Thoughts on Screen Readers

Assalamu alaikum, I got into a recent discussion (see recent comments above) regarding Freedom Scientific (henceforth referred to as FS) and System Access/Serotek (henceforth referred to as SA). I have a policy that I don’t fight the screen reader wars. I’m not going to hate on someone who uses GW Micro, or Serotek products, or whatever. I’ll be up front and say that I’m primarily a Jaws user and have been since 1998 when I first started to learn to use Windows. And I was a Jaws user because that is what my university had, although up to that time I’d been a Vocal-Eyes user, before of course moving to Windows. And it’s not that I don’t like Window-Eyes (I can’t quite seem to master it for some reason, though), nor System Access (which I actually do have on my machine and have learned to master it pretty much), it’s just that I’ve just always stuck with Jaws.

Why you might ask? Because in my opinion, it is a good screen reader and it does what I need it to do pretty much when I need it to do it with usually little phenagling on my part, which is what I want. I’m not going to trash Jaws as a screen reader just because I don’t always like the practices of the company that owns it. And perhaps the techies know more about the gutts of Jaws and they are better equipped to fuss at something they find wrong or some bug that Jaws has that FS supposedly has refused to fix, or whatever. However for me, the pretty much average computer user, Jaws works for me.

I’m currently using Jaws for Windows 10 with a Focus 40 Braille display, and for me, Braille support is a must for any product that I’m going to purchase/use on a regular basis. And if there was any screen reader that I was ever going to switch to (without going all out and purchasing a Mac and switching to Voiceover), it probably would be System Access.
However, there are a few things that keep me from switching. First, it won’t support my current Braille display, unless and until I guess Jaws puts out generic Windows drivers for it. And I don’t have the thousands of dollars it would take to purchase a Braille display. Perhaps, in order to facilitate the switch to System Access for Braille users who currently have non-supported Braille displays, System access could work with the companies that manufacture the Braille displays that they do support and perhaps we could have some kind of a payment plan that would allow us to more easily afford to purchase the Braille display that would work with System Access.

Secondly, I have a quirky machine that for some reason locks up if I have SA start up at the windows login screen. It will start talking just fine, but when I go to log in, the whole machine locks up, which pretty much locks me out of Windows altogether and thus my system. It’s a good thing that from the log in screen, I was able to readjust my settings to not have System access start up at the log in screen, or else I’d have been in pretty serious trouble, pretty much turning my machine into a huge brick.

Another reason why I’ve not completely switched over to System access is that I’m not sure that SA has the equivalent of the Jaws cursor, which pretty much gives you an unrestricted view of the screen, where you can move around and pretty much click on what you want. The closest thing I’ve seen to this is the “Virtual Mouse”, however, it only gives you access to the icons on the screen, and you’re restricted to where you can move around.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. If my Windows firewall blocks a program, a little box, which isn’t really a standard dialogue box, will pop up and notify me that my firewall has blocked a program. Now, if your screen reader isn’t at just the right place at the right time, it’ll miss this. However, you’ll know that a dialog is there because it’s covering up other items on the desktop. Now, with my Jaws cursor, I can move around the screen, on my desktop, find the box, left mouse click on it, which then will bring it into focus where I can tab through it and click on the option I want. Now, I’m not sure if System Access, or any other screen reader for that matter, has this option. Perhaps they do and I’m just not aware of it or don’t know how to use it.

But the use of the Jaws cursor is something that I have to have, especially at work where I use a system which connects via a tn3270 terminal (I think) and Jaws won’t automatically read, or at least not well anyway, what’s in that window, and I’ve tried using SA for that and it’s worse than Jaws. The only way to make that program accessible to me is by using the Jaws cursor to read the data on the screen and the PC cursor to enter the data.

Now of course, if there was a way that I could switch to a screen reader, that does what Jaws does, accesses the programs I need to do my job, or just to simply get done what I want done, and if it’s cheaper, of course I’d switch, who wouldn’t? Most of us who use Jaws are either doing so out of necessity or perhaps because we are happy with the program and it does for us what we need. I just don’t like the hateful rhetoric. If you don’t like Jaws or FS’s policies, and if you can find another comparable screen reader, go for it. I sure would, and am even considering purchasing a Mac the next time I’m in the market for a new computer. And if there was a way that I could get SA to work with my machine without it locking it up, and if I could either afford a new Braille display that would work with SA, or if SA started working with my existing display, you can but I’d make the switch. Especially as there’s no cost for any future upgrades. I’d even consider switching from Jaws to SA at work, if I knew that all of the programs I needed would work with SA, and again, if I could get Braille support.

