Background to Our Journey

Dear Friends,

I see that Renee has shared her story with you. She is a lovable little girl! I want to give some background to my journey to get here.

I have been legally blind as long as I can remember. I was diagnosed with cancer in my brain (optic nerves) when I was one. The cancer caused my vision loss. In basic terms, I have no vision in my right eye and 20/200 vision in my left eye. This means that if someone with 20/20 vision and I were standing 20 feet from an eye chart, that person could read size 20 print while I would only be able to read as small as 200 sized print. In the blindness community, 20/200 is actually pretty good. I can read and write with reading glasses and have some distance vision. The tricky thing is that my vision is tunneled, which means that I only have a small pinpoint of vision. I can't see to the sides or up and down without moving my head.

I have learned to adapt to my disability. I don't know anything different! It can be difficult to describe my vision, because I don't know what it's like to have "normal" sight. I am extremely independent. I travel on my own all the time and have lived on my own for years. I do everything like everyone else...I have my bachelor's degree and will be starting law school in the fall. I walk or take public transportation wherever I want to go. I navigate through airports, bus stations, restaurants, churches, and towns without assistance.

Choosing to get a dog was difficult for me. I was raised in a sighted world and didn't see myself as blind until after high school. I grew in confidence and independence. I also had a dog from a different dog guide school earlier in college. I won't go into details, since this blog is about the success of this new team. In short, the dog I received was not ready to handle the serious nature of attending classes and crossing streets. She is a happy pet now and can play all she wants.

I used to think that dog guides were only for people who needed help getting from place to place. It took meeting incredible smart and talented people in the blindness community to show me that the person has amazing orientation skills for navigating around in the community. The dog isn't the one who decides where to go; that's the person's job. The dog is the one who helps the team get to the destination safely and confidently.

For me, navigating through crowds of people, crossing busy streets, and finding new places can be a challenge. My dog helps me to gracefully walk in all of these situations. I don't have to worry about the obstacles around me. I can trust her to guide us and focus more on enjoying the views or the company of others when I travel.

I chose to come to the Seeing Eye because it has a special program for people with remaining vision. The way I learn to work with my dog is different in many ways from people who have no vision. I will explain this program more in future posts, but I am grateful for the opportunity to learn how to best use my vision in our team.

Thanks for reading about our journey. Here's a look at our next posts:

Renee will talk about how she guides me and how we train together.
I will talk about the history of the Seeing Eye and dog guide schools in America as well as the low vision program at the Seeing Eye.

Sincerely,
Sara