Our Dirty Little Secret

To celebrate its 80th birthday, the Seeing Eye invited all its canine and human graduates to a reunion in Morristown last weekend. I love the Seeing Eye. I am very proud Hanni and I are graduates. But we didn’t go.

Here’s a dirty little secret: Being around a lot of blind people with guide dogs makes me nervous.

The American foundation for the Blind reports 1.3 million people in the US are legally blind. Only 7,000 of us use guide dogs. That means of the estimated 12,000 people who are legally blind living in Chicago, only 60 of us use dogs for guides. In any given situation, Hanni and I are usually the only guide dog team in the bunch. Here’s an understatement for you: Hanni and I both enjoy attention. And among the 300 who showed up for last weekend’s Seeing Eye reunion, we’d just be two more cute faces in the crowd. Worse than that, any attention we might get would probably be negative.

Just like parents at a playground, we guide dog users find it difficult to resist judging and comparing the behavior of our little ones. My dog handling skills are not ideal, and as a result my Seeing Eye dogs do not rank Best in Show when it comes to discipline. Both Dora, my first Seeing Eye dog, and Hanni, my current dog, have kept me safe for 18 years, and in all sorts of situations. But both dogs broke many Seeing Eye rules along the way. And the one rule Hanni especially likes to break? “Don’t sniff at other dogs.” She tries to ignore the dogs who cross our path, she really does. More often than not, though, she finds other dogs, well…irresistible. A reunion of 300+ Seeing Eye dogs could have been disastrous for us.

The people and dogs of The Seeing Eye were featured as the Pioneers of the Week on ABC World News with Charles Gibson last Friday, and the segment included footage from the reunion. Of course Hanni and I are now second-guessing our decision to stay home. Remember, we like attention. Maybe, if we had gone to Morristown, we would have been on TV!

Ah, well. Somehow, some way, the Seeing Eye managed to look fantastic on the TV segment without us there to help. The feature included an interview with Seeing Eye president Jim Kutsch and his wife Ginger. You might remember them from a post I published here after Mike, Hanni and I stayed at their house during a visit to the Seeing Eye a year ago.

Ginger Bennett (L) and Jim Kutsch (R), great hosts and great guides to Morristown, NJ.

The ABC TV crew also accompanied an instructor training a dog, and they filmed a litter of Black Lab puppies. You can link to the two-and-one-half minute story online, but be sure to have a Kleenex or two on hand. Mike teared up when he saw those pups!

Marilee, She Rolls Along

Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Jackson Middle School in Orlando this morning. Know why? Because Jackson is an outstanding school. And know why it’s an outstanding school? Because my sister Marilee works there.

That's my big sister Marilee.

If you read this blog, you probably recognize Marilee’s name. She practically raised me, taking care of the house and making dinner for us every night when she was in middle school and high school; that’s when Flo had to start working full-time, our father had died and we were a single-parent household.

Lately Marilee has been accompanying me during book events at Printers Row Lit Fest and the American Library Association convention. She helps guide Hanni and me safely to our destinations, then makes sure everything is set when it comes time to sign, Braille and pawprint books.

Marilee is a wonderful sister. She is also a fantastic, dedicated, passionate educator at Jackson Middle School. From an AP article today:

Jackson Middle School is a school where most students are minorities and more than 80 percent receive free or reduced lunch, a measure of poverty. It has seen improvements in the percentage of students meeting high standards in reading, writing and math in recent years.

The VP and Education Secretary were at Jackson today to talk about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The vice president made his remarks at Jackson Middle School in Orlando, where he and Education Secretary Arne Duncan discussed the recovery act’s impact on education and the economy with a group of parents, teachers, students and administrators. Biden credited the stimulus plan with saving 26,000 school jobs in Florida, including 16 teaching jobs at the school he was visiting.

Hanni and I are going to be visiting that same school, Marilee’s school, and giving some presentations to students there at the end of September. It’s always a thrill to visit Marilee at work – she is highly regarded by teachers and students alike. I feel proud just holding her elbow as she guides me through the school hallways. She has always taken her role as an educator very seriously, going out of her way to attend conferences and take workshops and courses in order to learn all she can about education. She has heard Arne Duncan give the keynote at more than one of those events she goes to, so I know she was especially tickled to have him visit her school.

More from the AP story:

“What we tried to do is stave off an education catastrophe,” Duncan said. He called for raising expectations, including state standards that in some places are so low that even those who meet them are unprepared for college; encouraging the best teachers to go where they are most needed – including inner city and rural areas; tracking students and turning around failing schools.

