News from the AOA's Blog

Peggy Brown, center, poses with her husband and guide dog Marlette.

When Peggy Brown realized she was going blind, she was devastated and told her husband she was going to quit her job. Her husband told her she needed to take her lemons and make lemonade in the form of a guide dog.
 
“The idea of getting a guide dog gave me something very special and exciting to look forward to,” said Brown. “Since my vision appeared to be declining rapidly, I had intense fear that I would go totally blind and not be prepared to cope with it. I felt that it was important to take the time to find the resources that I needed to teach me how to deal with being severely visually impaired.”
 
Brown turned to Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization headquartered in San Rafael, Calif., for help.
 
Guide Dogs for the Blind was established in 1942 to provide enhanced mobility and quality of life to people who are blind through lifetime partnerships with guide dogs. Absent of government funding and solely supported by private donations, the San Rafael and Boring, Ore., campuses are serene and beautiful environments for learning and education.
 
Students arrive at the campus to meet their guide dogs and spend up to a month of in-residence training with them.
 
Guide Dogs for the Blind breeds yellow and black Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, and Labrador retriever/ golden retriever crosses.

At the age of 8 weeks until approximately 15 to 18 months, the young canines are raised by volunteer puppy-raising families. The dogs are then returned to campus and receive formal training for four or five months to prepare them for their future careers.
 
The organization provides follow-up support services after extensive training for both the guide dogs and human companions. All transportation, room, board and equipment are free of charge to qualified people throughout the United States and Canada. Financial assistance for veterinary care and alumni support services are even provided to the students.
 
California practitioner Jennifer Ong, O.D., is supporting Guide Dogs for the Blind by working to increase awareness of the organization and its free services.
 
“I received my first eye exam at age 11 and always intended to go into health care,” said Dr. Ong. “Knowing how poor my vision would become and how much I value my vision, I saw optometry as the perfect profession after that first eye exam. Years later, I noticed a guide dog and her owner at the airport. I thought, ‘What a special bond, a wonderful service and a dedicated friend to look after her companion. Somehow, someday, I will contribute to helping the Guide Dogs for the Blind—it makes sense. I adore animals’ special intelligence, and vision is my specialty.’”
 
Dr. Ong’s desire and an opportunity came together several years after first learning about Guide Dogs for the Blind.
 
“My patients happened to be puppy-raising families who informed me of their rewarding experience and the proximity of the Guide Dog for the Blind’s campus,” Dr. Ong explained. “I went to two tours in one week at the San Rafael campus. I happened to mention that I am an optometrist and offered my assistance in any way they needed, and so I hope this article will be a good beginning to many years of service to the Guide Dogs for the Blind.”
 
Dr. Ong stressed that optometrists should consider guide dogs as a possibility for many visually impaired patients.
 
“Total blindness, for example, equates to ‘NLP’ [no light perception] where there is complete lack of perception for form and visual light,” said Dr. Ong. “Erroneously, eye care providers might commonly surmise that the Guide Dogs for the Blind are intended solely for NLP patients, but this would be inaccurate.”
 
One alumni of the program, Mariella Dibble, had a birth defect that dramatically reduced her vision. She has been legally blind since 1960, but can see some shapes and colors through her peripheral vision.
 
“For years I didn’t think I would be able to get a guide dog since I have some vision,” said Dibble. “I felt like it would be very beneficial to me to have a guide. I can see some things, but if it’s in my blind spot I can walk right into a wall. Having a dog would help. I would have her eyes to help me negotiate the world safely and not have to rely just on my own.”
 
Dibble is now on her fourth guide dog since she first began using the program in 1983.
 
The qualifications for applying to the Guide Dogs for the Blind as a potential human companion include a degree of visual impairment referred to as “legally blind.”
 
Legal blindness is defined in varying terms based on governmental jurisdictions, but the most commonly accepted standard for legal blindness in North America is best-corrected vision in the better eye of 20/200 or less and/or a person with a visual field of less than 20 degrees.
  
“As optometric physicians, we encounter patients with visions that fall under these categories consistently,” said Dr. Ong. “To those patients, we provide the most accessible options for aids to mobility and functionality and refer them to a low vision specialist accordingly, but how often have we also considered on that list of potential vision aids the possibility of a guide dog? The Guide Dog for the Blind is a wonderful program that provides not only the freedom of mobility and independence, but also the emotional support that so many of our low vision patients need to experience. We have a role as eye care providers to offer the many options that allow our patients the most ideal quality of life.” 
 

Mariella Dibble takes a walk with her guide dog Silky.

For more information, visit www.guidedogs.com or contact Guide Dogs for the Blind toll-free at 800-295-4050.