Category: News and Views
The following is an article in the green bay press gazette
April 25, 2008
Guide-dog center for teens planned at NWTC
By MIKE HOEFT
mhoeft@greenbaypressgazette.com
Organizers announced plans Friday to open a guide-dog
training center at Northeastern Wisconsin Technical
College in what they say would be the first such
facility serving blind teens.
The center would be operated by the Marinette-based
Vision Companions for Teens Foundation, in partnership
with NWTC, Advance Business Assistance Center
and Lions Club.
Colleen Haberl, the foundation president, said the
need for a center became apparent after she and her
husband, Werner, struggled to find a guide dog for
their visually impaired son.
"We started looking when he was 6 and were told to
call back when he was 17," Haberl said. They finally
found a dog for him at age 13 in Quebec, Canada.
The 14 existing U.S. guide-dog schools generally serve
blind adults, though some place dogs with those as
young as 16. The two closest schools in the Midwest
are in Michigan and Ohio.
"We knew we had to do something," she said.
Haberl said the facility would cost $720,000 a year to
operate. She hopes to raise $2.35 million by Jan. 1,
2009 to start the program and place at least
18 guide dogs per year in 2010. Organizers hope to
raise a $13.6 million endowment by 2011. It costs
$35,000 to $40,000 to train and place each guide dog.
The foundation's plans to build a training center in
Peshtigo fell through last year. The Green Bay area
provides a greater opportunity to find institutional,
educational and commercial facilities, organizers
said.
Fred Krumberger of Ashwaubenon, who serves on the
foundation's steering committee, said placing guide
dogs with young people as early as possible gives
them a head start. Guide dogs can give youths more
mobility, independence and confidence.
Krumberger said enabling blind people to be successful
involves three tools: guide dogs, Braille education
and adaptive technology.
About 1.3 million Americans are legally blind, of
which 55,200 are school-aged children and adolescents,
according to the American Federation for the Blind.
About 68 percent of working-age blind adults are
unemployed. However, the 65 percent of blind
working-age adults who have guide dogs work outside
the home
five or more days a week.
i hope the plan doesn't fall through. I think its a good idea to give teens guide dogs rather then have them wait until later in life because then they might not have the time to go through the training which takes a little more then a month to complete.
I disagree. I recieved a guide dog at the age of 17 and strongly feel that I should've waited at least anoter year or so to go through the training. A guide dog is not a pet or solely a companion. Guide dog handlers are supposed to take full responsibility for the needs of their dogs, which teens might find hard to do, especially if they're still living at home and have parents who're more than willing to help them. Are kids as young as thirteen really mature and responsible enough for the privelige of a guide dog? Also, what about this school? Do the people who've founded it and propose to train its students know anything about working with the blind or what specific skills must be instilled in both the dog and its human? Honestly, this whole program doesn't sound promising, and I personally would encourage parents and teens to look at more estableshed guide dog schools, and consider waiting a few more years.
Couldn't agree more, Kerri. This article is being thoroughly debated on one of the Seeing Eye lists at the moment. Just because you can receive a guide dog doesn't mean you should. Guide dogs are not for everyone. They are not fuzzy magical beings who lead you around obstacles with the greatest of ease. Keeping up a guide dog's training takes patience and hard work. I'm so glad I didn't get a guide dog in high school or right before college. For me, it would've ended very badly.
The flip side is that there are exceptions to every rule. Some teenagers are mature enough to handle the responsibility of a guide dog. But I don't think starting up a new hair-brained school is the answer. There are enough less-than-stellar programs in this country already. Why not stick with a tried and true one that produces quality teams over and over again?