In this instance, Arne was preaching to the choir. My sister Marilee is one of those “best teachers” he is talking about, and she already opted to work where she was most needed: at “a school where most students are minorities and more than 80 percent receive free or reduced lunch, a measure of poverty.” Marilee has been an integral part of turning Jackson Middle School around. I sure am proud of her.

Thanks to Eunice

Eunice Kennedy Shriver was buried today. An advocate for people with physical and developmental disabilities, Shriver was a co-founder of the Special Olympics, an organization that means a lot to people at Easter Seals.

I guess I don’t talk very much about my part-time job at Easter Seals Headquarters, huh? I’m the Interactive Community Coordinator there. That’s a fancy-schmancy title that means I moderate the Easter Seals Autism Blog. You have Easter Seals to thank — or blame — for this Safe & Sound blog; it was at Easter Seals that I learned to use the blogging tools.

I’ve learned a lot about autism at Easter Seals, too, and I’ve met some pretty wonderful people who happen to have the disorder. One of them is Maurice Snell.

Maurice met Richard M. Daley when the Chicago mayor visited Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago.

Maurice Snell is a young man with a college degree and a job. Maurice also happens to have autism. Unlike many of his peers with autism, Maurice has strong cognitive skills, which make it easier for him to learn. After his first birthday, however, Maurice was nonverbal. No one had an answer until, at age six, he was diagnosed with autism.

When Maurice was seven, he and his family visited the Easter Seals Therapeutic Day School in Chicago. They liked what they saw, and Maurice was enrolled immediately. During Maurice’s 10 years at the school, a team of professionals helped him develop his speech, language and communication skills. They helped with his social skills, too: he learned to swim and play baseball, and he competed in the Special Olympics. Today, Maurice works as a classroom aide and mentor at his former school.

When I heard the sad news about Eunice Kennedy Shriver, I contacted Maurice to see if he’d be willing to give us a quote describing his experience in Special Olympics.

I was an active participant in the Special Olympics during my days at the Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research. I enjoyed the opportunities to participate in various events and meet many different people. To me, Special Olympics kept me going throughout my life. It motivated me to achieve higher standards and make me grow as a man. I’m grateful for Special Olympics and Easter Seals’ involvement in Special Olympics.

I don’t think I can say it any better than Maurice did. So many, many, many lives have been changed for the better thanks to Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s work. Thank you, Eunice. And thank you, too, Maurice. I’m glad Special Olympics helped bring you out of your shell. And I’m really, really glad we’re friends.

Hanni and Bobbie: Two Award-Winning Guide Dogs

Last Friday Bark Magazine sent me the link to a story in the Daily Telegraph about a blind Border Collie who has his own guide dog.

Black and white hound Clyde is totally blind and relies on his partner and fellow collie Bonnie to guide him everywhere.

She stays inches from Clyde’s side while guiding him on walks or to food or water, and lets him rest his head on her haunches whenever he becomes disorientated.

The blog editor at Bark wondered if I had anything interesting to say about the story. “If so,” she wrote, “would you be willing to write a guest blog for us about it?”

I was tempted to write something about training Hanni to let me rest my head on her haunches when I become “disorientated,” but I resisted. The post I ended up writing is titled Guide Dogs for Cats and Dogs? and was published on their web site this morning. A few paragraphs from the Bark blog post :

I’ve heard a number of stories about dogs acting as guides for blind animals. One news story—about a dog who guided a blind cat to safety after Hurricane Katrina—was even made into a children’s book.

I learned about Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival at the ASPCA Henry Bergh Childrens Book Award ceremony last month. Named in honor of ASPCA founder Henry Bergh, the award honors books that “promote the humane ethic of compassion and respect for all living things.”

Unable to resist an opportunity for shameless self-promotion, at this point in the Bark blog I point out that my own children’s book won a Henry Bergh children’s Book award in 2008.

As difficult as it was to give up our crown, Hanni and I were thrilled to learn we’d be handing it over to the likes of Two Bobbies.

The post goes on to describe the newest Henry Bergh book award winner:

During Hurricane Katrina, evacuating New Orleans residents were forced to leave their pets behind. Bobbi the dog was initially chained to keep her safe, but after her owners failed to return, she had to break free. For months, Bobbi wandered the city’s ravaged streets, dragging her chain behind her, followed by her feline companion, Bob Cat. After months of hunger and struggle, the two Bobbies were finally rescued by a construction worker helping to rebuild the city. When he brought them to a shelter, volunteers made an amazing discovery about the devoted friends—Bob Cat was actually blind! He had survived the aftermath of the storm by following the sound Bobbi’s chain made as she dragged it along the ground.

