Dog Guide Edikit Reminders

The stuff I'm about to write should be common knowledge to the general public. However, it seems to have been slipping the minds of people here at KSU lately. This has to do with how you should act when you happen to run across a dog guide, or any service dog for that matter. It's simple. Don't call out too, reach out and pet, offer food too, block the path of, whistle at, or distract the dog in any way, shape or form. I know what you are thinking. This is common sense. However, people seem to forget that when they see that adoorable face looking at them. However, for the safety of the dog and handler, it is vital that you remember this. So, just consider this to be a friendly little reminder.

Who's the Teacher

Last week, I had a situation with a professor that reminded me that noone is perfect, and some people aren't as aware as others that being blind doesn't make you unable to function as well as anyone else in the world. I was taking a history test, and I found out that we were allowed to use our notes for it. The prof had never mentioned it in class, but I figured he had forgotten. This was kind of annoying since I didnt bring my notes with me. Why would I have? Anyway, I found out later that noone else had been allowed to use them. At first, I was pretty insulted. It seemed kind of messed up that even after meeting me, someone would feel that I didn't have the intelligense it takes to properly prepare and study for a test that everyone else had to take with no extra advantages. However, after thinking it over, I realized this was an oppurtunity to show him that I am just as capable as my classmates. I don't know for sure if he realizes it yet, but I guess we'll find out when the time for our second exam roles around.

Roommates, How To Survive With Them

Well, I guess it's been a while since I've updated this thing. It's been crazy lately with moving to my new apartment, school starting, and everything else that comes along with that. Anyway, there have been some changes with the arrival of my sophomore year of college. The main and most interesting one is the addition of roommates to my life. Last school year, Mason and I lived in a single dorm in the freshmen building. However, once you are no longer a freshmen, the housing options consist of on campus apartments. The nice thing is I went from a small room with an atached bathroom, lofted bed, and microwave, to a living room, full kitchen, laundry room, and a bedroom with a full bath and full sized bed. I guess you could say I moved up in the world. However, my apartment also contains 3 other bedrooms, which each contain another person. So, I've had to learn sever things.
1. First impressions definitely arent everything. I should know this already, but it really shows when you're actually living with a person.
2. Dogs and unexpected house guests make lives interesting. There have been a few times when I've had to rescue a surprised victim from Mason's exhuberent greetings.
3. Expect the unexpected. This ranges from visiters, roommates needing to be let in the apartment at odd hours becaus their key broke (this is where I learned wearing nothing but a bath towle is an interesting fashion statement.) Or, it could be dishes left in the sink or laundry left in the washer.
4. Roommates can be useful. Ask me about the computer that allmost got killed and it will make a lot of sense. Lol.
There are a lot more useful things to learn, but some would take too long to explain on here, and others I'm still learning about. There are many different situations people with roommates find themselves in, but that pretty much sums it up from my prospective so far.

Harness Confusion

Last weekend, just like many other summer nights, I decided to take Mason to the dog park for some much needed exercise. Usually, I walk him in on leash, with just his training collar. I never worked him in since he was there for fun, and all the distractions would have set him up for failure. Anyway, the problem with the training collar is he pulls untill he chokes himself and allmost rips my arm off. So, last weekend, I decided to put him in one of those harnesses you can find at any petstore. It worked since he couldn't pull me or choke himself, but once we got in the park, it had the wrong affect.
I'd left the harness on him since I figured it would be fine, and there wouldnt be something else for me to hang on too. However, since it fits around him in a similar way, I guess he thought it was his working harness. So, instead of running around like he usually does, he spent most of his time sitting by the bench. I guess this is one of those occasions where I need to be careful about sending mixed messages.

Selective Obediense

Last week, the camp I was working at put together a scavenger hunt for the kids. The catch was instead of finding items, they had to find sounds. The goal was to listen for the sounds on a list they were given, and put them on a tape rechorder. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong.
One of the sounds they had to find was a dog barking. When I heard this one, I figured I'd easily be able to help my group out since Mason loves being vocal every chance he gets. However, when we got outside, I took his harness off, did all the usual things that get him excited, and got no results. We tried it 3 different times, but got nothing. I guessn he enjoys doing the opposite of what he's told. Therefore, since I wanted him to bark for a change, he decided that it wasnt happening. I guess this dog has a mind of his own. Lol.

BELL Camp

For the past 2 weeks, I've been volunteering at a summer camp. I know what you're probably thinking. Big deal, people work at camps all the time. However, what made this camp uneaque was its purpose. In the public school system, if a child is visually impared, and they can manage to get by with print, then they are not taught braille. This is a major problem since some eye conditions are not stable, and straining to read print can be too hard on some people's eyes. So, they should be learning braille. This camp was put together so we could make this possible for them. The camp was named BELL, or Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning. We taught the kids their braille alphebet with a variety of activities and games. Not only did they have fun, but they learned something in the process. I think the most rewarding thing for me was knowing I was helping them to learn things that I was privilaged enough to learn early in life, and they had to wait longer for. Hopefully, if school officials realize how beneficial this is for visually impared students, changes will be made, and camps like this won't be needed. In the meantime, I've enjoyed working there, and am allready looking forward to doing it again next year.

More Fun Gajets

Earlier, I posted some information about some of the gajets I get to play with at my job. Today, I have two more for you, the intell reader and the I-talk. Let's start with the intell reader. The intell reader is a device that has the ability to take a picture of text on a page, and read it back to you. Also, it's possible to store several pages on it, and go back and forth through them. I thought the coolest part was the handy docking station. Sure, it makes it less portable, but it makes it much more simple to scan stuff. I'd say that the best use for this device would be for reading text books, or something you need read to you in a hurry.
The I-talk is a colck that runs off voice commands. The word, "talk" comes in to play not because of the voice control, but because you can rechord voice reminders to use for certain times of the day. I find this handy since it's easy for us to lose track of time, and forget we have something to do or somewhere to be. With the I-talk, you get out of having to constantly keep track of what time it is. All you have to do is rechord your reminder, and chose when you want it to go off. The I-talk will take care of the rest.