I followed Krista and other members of the press to the third-floor conference room, where all seats were taken and there was standing room only.
Standing at the back of the room, I couldn’t figure out how to hold a guide dog’s leash and simultaneously take notes with a Braille ‘n Speak (but I know that I’ll either get the hang of it or come up with an alternate solution before long). Krista left us to go pick up literature from the 14 vendors of voting systems and equipment which were stationed around the periphery of the room. While she was gone, Glory inched me up a few feet at a time until we were standing at the front of all the standees.
Then, I felt her tugging at the leash. “No!” I whispered, snapping the leash back. Still, she kept inching forward, her body wiggling with barely suppressed excitement.
The next sound I heard was the thumping of a big dog’s tail! It was Jim Dickson’s huge black lab, returning Glory’s friendly greeting! Dickson had directed the National Organization on Disability’s Vote 2000 campaign, and was lucky enough to get a seat! When we met him and his big friendly dog a few days later, Glory greeted them both like old chums.
Not one of the senators or representatives who spoke in support of the bill they were co-sponsoring mentioned voting access for people who are visually impaired, and although my raised hand waved steadily in the air, no one called on me to ask a relevant question. So, the press conference was not itself as successful an experience as I might have hoped. Nonetheless, it was a revelation for me: with Glory, I can walk anywhere, quickly and competently; sighted help is indeed helpful, but the difference a guide dog makes in my ability to mobilize is remarkable!
Meetings, meetings, meetings
This puppy is going to be a very well-informed citizen, I believe! (Or, alternatively, she may become the best-rested puppy in the DC metropolitan area!) In just 17 days, we have been to a meeting of the mother/daughter book club that my daughter Molly and I belong to, an IEP periodic review at elementary school, that taxicab advisory meeting, a gathering of the Legislative Working Group which took place at the headquarters of NIB in Alexandria, Va., that E-Slate demo in Rockville, Md., all-day meetings and a reception in Annapolis, where ACB of Maryland unveiled its model pedestrian safety bill, to the mall where we shopped for a birthday present for my soon-to-be eight-year-old niece, out to dinner, and a meeting of George W. Bush and about 200 members of the disability community at the White House! We have ridden in taxicabs, vans, ride-on buses, city buses, Metrorail’s red and blue line trains. I travel more quickly down sidewalks and across streets than I ever imagined possible; it’s amazing how quickly I gained confidence in Glory’s ability to guide me smoothly and efficiently around obstacles and people, up and down curbs and steps, inside and outside and all over the city!
In Annapolis, after sitting still for about three hours straight, I concluded that Glory might need a little break (I certainly did!). I woke her up from her snooze underneath my chair, and she sleepily guided me out of the meeting room, then through the building, outside, down the steps (There was no railing, or at least, I couldn’t find one, so she stopped patiently at every step; she already knows how worried I am about falling down steps.) We sauntered down the block and found a little plot of grass. She took advantage of the respite, and then we sauntered back up the street again — right to the building we had left, up the stairs, through the hallway, back to the meeting room, and (this is the best part of all!) right back to our seat in the front row! We didn’t need anyone to accomplish any part of this little excursion! This ability to go where I want to go, when I want to go there, and then to find my way back again is a whole new dimension of freedom and independence!
Meeting and Greeting at the White House!
On Thursday, February 1, President George W. Bush announced his “Freedom Initiative,” which, he says, is the centerpiece of his administration’s disability policy, a set of initiatives which are designed to give people with disabilities essential tools to participate fully in their communities. During a White House reception which preceded Bush’s policy announcement, I got to shake the hand of Justin Dart, whom I had long wanted to meet and thank for all he has done for people with disabilities. In addition, I shook hands with President Bush, talked with his wife, Laura, about White House dogs, and met other representatives of the disabled community and supporters of the administration. Glory was happy because Charlie Crawford and executive doggie Ruthie were also traveling with us (Krista too!), and because she got a glimpse of the Bush’s springer spaniel darting from the residence to the White House lawn.
I haven’t had a chance to investigate the particulars of the Bush administration’s proposed package, but I don’t need to investigate the advantages of traveling with a guide dog through crowded situations or important federal buildings: this degree of independence is something that continues to astonish me nearly every minute of every day!
Today, Glory is snoozing under my desk as I write this account and attempt to deal with 778 accumulated e-mail messages. Next week, we’ll go to another press conference about another bill which proposes to reform the system by which we Americans choose our elected representatives and executives. The legislative seminar is coming up in Arlington, Va., with a side trip to the Kennedy Center for a performance of “Shear Madness.” Then, there are meetings for Chapter Two service providers for older people who are visually impaired, more discussions of the Solutions Forum which seeks to make textbooks available to visually impaired children in accessible formats, the Josephine L. Taylor Leadership Institute seminars and receptions — and then on to Des Moines for the five-star ACB national convention!
Glory, get your beauty sleep. Your adventures have only begun!