And currently, as I’ve mentioned before, I have SA on my computer and I do use it on occasion. I also have a System Access Mobile Network account and I use that on a fairly regular basis also. I also purchased a Small-Talk Ultra from GW Micro a few years back, so I can’t really fight the screen reader wars even if I wanted to because I’ve bought products from all three of the better known screen reader companies, the fourth being Dolphin which I’ve not bought anything from them. I’ve even played around with NVDA, and if I could just learn to master that one, perhaps I’d even switch to using them. I’m not sticking with Jaws just because, as I’ve said earlier, I do have my reasons.

I’m not even sure why I’m even writing a post like this. I’m not sure why some of is in the blindness community want to make a huge issue out of things like this. It’s like if you use FS products you’re somehow “down with the man” or “supporting the blindist pig” or something. It’s really quite ridiculous. And it’s the same with dog guide schools. We like to fight these useless “my school is better than your school” or “my screen reader is better than yours” when really, there’s no need for it. There’s a reason why there are so many dog guide schools and somany screen reader manufacturers, and that’s because there’s a need in the market for them. If there wasn’t, the companies/schools wouldn’t be able to stay open/in business.

Copperas Cove Leader-Press – Dog Fight

Assalamu alaikum,

On Thursday, May 7, after picking up Rusty from the dog groomers, Ballou and Rusty along with her daughter and two grandchildren went to Taco Bell. The family placed their order, picked up their food and was about to eat when Cynthia, a night manager, approached their table and asked, “Is that a Seeing Eye,” Ballou recalled.
“No, he’s a guide dog, a Leader Dog,” Ballou said to correct the manager.
Ballou said not all guide dogs are Seeing Eye’s. It depends on what school they go to and her dog went to the Leader Dog school.
“It’s like calling an A&M student a Longhorn,” she said. “I was trying to educate her that there are more kinds of guide dogs, not just Seeing Eye. But she had no part of it.”
The manager told Ballou the health department would shut them down if they saw the dog in the restaurant and then asked for identification for the dog as a guide dog.
Ballou showed her the special harness Rusty wears identifying him as a Leader Dog and stood her ground as she began to feel harassed.
The manager said she was going to call the cops and Ballou said, “Go ahead, save me the call.”
Six Copperas Cove police officers in three patrol cars arrived on the scene.
When the police arrived, Ballou said they did not identify themselves and the first officer, whose name she was never given, told her “Lady, you and the dog have to get out.”
She told the officer Rusty is a service dog and Texas law allows him to be with her. She showed him a law book she carries with her with all the state and federal laws for the blind across the country, but said the officer would not look at it.
She told the officer she just moved to Copperas Cove and said she can’t believe they don’t know what the law is. She said the officer told her “Welcome to Copperas Cove, if you don’t like our laws, leave.”
She said the same officer told her, “You don’t look blind” because she was looking at him while he spoke to her. She said it is common courtesy in the visual world to look at someone when they speak to you and you don’t have to be sighted to do so.
A second officer on scene Cpl. Shane Kieltyka did read her law book, she said, because she believes he understood she was trying to diffuse the situation.

Copperas Cove Leader-Press – Dog Fight

The thing is, while I sometimes feel the need to “educate” when people call my dog a “guide dog” or “seeing eye dog”, sometimes it’s just not the right moment to “educate”, because you know what the person is asking. By saying “no my dog is a Leader Dog”, that just started the conversation off on the wrong foot to begin with. Not that any of this behavior by the manager or police, is excusable in the least but… Another thing I wondered was why she only showed them the harness, why not the ID cad? This came up on the ACB-l list, to which someone asserted that “Leader Dog doesn’t issue ID cards”, which is not true, I am using my second dog and they have issued ID cards for both of my dogs and I carry mine with me along with my work ID and state of Florida ID cards.

