With COVID-19 measures comes a new set of challenges for people experiencing blindness and visual impairment, and for their dogs
The first complaint came in through the guide dog training school’s main phone line.
A caller was angry because a guide dog and its handler had come in close contact with her while walking down a street.
“When the dog passed them on the sidewalk, the dog brushed up against the person slightly,” said Michelle Barlak, public relations specialist for The Seeing Eye in Morristown, N.J. “The person became offended because they thought the Seeing Eye team was ignoring social distancing.”
It didn’t take long for an employee to explain to the caller that the guide dog handler was most likely blind, not a sighted instructor, as the caller had assumed.
“People just don’t realize the dogs are not trained for something like this,” Barlak said, “and I don’t think they stop to think about the guide dog users’ experience, either.”
Guide dog training schools from New Jersey to Oregon are rushing to adapt to a long list of challenges created by COVID-19 and new safety restrictions.
“If you see someone working with a Seeing Eye dog, you should know the dog doesn’t know what social distancing means,” said attorney Melissa Allman, The Seeing Eye’s advocacy and government relations specialist. “I am also trying to be aware and conscious of social distancing, but I can’t know if you are there if you don’t speak up and take the first step to social distance.”
Allman said it’s easy for people on the streets to become absorbed in their cellphones and assume no one is around them, so she is proud that The Seeing Eye, the world’s first guide dog school, is launching a new social distancing public awareness campaign.
The Seeing Eye is using social media to circulate an illustration and five tips that explain why it’s important for sighted people to keep their social distance from guide dogs and their handlers, communicate openly if they approach such a team and keep pet dogs away from working dogs.
Barlak said when people see the social media post, most respond, “Oh wow, I didn’t think about that! I’m glad you said something.”
The National Federation of the Blind is also posting information about the unique challenges for people experiencing blindness and visual impairment during this pandemic. Its spokesperson, Chris Danielsen, said the good intentions of sighted people often can cause more harm than good.
“Say you’re getting on a bus and someone wants to help you to your seat,” he said. “People won’t keep their distance from you, even now.”
Danielsen, who is blind, said, “We don’t usually appreciate the help; some blind people even think of it as a microaggression when somebody walks up to you and touches you without your permission. In this time, it’s actually dangerous.”
Public transportation options are now more limited for people who can’t drive as cities scale back bus and other transport services. Danielsen said Uber and Lyft are expensive options for those who may be unemployed.
“Plus, how is an Uber, Lyft or cab driver going to react if you’re getting in their car, telling them you need to be taken through a drive-through to be tested for the coronavirus?”
Danielsen said he’s already heard several complaints about banks and restaurants prohibiting blind people from walking through the drive-through lanes.
“Blind people, like myself, cross busy streets all the time,” Danielsen said. “There isn’t a safety issue here.”
Shopping for groceries has become a problem for people who are visually impaired because many store employees are too busy to help them locate items, and some stores have moved around their regular displays to promote social distancing.
Even following along with breaking news about the pandemic is becoming an issue.
“Let’s say you live in a particular area and they show hot spots on a map,” Danielsen said. “That’s not something that’s easily accessible.”
Visual graphics used by internet sites and television stations don’t work with screen-reader technology, he said. Many people are relying on the new website cvstats.net, which was created to provide critical COVID-19 statistics in text format, rather than graphic form.
Along with complaints about people not keeping their social distance, stay-home orders have forced schools, including Guide Dogs for the Blind in Boring, to cancel training classes and move dogs from their kennels to temporary foster homes.
Nancy Stevens, of Bend, met her guide dog, Abby, through Guide Dogs for the Blind in 2012. Abby was supposed to retire this month, and Stevens was scheduled to begin class with a new guide dog at The Seeing Eye on April 27.
“I am disappointed because I was looking forward to working with the instructors in the class,” Stevens said, “but I’m still working with Abby, which for me is so fortunate.”