You can read the Guide Dogs for Cats and Dogs? post in its entirety
at Bark’s Dogblog. Enjoy!

The Rest of the Stories

This seemed like a good week to tie up loose ends from previous blog posts…

My post about driving a 2010 Ford Mustang got more hits than any other post I’ve published here. Now Roger Keeney, the blind man who won the ‘10 Unleashed contest in the first place, is getting some mainstream press, too.

Roger Keeney did some donuts while driving.

Mike was flipping through his favorite motorcycle magazine the other day and ran across Roger’s photo in a Ford Mustang ad. Others have seen Roger’s photo in print ads, too, and one friend emailed that he’d heard the ads discussed on a late-night radio talk show – apparently there is some controversy involved? This post about Roger’s Mustang ride on a blog called Jalopnik: Obsessed With The Cult Of Cars explains:

It’s either especially noble of Ford to arrange this drive or they’re completely desperate for new customers.

The ad includes the address for a youtube video called Speeding While Blind, which shows footage of Roger’s drive, including an appearance by Tommy Kendall. You might recognize Tommy’s name – he’s the pro race driver who was brave enough to sit in the passenger seat when I was behind the wheel.

The post I wrote about Sonia Sotomayor after she was nominated for the Supreme Court pointed out that she has Type 1 diabetes, just like me. Sotomayor’s nomination was approved by the Senate yesterday, and she’ll be sworn in tomorrow — the first Supreme Court Justice with juvenile diabetes!

In a story in the New York Times, White House reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote about the methods Judge Sotomayor uses to control her Type 1 diabetes.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor carries a small black travel pouch, not much larger than a wallet. It contains the implements she needs — a blood sugar testing kit,a needle and insulin — to manage diabetes, a disease she has had for 46 years. Friends say she is not shy about using it. “She’ll be eating Chinese dumplings,” said Xavier Romeu Matta, a former law clerk to the judge, “and she’ll say, ‘Excuse me sweetie,’ and pull out the kitand inject her insulin.”

That no-nonsense attitude, combined with the attention to detail that characterizes her legal opinions, has been a hallmark of Judge Sotomayor’s approach to Type 1 diabetes, according to friends, colleagues and her longtime doctor, Andrew Jay Drexler.

While Judge Sotomayor’s hearings were going on, I heard NPR’s legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg mention they were taking more breaks than usual so that the judge could step out to test her blood sugar. My guess is that everyone at the hearings appreciated the extra breaks. I sure did – they reminded me to test my own blood sugar levels. CONGRATS, Sonia – you’re my hero!

The actress I wrote about who had the Audrey Hepburn part in a theatre production of Wait Until Dark here in Chicago contacted me afterwards to give me some good news – she got a part in another play right after Wait Until Dark closed!

Mike and I went to see Emjoy Gavino in The Arabian nights at Lookingglass Theatre last month, and she was

That's Emjoy Gavino on the left; she visited to research her role in "Wait Until Dark."

fabulous. I had to laugh, though – Emjoy was a slave girl in one scene, and hearing her screaming in fear as she runs away from the bad guy made me think the casting director must have seen her in Wait Until Dark! That girl can sure do “fear”! The show was fantastic and has been extended until August 30 – if you’ll be in Chicago this month, I highly recommend you go see it.

A friend mentioned Gus and me in a post she wrote for her blog at Open Salon. The post is about invisible disabilities, and my friend is a bit invisible herself — she chooses to blog anonymously, so I can’t plug her by name. I can vouch for her writing, though – check out her Hells Bells blog and see for yourself!

Remember the guest blog my young friend Sandra Murillo posted here after she voted for the first time last November? I met Sandra when she was still in high school – I interviewed her for a Chicago Tribune story about how kids who are blind are educated in the public schools.

Sandra's now got her own blog!

Sandra lost her sight when she was three years old, and she uses a white cane to zip around between her house in Chicago’s south suburbs and the community college she attends nearby. In a few weeks she’ll be using that cane at University of Illinois in Urbana – she was accepted into the College of Media there!

Sandra must have caught the “blog bug” after posting here, because now she’s starting her own blog. Link to Sandra the Future Journalist to follow Sandra’s lead as she tap, tap, taps her way around the University of Illinois campus this semester.