I tend to get a bit sensitive when people who’ve not gone to a particular dog guide school make assertions about said school such as “such-and-such school doesn’t do traffic checks”, etc., and then you talk to someone who’s actually gotten a dog from that school and find that what you heard about said school was not correct.

And Leader tends to get a lot of negative comments from other blind people, such as “they produce bad dogs” or “they give dogs to people they shouldn’t”, etc. or “I heard that” (insert whatever “bad” thing you want here), usually along the lines of not training the dogs properly, giving out unsuitable dogs, etc.

The thing is, there is a reason why there are 8, at last I checked, schools to train dogs to assist the blind in this country. And while the training methods are quite similar, each school does things slightly differently and thus some schools will appeal to some but not to others. If some schools were truly as “bad” as some make them out to be, then I’d think they’d not have students coming to them, some multiple times, to get dogs, their donations and other funding would probably dry up, and they’d not be successful. The thing is, just as I don’t engage in the “screen reader wars” that some people like to engage in, I don’t engage in the “dog guide wars” either. There is a reason why we have many different screen readers in the market, just as there’s a reason why we have many different schools from which to choose if we’re interested in getting a dog.

Anyway, to get back to the original subject of this article, my first reaction was to think “well that’s Texas what do you expect?”, and I know this is not a good thing to think or say. And I really hope this woman gets some kinda justice even if she picked the wrong time to “educate”, the truth is, she was refused service under the wrong assumption that a “leader dog” wasn’t a true service dog but a “seeing eye” dog was. And some of the cops’ comments were just really uncalled-for. I’d have been upset, to say the least, if it’d have been me. And I’ve been refused service many times by restaurants and just didn’t see it worth pursuing. I just made it a point never to eat there again and to tell others not to either.

One incident that sticks in my mind particular, was the very patronizing guy at a Giordano’s Pizza, I think it was on Randolph Street in Chicago, and I’d just moved up to East Chicago, Indiana. I’d gone intoChicago for a job interview, and had finished and wanted to grab some lunch before catching the train and heading home. My roommate had come with me and we were trying to decide whether or not we wanted McDonald’s or something lese, and we saw a Giordanos pizza, and we decided to eat there, but as we started into the restaurant, a man stopped us at the door, and politely told me that though I had a really nice dog, that he couldn’t let us in the store. I was too shocked to say anything, and angry too. And hungry… So I just said OK, he wasn’t worth my business anyway, or anyone else’s I knew, and turned around and walked out.

I probably should have filed some kinda complaint, but I was cold and tired and hungry and it just wasn’t worth it. Besides, I’d been refused service at the small restaurant that was at the Gary bus station, and though my complaint was taken down, I’m not sure whatever came of that. And what would you get as compensation anyway, a free pizza? I just decided that little things like that aren’t worth fighting for.

The thing is, discrimination against dog guide users is a very real thing, and it’s not just us “bad Muslims” doing it either. I’m almost sure that at some point, probably when I least expect it, Chloe and I’ll be discriminated against. And it won’t be by some Muslim cabbie who considers us to be unclean. It’ll probably be by someone, much like these people in Texas, who have decided that, for whatever reason, my dog isn’t allowed to accompany me to wherever it is I’m trying to go.

Leader Dogs trains puppies for special service – Quad Cities Online

Leader Dogs trains puppies for special service – Quad Cities Online

Just starting out on his journey to being a Leader Dog is Julie Hogenson’s 13-week-old golden retriever Belle. They got paired up six weeks ago, but Ms. Hogenson said a good breed stock family will start training the dog for service from Day 1.

Julie was Chloe’s puppy raiser, and Chloe was her first puppy…

My Little Pony #is Islam-Approved#

My Little Pony (is Islam-Approved) « Muslimah Media Watch

Assalamu alaikum, a couple of dear sisters forwarded this to me this morning, and I wanted to blog about it before it became old news/stale. Although I’d considered waiting until I finished doing my taxes, but then I’d probably be too tired to say anything. However, as I knew that I really wanted to blog about this, I thought I might as well go ahead. So in between bites of my dinner, here goes…

Firstly, Sis Aaminah brought up a good point that I’d not considered as I hastily read the post before starting work this morning, which was in relation to the following:

“…this belief is not supported anywhere in the Qur’an, which only mentions dogs favorably. This means the idea of dogs as unclean doesn’t technically have a basis in Islamic law.”

