[Nfbnet-members-list] Guide Dog users' Meeting, Streaming, Relieving, and More!

Marion Gwizdala blind411 at verizon.net
Tue Jun 23 00:27:27 UTC 2015



Guide Dog users’ Meeting, Streaming, Relieving, and More!



                 Whether you will be attending 
the meetings of the National Association of Guide 
dog Users (NAGDU) in person or virtually, there 
is information within this message you will want 
to read. First of all, if you are not a member of 
NAGDU, either by virtue of your membership in a 
NAGDU affiliate division or by your direct 
affiliation, we would like to encourage you to 
join. If you are a member of an affiliate in 
which there is a NAGDU division, we strongly 
recommend you join the affiliate division, since 
joining that division confers upon you all the 
rights and privileges of membership in NAGDU. We 
currently have affiliate divisions in California, 
Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, 
Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. We are 
also actively organizing affiliate divisions in 
Arizona, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, 
Texas, and Washington. If you need contact 
information for one of these affiliate divisions, please send a message to



<mailto:Info at NAGDU.ORG>Info at NAGDU.ORG



If you will be attending convention, you can join 
NAGDU prior to one of our meetings (see below for 
meeting details). If you will not be attending 
our convention, you can join by visiting our website



<http://nagdu.org/membership.html>http://nagdu.org/membership.html



Annual Meetings & Live Stream

                 The annual meetings of the 
National Association of Guide Dog Users will be 
held on Sunday, July 5 and Tuesday, July 7 In 
Salon 3, Level 2. Registration will begin at 6:00 
p.m. each day outside the meeting room and will 
close promptly at 6:45 p.m. so all members can 
participate in every aspect of our meetings. 
During the meetings we will have several reports, 
discussions, and other events of concern to those 
interested in issues related to guide dog users. 
Several valuable door prizes will be given away 
and you must be present to win!

                 On Sunday, July 5, we will hear 
from those who chair the various committees of 
NAGDU, including our Social Networking, Fund 
Raising, and Hotline Committees. Brett Sample, 
who is an NFB member, is creating a guide dog 
training program in Puerto Rico modeled after our 
NFB training centers. Brett will share his work 
and projections with us. We will also share 
exciting information about our progress enhancing access to the country’s zoos.



                 On Tuesday, July 7, we will 
again be open for NAGDU registration and 
acceptance of membership dues from 6:00 – 6:45 
p.m. and our meeting will be called to order at 
7:00 p.m. sharp. We will hear from Tim Elder, 
NFB’s lead attorney in our federal law suit 
against Uber. Tim will share the most up-to-date 
information with us first, so join our meeting 
for this breaking news. We will also have a 
presentation by john Bifield about community & 
residential guide dog training and a panel 
discussion by officials of various guide dog 
training programs about ownership and the 
immediate and long-term considerations every 
potential guide dog program consumer should know 
about the practical implications of unconditional 
ownership compared to custody. During this 
meeting, we will also share guide dog user 
related resolutions passed by the Resolutions 
Committee the prior day. Most importantly, we 
will hold elections for vice President, Treasurer, and one board position.

We will also have a 50/50 drawing at the end of 
each meeting. 50/50 tickets will be $1.00/each or 
6 for $5.00. Because the prize is cash, only cash 
will be accepted for the 50/50 drawing!

At both meetings, we will be taking up a 
collection to help defray the cost of our relief 
areas, Relief areas cost the national Federation 
of the Blind about $3500 to construct and 
maintain. The contributions we collect are added 
to our support of the White Cane Fund, where the 
expense of relief areas is drawn. Please give to this as you are able!

We will also be auctioning a brand-new leather 
guide dog harness contributed by a private donor. 
This harness has a girth of 28 – 36 inches, a 
19-inch straight handle, and includes a 6-foot 
leather leash. The auction will be held during our July 7 meeting.

This year’s fund raising product is a must-have 
for every active, on-the-go individual. We will 
be selling 16 oz. double-wall stainless steel, 
spill proof, leak-proof, insulated beverage 
containers. The containers are steel blue in 
color emblazoned with our 75th Anniversary logo 
in white. These containers feature a contoured 
grip, a locking flip top and keep liquid hot for 
4 hours and cold for 10 hours. These high quality 
travel containers are only $20 each and our 
supply is limited! We will accept Visa, 
MasterCard, American Express, Discover, cash, and 
check. Please stop by exhibit hall table B-17 or 
come to the NAGDU meeting early to get one of 
these amazing items while supplies last!



Relieving Areas

                 Keep in mind that the stress of 
convention, the change in schedule, and 
differences in water quality may have an adverse 
effect on your dog’s relieving schedule and stool 
consistency. These factors inevitably result in 
accidents in the hotel. Please remember to 
relieve your dog more frequently in order to make 
this a good experience for all attendees. If your 
dog has an accident, please stop and protect the 
spot from being stepped in and spread. Stay in 
the place where the accident occurred and notify 
the hotel to have maintenance come clean it up. 
It is far easier to clean up one area than one 
that has spread because someone stepped in it!

                 With more than 500 guide dog 
teams, you can imagine the challenge of ensuring 
adequate, clean relief areas at convention. The 
Rosen Centre, our host hotel, will have two 
relief areas available to us. The first area will 
be located outside the main lobby entrance to the 
left about 45 degrees. The other will be located 
on the convention side of the hotel outside the 
entrance to the right. As a point of reference, 
this area is located underneath the catwalk to 
the Orange County Convention Center where our 
exhibit hall is located. The Rosen Plaza will 
have one relief area located outside the main 
entrance to the left about 20 yards and just past 
the down curb. Please check with the other 
overflow hotels for information about placement 
of our relief areas. Please use these relief 
areas and remember to do the responsible thing: 
Pick up after your dog! This is a team effort, so 
please join us in encouraging others to use the relief areas and clean up!



Dog Food

                 The National Association of 
Guide dog Users has made arrangements with Petco 
to have dog food delivered to the convention 
hotels. This arrangement is for dog food only; no 
other product will be available through this 
arrangement. A message was sent to the NFBNET 
subscribers’ list about this. If you missed or 
deleted it, please send a message requesting this information to



<mailto:Info at NAGDU.ORG>Info at NAGDU.ORG



Florida Law concerning Service Dogs

                 The state of Florida has very 
good civil rights provisions for service dog 
access. This law (413.08 f.s.) provides criminal 
penalties to any person, firm, or corporation 
that denies or interferes with the full and equal 
access of a disabled person accompanied by a 
service dog. If you have any issues of access 
while attending convention, we want to know about 
it! Should an access issue arise, please call the 
NAGDU president, Marion Gwizdala, at 
813-626-2789. This number is also a good number 
for any other guide dog related questions or 
concerns that might arise as the result of your 
travel to or from convention or for more information while in Orlando!

We hope you enjoy your attendance at the 75th 
anniversary convention of the national Federation 
of the Blind and we look forward to your 
participation – either live or virtually – in the 
meetings of the National Association of Guide Dog 
Users. We encourage everyone to keep moving forward!



Fraternally yours,

Marion Gwizdala, President

National Association of Guide dog users

National Federation of the Blind

(813) 626-2789

<mailto:President at nagdu.org>President at nagdu.org




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