Re: A Question About Guide Dogs
I want to add that when I was 16 in small town North Carolina, my teachers/grandmother decided to apply me for two guide dog schools. That was ten years ago. I don't remember having a whole lot of say in the process. I don't remember if I researched the schools or not. I didn't know anything about dogs or walking. I was terrified of cane mobility and didn't like going anywhere on my own. I'd only been totally blind for 5 years at that point, and I really didn't have a handle on my own life at all. We had sidewalks and a van that would take people around town. I theoretically could have done it, but I really wasn't ready.
Looking back now after college and now having a job, I can't believe anybody thought I was ready for a dog. I wasn't independent at all. In hindsight, having gone through the process of getting the dog with no help from anyone, I see how harmful it could have been had I gone off for a dog at that point. I wasn 9;t ready to be a leader. I was still looking to adults to help me instead of helping myself. I wasn't able to advocate for myself, so how could I have taken charge of a dog? I thought about getting a dog midway through college. After looking at schools and researching requirements, I decided that a dog wasn't right for me then. But the key is that I was able to decide that for myself. My last year of college, I knew I was bailing on North Carolina and escaping to Colorado. I felt ready at that point. I researched again, assessed my financial situation, and felt like I could handle a dog.
A lot of this has to come from you. I wrote this post hoping that an experience from another teenager in small town North Carolina would give you some kind of idea what the path *might* be like.
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