To which Aaminah said:

Um, yeah… good article except for this. Writer has no business speaking to what is and is not Islamic law, esp if she doesn’t even seem to know that hadiths comprise a significant portion of how the law is defined and explained.

Good points. And I also wanted to make a few points regarding Muslims and dog guides, from my own very limited experience and knowledge. Firstly, even in the Maliki madhhab, where dogs and their saliva are considered to be pure, you still find an aversion to dogs in the house and I also believe that you still can’t keep a dog as a pet, you’d still have to have a specific need for them, even if they are considered to be clean.

It has also been told to me that even if I came across a masjid following the Maliki madhhab, for example, I’d still not be able to take my dog there, I’d still have to leave the dog at home. And, that choosing to use a dog could possibly reduce my marriage prospects.

However, there are Muslims out there, even if only a handful, maybe, that use dog guides, and Mona’s reasons for deciding to use a horse instead of a dog may not necessarily apply to all Muslims, and her reasons may not necessarily be because of religion either.

I was also curious as to why the journalist went to a CAIR spokesman to get the “low-down”, so to speak, on Muslims’ aversion to dogs? Could they have sought out a scholar? Or did they get “scholar” or “person of knowledge” confused with “civil rights organization/activist. Or, did they just think that all Muslims are just monolithic and that any Muslim would be able to answer for another Muslim’s reasons/decisions. After mentioning this point, it has been brought to my attention (as noted in the comments), that the spokesman in question is indeed an imam, and thus could be called upon by both Muslims and non-Muslims to address a question such as this. However, the reference to CAIR was a bit jarring, given that we weren’t so much dealing with a civil rights issue, in this case, but dealing with the choices an individual made to use a horse instead of a dog to guide them. Whatever the reason CAIR was even mentioned at all, that is not really my main contention, and given what I understand now, regardless of whether or not CAIR had been mentioned in reference to him or not, he is a more than adequate spokesman to address this topic.

Perhaps if the author of the article highlighted in Muslimah Media Watch would have done their research/homework, perhaps they’d have found out that while Mona decided to get a guide horse because of her family’s aversion to dogs (which could have caused a real problem as she was living with them), their aversion may not have necessarily been because of Islam. I know plenty of non-Muslims who don’t like dogs, don’t want them in the house, etc., not to mention the many blind people who decide that a dog is not for them and would rather use a cane instead, and their religion has nothing to do with it.

And I’ve never come across a scholar, and I’ve asked plenty about it, that has told me that I couldn’t have a dog guide. Before I knew about the Maliki madhhab, I was given recommendations about keeping clothes/place clean etc., if the dog’s saliva came into contact with me, my clothes, or my prayer area. However, I found this to be a bit of a hardship for me, as I was constantly worried about my dog’s wet nose touching me, or wondering if any saliva got on to my clothes from my dog sniffing me, etc.

And this is primarily why I began following the Maliki madhhab, because as the dog’s saliva was considered clean, I didn’t have to worry about this. And I have to be honest and say that I wish more Muslims knew about this opinion, and for those that are aware of it, that they would give the opinion the same status as other issues where differences of opinion may exist. For example, in my experience, when I’ve brought up to people the “dog issue” and the Maliki madhhab’s differing view on it, than that of other legal schools, I’ve gotten a dismissive “oh but that’s a weak opinion”, or the “where’s your dalil/proof” answer, or the “if Imam Malik says that something in his madhhab contradicts the Sunnah, that we should take the Sunnah and discard the madhhab”, or something to that affect. This usually comes after I either stumble and stammer and otherwise can’t quote chapter and verse of any ahadith/proof backing up my assertion, or whatever I do say doesn’t satisfy the questioner.

And when I decided to convert to Islam, when I had my first dog, and when I decided to get my second dog after my first dog retired, I knew that these sorts of things would happen. I knew that I’d probably be passed over by some brothers because of the dog (like blindness didn’t cause me to get passed over anyway), I knew that I’d have to once again prove my worthiness as a Muslim, and I know that many people would disagree with my choice to get a second dog. However, I decided that I had to do what was best for myself, and not listen to others or let other people influence me, especially since I knew that what I was doing was permissible.

