Here are some questions as I have read this entire thread..
1.) Do you get overly irritated when you go to say Wal-Mart with your guide dog and parents rush up to you with their children in tote and ask if you could explain the need for your guide dog as well as allowing the children to pet Tigger? I would imagine this gets old rather quickly especially if it is a group that acts like they have never seen a guide dog before.
2.) do you get motion sickness easily given that you have no sight and when you have your CIs out as sound does seem to affect one's balance.
3.) This may sound like silly question - but have you ever been in such a rush that you've had to literally run from one place to another? (Imagine a deafblind woman running with her guide-dog in one hand and her cane feverishly tapping the ground beneath her to *hopefully* keep from tripping over potholes, cracks in the sidewalk, and curbs.) I know this sounds impossible, but I also know that the blind have the same muscular ability to run just like any other sighted-hearing person.
4.) Have you ever run into an object in public when you weren't paying close attention to the feedback from your cane? (I have my sight and I have run into chairs, doorways and benches in public by not paying attention to where I was going. Once I recall I was looking at a display in a window while walking in the Rivermarket district of Little Rock and I ran right smack into a bench and fell face forward onto it and the group I was with looked at me like I was on crack, and I did have a bruised knee for about week).
5.) what is the most irritating question or comment that you get about being deafblind?
1. to be honest, this doesn't really bother me because i know most people (and children especially) have never seen a guide dog before. i would say what irritates me the most are ADULTS who ask if they can pet my dog -- or worse yet, adults who think they have the *right* to pet my dog regardless of how i feel or how many times i've asked them to stop petting tigger. i will say that it really makes me nervous when children automatically walk up to and start petting tigger. the last thing i want is for tigger to become frightened and bite a child. she's so friendly i don't think she'd ever do that, but you never know -- especially given the rough way some children pet dogs (i.e. pulling on their ears, getting right into their face, etc.)
2. no, i've never gotten sea sickness. i do, however, have problems with severe nausea and dizziness whenever i move my head quickly from side to side. all of this started following both of my ci surgeries. the dizziness is so bad i can feel it travel throughout my whole body.
3. yes. many times, in fact. this happens most often when i'm on campus rushing from one class to another. when i am in a rush, i walk briskly and as fast as i can. i've never used a cane in my opposite hand while also using tigger only because that's strongly discouraged by my guide dog school. the only time i would do this is during the winter when i'm walking along an icy sidewalk and use the cane as a brace to prevent me from falling or to judge tactually how tall a snowbank is.
4. again yes -- many times. i don't think too much of it because others can see my cane or tigger, so they know i can't see and understand why it is that i ran into a particular object. what i do is run into the object and then move on as quickly as i can so i can avoid well-meaning people who grab my cane or tigger's harness and try to drag me away from whatever it is that i ran into.
fortunately, in all of the years i've been totally blind, i've never fractured or broken a single bone. i've never fallen down the stairs either. this is probably due to the fact that i was taught by my o&m instructor at a very young age to always walk on icy sidewalks with my legs partially bent, my arms extended slightly in front of me and "glide" my feet instead of picking them up when i walk. i've also been taught how to slowly approach stairs, how to recognize them by railings that are located along the wall and how to slide my feet forward so i can feel where the first step begins.
5. the most irritating questions i get about being deafblind are, "does someone take care of you?" and "are you married to a blind (or deaf) person?" why sighted-hearing people think the deafblind need someone else to take care of them is beyond me. i also hate the second question because it's not as if deafblind people can't meet, love and marry sighted-hearing people. after all, we love just like anyone else who can see and hear.
some of the comments i hate include "you're just like helen keller!" that comment ALWAYS drives me nuts because i'm NOT anything at all like helen. she lived in a completely different world than i do.
two other comments i hate are when people say, "you *can't* be deaf if you can speak. deaf people can't talk," "you don't sound deaf" and "you don't look blind." tell me, what is a deaf person supposed to sound like and what is a blind person supposed to look like?
you're a amazing person and if I can think of any good questions I'll be sure to post them here.
