A Dog’s Eye View
In my 35 years of handling guide dogs, they’ve all seen some pretty bizarre things! This is about how dogs react to seeing or hearing something unusual. The first time I noticed such a reaction was when I was training with my first dog. Seeing Eye employs security guards who patrol the school…
What Climbing A Mountain Taught Me About Teamwork
Recently my husband, Jim, my Seeing Eye dog, Quan, and I climbed a mountain. The experience of this particular climb taught me lessons about teamwork I never learned in guide dog school. The beginning of the hike was fairly routine. Quan guided flawlessly and I followed his lead, turning when he turned, stepping…
Intelligent Disobedience
Veterans Affairs uses a social media platform called Pulse. The other day I received a notification from Pulse about a book entitled Intelligent Disobedience. The concept of intelligent disobedience is not new to me as all of my Seeing Eye dogs have been trained to intelligently disobey me in certain circumstances. Interested, I downloaded and…
American Airlines: One Month Later
How I Felt There are many misconceptions about blindness and blind people with which I’ve been successfully coping for over three decades. I’m often told, “We’re going to <fill in the blank> for your own good.” When flying the things with which the blank can be filled in range from “Move you to the bulkhead…
An Open Letter To American Airlines, “Just the Facts Ma’am” Version
An Open Letter to American Airlines: I’ve always enjoyed adventure and new experiences and have, thus, flown many times with my five Seeing Eye dogs. Over more than thirty years I’ve developed a system that works quite well in terms of ensuring both I and my dog are safe, comfortable, and out of the way…
Glad I Didn’t Have to Adjust To Gradual Sight Loss!
Sounds strange, doesn’t it? But it’s true. My blindness was unexpected and I lost all of it at once. And, if I had to do it all over again, I’d opt for becoming blind exactly the same way. All that was over thirty years ago. So why am I bringing it up now? Regardless…
In Memory of Gary Matoon
This news item was broadcast on the Fourth of July, twinty-nine years ago. I was at Seeing Eye, training with my first dog, Sadie. My instructor was Gary Matoon. NBC News story, broadcast on July 4, 1985. From Chapter 19, Her Name is Sadie “Hello Ms. Wiygul, I’m Gary Matoon and I’ll…
Jeri
Today, Jeri retires from a thirty-nine year career with Veterans Affairs. We’ll miss her. I’ve never known anyone who embodies the ideals of customer service so perfectly. I first met Jeri when I worked at the Birmingham VA medical center. Jeri worked at the VA Office of Information field office near the medical center. VA…