As far as brothers passing me over for marriage, by the time I got my dog, that didn’t matter anyway, because I’d already gotten remarried. However, had I still been single, having a dog was just something I was going to do, and if having the dog was going to be a make or break thing, that would have caused marriage discussions to end, then I’d just have considered it the brother’s loss and kept on moving.

I was passed the point of settling… And my thinking was that if the prospective spouse couldn’t deal with me having a dog, there were probably going to be other things about me he couldn’t deal with either.

Anyway… I’m really digressing here but… it might have taken a little work, however, this article could have been a bit more nuanced than it was. For example, why could they not have tried to find other blind Muslims on the net who use dog guides? Or, non-Muslims who’ve chosen to use guide horses?

Guide Dogs Inspire Paula Abdul to Join Campaign

Assalamu alaikum, while this can’t obviously be a bad thing, and while my first reaction was “wow, that’s pretty cool”. My next reaction was kinda like “meh”. I have a strange, I’m not sure how to explain it, I guess you could say I get kinda prickly when celebreties decide to champion a cause. Perhaps I’m just being a party pooper, maybe it’s the latent bitterness at the “sighted world” rearing its ugly head, I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure it out myself as I am writing this.

I mean, are we educating people on the training and the use of dog guides, or is it just a “wow that’s really cool” kinda thing. Because unfortunately many people out there could use some educating. And if Paula Abdul somehow uses Amiercan Idol to do it, I think it could be a good thing. But if it’s somehow parading a foster puppy raiser in front of the TV or, worse for me anyway, parading a blind person and their dog in a “oh look how cool that is” kinda way, that’d be what I’d have a problem with. I guess my question would be, are we going to educate people or just make a spectacle out of them, and further infuse stereotypes of what the blind, and in this case, their guides can do?

Also, I’m wondering how much having a blind contestant on the show affected this decision? Again, not that that’s a bad thing, I’m just musing. And on that note, I’m off to get ready for work for the day. Just thought I’dpost this before running along.

Muslim Dog Guide Users List

Assalamu alaikum and greetings, all. I received an email from Lukas Franck of the Seeing Eye, letting me know of a list he’d started for Muslim dog guide users. In my excitement, I’d asked him if I could make the list publicly available, and sending off the message before re-reading his original message to me that I could make the list subscription link available to anyone who wanted it. So, for anyone who’s interested in joining this list, you can do so by sending an email to

MGDH-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Inshallah, I’ll hear back from him, because I think an idea for such a list is a wonderful one! And I’d like to know how or why he thought to start a list such as this one?

But Alhamdulillah, and I look forward to joining in and participating on the list.

Abby Has Passed Away

Assalamu alaikum, I just wanted to let everyone know that my mom called me this evening and informed me that my first Leader Dog Abby has passed away. She died this morning, some time between 8:15 and 8:30 AM. As far as we can tell, she went peacefully. My mom was sitting in the room beside her, and didn’t realize that she’d died until Mom got up to put another warm blanket on her.

Abby had not been well for a long time, and had gotten much worse the past few days, she’d not eaten since last Friday, and my mom had to cut a top out of a water bottle for Abby to drink out of. Abby was also not able to go outside and use the bathroom on her own, or get up and walk around by herself.

My family and I are saddened that she has passed, but relieved that she is no longer suffering. If Allah grants me Jannah, will I see Abby there? Will I get to see her running and playing, and being the dog that she once was? This is something that I’m not sure of, and I’ll need to ask about. She was truly a wonderful dog, and it’s strange that she’s finally gone, but I’m just glad that she’s not suffering anymore.

PETA’s Vice President: We don’t want to take your dog away (unless you’re blind and use a dog guide, in that case it’s abuse)

Assalamu alaikum,

Quoted from the article at the link below (or wherever you guys that can see actually see it).

