‘I just wish people would be more considerate,’ says Melissa Arnold, a resident living with vision loss who intends to resolve mistaken beliefs around guide dogs
Tripping over curbs and walking into walls are all part of a regular day in Melissa Arnold’s life — a regional mom of 2 who needs the help of a guide dog.
Living with macular degeneration, or vision loss, for almost a 3rd of her life now, Arnold has actually grown familiar with these day-to-day troubles and doesn’t let it avoid her from going to work and school.
But the mistaken beliefs, especially homeowners wishing to engage with her dog, have actually ended up being tiring for the second-year Algoma University trainee.
“I just wish people would be more considerate,” she says.
Around 14 years earlier, Arnold awakened one early morning and understood something was instantly incorrect with her vision when she couldn’t see effectively out of her best eye.
“The center of my vision was just gone,” she says. “Doctors couldn’t figure out what happened, and the ophthalmologists in Toronto said they had never really seen anything like it. They told me the inside of my eye looked like scrambled eggs.”
Diagnosed with macular degeneration at the age of 29 — an umbrella term for vision loss — Arnold’s life took another enormous turn when the exact same concern established in her left eye 3 years later on.
The medical secret left a few of the nation’s leading doctors scratching their heads according to Arnold.
“My peripheral vision is perfect, but it’s like having a big fist of emptiness in the middle,” she explained. “They’ve seen it happen to people progressively over years and years, but never this sudden – it was insane.”
Since 2015, Arnold has actually needed 24/7 help from a guide dog to help her obtain from point A to point B.
She utilized to operate at Extendicare Maple View with her previous service dog Ginger, who provided lots of smiles for the nursing home homeowners throughout COVID.
Currently dealing with a four-year-old yellow Labrador called Cherry, Arnold says the general public enjoys to approach her dog.
“A lot of people want to pet her,” she says. “She’s a dog, so if you try to give her attention, she’s going to go for it.”
But any attention directed towards her furry animal, besides from Arnold, can be exceptionally troublesome.
“People need to ignore the dog – pretend she’s not there,” she says. “It’s hard because she is so adorable. But I don’t want to keep going for new dogs every year because her training gets ruined by people giving her attention.”
Cherry trained to be a guide dog for 4 years at a school in Ottawa. Arnold moved there for a month this previous spring to be taught how to efficiently deal with Cherry prior to they both returned to the Sault.
Currently dealing with her 3rd guide dog in 8 years, Arnold says she’s been on the getting end of a number of unsuitable occurrences that have actually put her safety at danger, consisting of a specific interaction at a Soo Greyhounds video game.
“During intermission, a woman approached us and started petting her,” she says. “Now I’m lost. I knew where I was, I was counting my steps, I knew how many more steps I needed to go, and now they’ve not only pushed us back but have completely distracted the dog, who now is not going to consider where we’re going. I’m sure that wasn’t their intention, but it can be devastating.”
“You wouldn’t take a paraplegic out of their wheelchair so you could give it a shot or take someone’s crutches when they have a broken leg.”
While she’s fulfilled numerous individuals who aspire to engage with Cherry, Arnold confesses there have actually been lots of cases where individuals likewise desire absolutely nothing to do with them, which has actually specified where in some cases even services considered to be important have actually been rejected.
“Cab drivers in the Sault have driven past me or refused to give me a ride because they didn’t want the dog,” she says. “It gets to the point where it has taken me longer to find a ride than it would be to walk. It’s embarrassing and it’s rejection. My vision already rejected me, so it’s tough.”
“My right to bring my guide dog with me should trump someone being uncomfortable with it,” she includes. “Fearful? I get that. Some people are terrified of dogs, and I can respect that. But I need somebody to fight for me because I’m pretty exhausted.”
Although she wishes to see a transport service particularly designated for individuals with vision loss, Arnold confesses’s wishful thinking. But the social work trainee says more education on guide dogs might go a long method.
“People don’t usually see a dog inside of a public building, especially in the Sault — there’s so few of us,” she says. “Kids should definitely be made aware of it at school. Even at the university, where maybe students who travelled far have a different cultural view of dogs.”
Despite some obstacles with public availability and basic awareness, Arnold says she can constantly count on her sense of humour to help her cope.
“A guy at the LCBO dropped a can of something on the floor the other day, and I’m like, ‘I saw nothing,’ and he’s like, ‘oh, thanks,’ and I said, ‘no really – I saw nothing.’ It was great,” she chuckled.
“I’ve also been working outside in a garden for my professor, and one morning I accidentally put on a Hooters t-shirt instead of my plain black shirt. Then I spent the day trying to hide it.”
Arnold confesses that Cherry will make the odd error as she’s not ideal, however she discusses there are a number of ideas the general public ought to try to find prior to approaching a dog that might prevent the production of a safety danger completely.
“The harness is a good indicator – it should have a bright handle,” she says. “Most guide dogs should also be wearing something that says, ‘Please don’t pet me – I’m working.’ Not everyone who has a guide dog is completely blind either — some of us can still see a bit.”