Abby is Stevens’ fourth guide dog (after Dani, Matt and Koko), but the Golden Retriever is about to turn 10 and is showing signs of slowing down. Stevens arranged for her neighbors and their 8-year-old boy to take Abby when the dog retires, but that plan is now on hold.
Stevens is interested to hear how guide dog schools intend to get everyone back on track.
“How do they fit all these students back into the process, including all the students who are missing class right now?” she wondered. “All of the schools have a big puzzle to figure out.”
“It’s a challenging situation with this virus,” said Susan Armstrong, vice president of training, veterinary and client services for Guide Dogs for the Blind in Oregon. “I think there are a lot of things that aren’t happening that are critical for people’s lives to move forward. Getting a guide dog is one of those things.”
Guide Dogs for the Blind is the largest guide dog school in North America and provides dogs to about 300 blind and visually impaired clients each year in the U.S. and Canada. It has campuses in Boring and San Rafael, Calif. Every two weeks, a class of about six to eight clients moves into the on-campus dorms to meet and train with their new guide dogs.
To comply with COVID-19 safety restrictions, Guide Dogs for the Blind in Oregon sent home non-essential staff last month and coordinated a brisk “no contact process” to transfer about 80 dogs-in-training from the Boring kennels to temporary foster homes.
“We have an amazing community of foster care providers and puppy raisers who have stepped up, just like we know they always will,” Armstrong said.
One of those puppy raisers is Kathryn Marxen-Simonson, a visually impaired volunteer who agreed to foster a yellow Labrador. She already has two black labs at home, including her guide dog, Nabisco.
“There was a little adjustment time for our foster dog,” she said. “That’s to be expected since he was with his puppy raiser, then the kennels and now back in a home, but he’s settled right in.”
Under normal circumstances, puppy raisers receive puppies when they’re 8 weeks old. They are delivered directly from the school’s breeding program in San Rafael. The caregivers socialize the puppies and teach them “good manners” for about a year before the dogs move to the school for three months of intensive training and then begin class with their new handlers.
During the pandemic, things are different. First off, puppy raisers, employees and volunteers have been reminded to practice good handwashing before petting the dogs and encouraged to stay away from them if ill.
There is no timeline for how long the temporary foster care providers will be needed. Marxen-Simonson has raised several puppies and said it doesn’t take long to get attached.
“You go into it knowing it’s not your dog to keep,” she said. “It’s about the dogs going on to serve a greater purpose. That’s what gets you through it.”
Allman, at The Seeing Eye, said this is a challenging time for everyone, including guide dogs. Allman’s Seeing Eye dog, Luna, a yellow Labrador Golden crossbreed, isn’t accustomed to staying home so much.
“These dogs were bred and trained to be working dogs, not pet dogs,” she said. “They want to be active and going, so I think it feels strange to them.”
Typically, Luna would be assisting Allman as she walks to The Seeing Eye’s morning pickup point for work, helping her navigate the airport and a plane ride for a speaking engagement or guiding Allman through town to run errands.
Now, Luna and Allman are just trying to walk down the street while adhering to social distancing guidelines.
Allman said she and Luna are taking on the challenges step by step, and she feels empathy for clients who are still waiting for their dogs.
“My heart goes out to them, and I want everything to be OK for them,” she said.
“I would love to get into class,” Stevens said, “but there are so many bigger problems right now. I just feel for the instructors who are out of work.”
Employees at both guide dog schools are optimistic the dogs, when it’s time, will be able to readjust to campus life and be ready for their future partners.
“Our dogs have been bred for generations to be very trusting and social,” Barlak said. “We don’t believe this will have a negative impact on their temperament or socialization.”
Armstrong agreed. “The dogs are amazing at retaining information,” she said, “and I think it is the one place I have a lot of confidence that we’ll be able to get back up and running quickly.”
LEARN MORE
To learn more about how you can help support Guide Dogs for the Blind or The Seeing Eye, visit their websites:
Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly stated guide dogs are trained for three weeks. They are trained for three months. The National Federation of the Blind was also mislabeled. We regret the errors.
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