There will never be a perfect world, but in the world we’re in now, we support some working dog situations and decry others. Hearing dog programs that pull dogs from animal shelters and ensure that they are in safe and loving homes have our stamp of approval; they live with the family for their entire life, they learn interesting things, enjoy life, and love helping. On the other hand, we oppose most seeing-eye-dog programs because the dogs are bred as if there are no equally intelligent dogs literally dying for homes in shelters, they are kept in harnesses almost 24/7, people are prohibited from petting or playing with them and they cannot romp and run and interact with other dogs; and their lives are repeatedly disrupted (they are trained for months in one home and bond, then sent to a second, and after years of bonding with the person they have “served,” they are whisked away again because they are old and no longer “useful”).

There are a lot of points here that I need to address, just in this first passage alone. Firstly, I don’t know why hearing ear dogs are taken from shelters (though I didn’t think they were exclusively taken from shelters, but I guess it depends on the particular program), but the reason, to my understanding, that most dog guide programs do not use rescue dogs (though some are used), is to insure that they know the dog’s medical history, temperament, etc., and it does not mean that dog guide schools don’t care about placing dog guides in so-called “loving homes”. The assumption is being made here that while the hearing-ear program is “compassionate to dogs” the programs for training and handling dog guides are somehow cruel to animals.

Secondly, while the dog has to bond with many people before being placed with a handler, this is something that is thoroughly addressed while you are in training with the dog, and there are no lasting affects to the dog as a result of having to bond with more than one person! And the implication is being made here that dogs in shelters and/or hearing ear dogs don’t have to go through having to bond with many different people, before they themselves are placed in a “loving home”, which I’m not sure anyone could say is necessarily true, given the fact that many people are probably interacting with the dog in the shelter environment before they are actually placed.

As far as the dog being made to be in a harness 24/7, the amount of time the dog spends in harness is dependent upon the time that their handler needs them to work. And it’s not normally “24/7″. And as far as not being able to romp and play, I don’t think any service dog, be they dog guides, hearing ear dogs, or any kind of service animal would be given free license to romp and play and to interact with other dogs at will. In fact, service dogs, no matter what kind they are, need to be on their best behavior in many situations and can’t just go off and play whenever they want as that could put both themselves and their handler in danger. Conversely, even dog guides get a chance to romp and play and interact with other dogs, every once in a while, at least, as long as such romping and playing and interacting with other dogs is not compromising their work and/or the safety of their handler. Also, to my knowledge, when the dog is retired, the handler can choose to keep them at home with them, or find another suitable home for the dog if keeping them at home is not an option. They’re not just “whisked away” to “bond with another person”. And even if they were, the insinuation is somehow being made that we humans are just heartless brutes who aren’t taking the feelings of our dogs/other animals into account when we have to do things like “whisk our dogs away to another home” when we presumably, according to this woman, have no further use for them anymore. And as someone who’s had to go through the pain and stress of retiring a dog (and possibly losing them soon due to illness), I really take offense to this woman’s comments and presumptions about dog guide handlers.

Speaking for myself, retiring my first dog (I gave her to my parents, as taking her with me when moving to Florida would have been harder on her healthwise than leaving her with them) was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Retiring her was painful for me as she’d been a faithful and trusted companion to me for ten years!

We have a member who is blind who actually moved states to avoid “returning” her beloved dog.

I really can’t speak on this, just sounds like anecdotal evidence that is being used to back up this woman’s argument, as the member, nor the school in question, are mentioned.

We feel that the human community should do more to support blind people, and give dogs a break.

And how does she suggest this happen? Have a sighted guide at your beck and call 24/7?

A deaf person can see if a dog has a medical issue such as blood in her urine, a blind person living alone cannot, and so on.

Ah haw! I think I see where Daphna Nachminovitch is going with this! Basically, that dog guides (unlike hearing ear dogs) are overworked, stressed, are being ripped from people they’ve bonded with, and oh, by the way, blind people just aren’t capable of taking care of their dogs anyway, so they just shouldn’t have them. Because ya know, a blind person wouldn’t be capable of knowing if their dog had a medical issue or not! In short, blind people shouldn’t have dogs because the use of dog guides (unlike the use of hearing ear dogs) is cruel to animals, and not only this, blind people, because they are blind, are not capable of taking care of their dogs!

So even if dog guide schools adapted the same model of acquiring dogs and training them as hearing-ear dogs are, according to her, acquired and trained, Ms. Nachminovitch would still, it seems, not be in favor of the blind using dog guides ostensibly because we’d not be able to “know whether or not the dog was having a medical issue”!

So not only is she ignorant of how the procurement, training, handling, and eventual retiring of a dog guide actually works, she also displays woeful ignorance of the capabilities of blind and visually impaired people as a whole!

Because she is applying a double standard by allowing the use of hearing-ear dogs, but being against the use of dog guides, as both work, both have to have good behavior, and both have to maintain conduct becoming of a service animal out in public. So is this really about cruelty to animals, or is it just about a continued perpetuation of negative stereotypes associated with the blind and their capabilities.

And btw, there are many other ways to tell if a dog is having a medical issue other than sight, namely, the smell of the urine, a sudden change in the dog’s bathroom habits, a change in the dog’s behavior, just to name but a few examples. However, if worse really came to worse, generally speaking, a blind person usually would have a sighted person, such as a friend or family member, to ask if they suspected a problem!

And at this point, I have nothing else to say, as I’m all “writed” out… Ms. Daphna Nachminovitch’s ignorance and assumptions about the use of dog guides, as well as how the blind function in everyday life are just, well, astounding!

And that’s all I have to say. Writing this has really exhausted me for some reason, and people’s ignorance really angers me!

PETA’s Vice President: We don’t want to take your dog away | L.A. Unleashed | Los Angeles Times

Abby’s Last Stand?

Assalamu alaikum, I received a call from my mom while I was on the way home from work. When my phone started ringing, and I saw it was my mom calling, my first thought was that something had happened to Abby, or that she wanted to talk about the election. It turned out to be a little of both.

At first, we talked about the lection, and that no matter who you supported, it was a historic night, and she stated that she prayed that the next President would do good for this country. I then mentioned to her that I thought she’d called because something had happened to Abby. She then said, “well, Abby’s not doing so well, she’s taken a real turn for the worse”. My mother then mentioned to me that she had to actually carry Abby outside to use the bathroom. How she was about to carry a 60 or so pound Labrador Retriever out to use the bathroom was beyond me. I asked her how she did it, and she said she didn’t know. She then mentioned that she had to hold Abby up so she could use the bathroom.

I then said that I’d hoped that Abby could hold on long enough for me to see her once I go home on Thanksgiving, and Mom said that she’d thought of that and that this was the only reason her and my dad had not euthanised her sooner, as they’d almost called the vet to have it done on Monday. However, Abby’s still eating and drinking, sorta.

I knew this would happen, I knew this time would come, but now that it has, or seems to be getting more eminent, it’s just, well, hard. And I know some of you might be saying “this is just a dog” or “all this over a dog”, however, Abby was, and is “not just a dog” to me. This was the dog that I traveled to West Africa with, who saved my life when my house caught fire. Who was so loyal and faithful and who was just such a wonderful companion.

Yes, I have Chloe, and this will soften the blow a bit. However, it’s still hard to think that I may not see Abby again. And when I do see her, she won’t be the same Abby I know and remember. She won’t be able to get up and run or walk over to me, wagging her tail, she won’t be stealing Chloe’s and the other dogs’ toys. She’ll probably be too uncomfortable to do that. And I’m sure it will shock me to see how far she’s deteriorated, just as it did when I saw her last year. When she could barely walk even then.

We’re all hoping that she will die naturally and no one has to make the agonizing decision to put her down. However, if she keeps going downhill, my parents may be forced to make that difficult choice, though I wish it could wait until I could see her one last time, to say goodbye. To tell her that it’s OK, we all love her and she can go now. I just want to give her a hug and say goodbye.
To Allah we belong and to Him is our Return, even for dogs.

BTW, Abby is my retired, and first, Leader Dog, Chloe is my current Leader Dog, and I love her! She’s got a wonderful personality and she loves everyone, almost to a fault I think. Just wanted to mention that in case anyone was wondering who “Abby” was.

Blind People Aren’t Supposed to Get Lost

Assalamu alaikum, well, I had an experience today (and I just got home so I’m still kinda processing it, complete from cooling off from the, what turned out to be, hot and humid morning), that left me quite embarrassed/irritated/frustrated.

I walked my step-daughter to the masjid for Islamic school, I took Chloe with me because I thought I could find my way back. I mean, I was told that the masjid was “just past the park, right there on the street, just keep going straight and you’ll run right into it”.

I’m telling you, sometimes sighted people can give the worst directions. It turned out to be one small turn, the what seemed to be another little turn, and then a short walk through the grass, and through the gate leading toward the masjid building (which is actually a converted house). So after the park, which I knew about, you had to cross a street (a pretty significant detail which was left out), then continue down the street you were walking along in the first place, then make the two small turns, and then end up walking through the grass, to the gate at the masjid.

So anyway, my step-daughter said bye to me, and walked in the door, someone said hi to her, and I started back down the grass, and a car was pulling up, I think a little boy was getting out (and if they were Muslims, they didn’t give me salams, perhaps seeing me with the dog threw them off). And I walked won what I thought was the right street I was on before. Only … it wasn’t.

Not only did I end up on the wrong street, I ended up, I think, the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. So much so that the streets where I ended up actually had sidewalks, and here I was telling Chloe to walk on the shoulder of the road. I started to realize that something was wrong when I started hearing cars going around me. Then, a lady pulled up and said “Do you know you’re in the middle of the road?” She then proceeded to explain to me that there was a sidewalk and that I needed to go to my left to get on it. Then she said “where are you going?” I then asked her where I was, because if I knew where I was, I’d probably be able to find my way home.

She told me to go back the way I’d come, because I was coming to a busy intersection, which I already knew because I could hear the cars in front of me, and go back through the neighborhoods. And that was what I did, however, the lady followed me in her car down the street, was stopping to talk to someone, I told her I wanted to go to Avenue Y (my street), and I heard a lady say, “Why does she want to go to Avenue Y”? Uh, because I live there. I said outloud. Because I was pretty angry at this point. Not so much because I was being followed, not so much because the whole block was seemingly watching me, but mainly because by this point, the lady in the car has contacted the Winter Haven Police Department. At this point, I was angry and upset. I explained to her that I was not stupid, not crazy, not incapable of traveling by myself, I’d been doing it since I was a teenager. It’s just that I wasn’t given good directions, and if someone would have just told me where I was, that I could probably find my way back home. And she said “I know, I know”, in that patronizing tone that sighted people like to use when they want you to think they believe you, but in actuality, they don’t.

So the policeman came, he got out and talked to me, and after I explained to him how I’d gotten lost, where I was going, what I was doing, he offered to take me home because “people don’t know you around here, and if I don’t, they’ll keep calling us anyway”. So I reluctantly took him up on his offer.

I don’t know whether to laugh about the situation, or burst into tears. I’m kind of vascillating between the two extremes. I’m going from laughing at the situation, to feeling angry, embarrassed, feeling like I’ve lost my dignity, that no matter if I have a house, a job, my own money, that at the end of the day, I’m just a helpless blind person. And you know, I live in a predominantly minority neighborhood, one of probably a few white people, so that probably played into it, as well as being in hijab. I’m sure some people thought I was a mental case, walking around in circles, even accidentally ending up in the road because I didn’t know there was a sidewalk, wearing “those hot clothes”. Which makes me even the more angrier.

All I kept thinking to myself was, if I were sighted, I could have gotten lost and no one would have batted an eye, and I guess to some, I should feel lucky that people “cared” enough to make sure I got home OK. But there is a difference between caring, and treating someone like they’re a complete imbicile, which I’m quite sure I’m not. I guess blind people aren’t supposed to get lost, if we want to avoid drawing attention to ourselves.

One final thing, though, Chloe did a wonderful job, she was a little excited, but she really did her best, I think she was just as confused about the whole situation as I was. I mean, if you don’t know where you’re going, the dog sure won’t, unless they somehow know the route, which Chloe didn’t. And in the end, the officer said “you weren’t too far from your home, if you’d have just kept going straight you’d have found your street.” To which I said, “I tried to tell that lady that.” Which is where he again reiterated that it was probably better that he took me home
because people would have kept calling anyway.

I’m just feeling completely embarrassed right now, and I can’t tell you how, uh, “de-dignified” I feel. I wish I could explain my feelings better, but perhaps only another blind person would understand.