Sarah Blake LaRose

Many people report that their confidence increases as they begin to travel widely with their first dog guide. My experience was no exception as Elli and I came home from training and went about our routines. I am not convinced that the increase in confidence had everything to do with Elli. A good deal of it had to do with my willingness to take new responsibilities for my travel.

I made decisions about which routes to travel in order to reach my destinations, when I thought it was safe to cross streets, etc. Elli confirmed my decisions about street crossings by going or denied them by refusing to go if cars were turning in front of me. She also guided me around ovjects and people that were in my path.

As my confidence increased, I decided to try new experiences. In 1994, I spent my spring break in New York, visiting an old friend. In fact, she had been my roommate during my training with Elli.

My friend introduced me to the subway system and took me shopping downtown. We planned to visit a large pet store; and we needed to estimate the distance down the block to locate the address. As we walked down the block, my friend asked, “How are we going to figure this out? I’m not going to just walk into the store and ask!” We had come face to face with the reality of blindness. Our dogs could not do all things; and while the grid system in New York City was great for finding the right street, it would not find our store.

I would not be outdone. We were not walking all this way just to be stopped by an address. “I will walk into the store,” I said.

“You can’t!” she exclaimed. “What if it’s a strip club?”

“Well, then I’ll walk back out.”

“You can’t go in there alone!” she protested. “We’ll both go.”

We chose a door and headed inside. I expected to find a counter somewhere near the front, but all I could see were display cases. Numerous display cases. Were they full of porn magazines? I would have to touch one to find out.

As I approached one, Elli stuck her nose firmly on it. What was she so curious about?

Investigating Elli’s nose gave me all the answer we needed. Elli had located a very large dog bone.

It was while Elli and I were in New York that the moment of my humbling came. For several years, I didn’t want to speak about it. Today, it is important that I do so.

As a person who often travels by walking, I spend a lot of time talking about the need for people to exercise safety while driving, the need for good traffic control, things drivers need to know about responding to the presence of a person who is blind at an intersection, etc. In this post, I am going to depart from all these things and talk about the things that we who are blind need to do to take part in our own safety on the streets.

Safety on the street requires all parties to be actively engaged and to be aware of numerous things in the environment. This is why we have so much discussion about substances and driving; and it’s also why we have discussions about texting and driving. If a person’s judgment is impaired, and if their eyes are elsewhere, they are not able to be aware whiel driving.

The same things apply to those of us who walk. If we are engaged with our phones while walking, listening to a headset, or even talking to a companion who is with us while crossing a street, we have taken our awareness away from the environment and given it to something else.

That is what I did in 1994.

I talked–a lot–while crossing the street.

My dog backed away from a turning vehicle. I misinterpreted her action. In 1991, this maneuver was not included as part of traffic training. It was later incorporated into the training, and with all of my other dogs I received extensive practice.

I corrected Elli for what I interpreted as an attempt to sniff at food on the ground. The vehicle struck her harness and continued on its way.

Numerous people stopped to assist me, and a policeman gave my friend and me a ride to our destination. Elli and I were unharmed; but Elli was traumatized by the event. Our location allowed us to visit the Seeing Eye for a day of immediate follow-up work with trainers. I also received several additional home visits during the next year. Elli recovered and continued to work until late 1998.

I did not realize for some time that the accident might have been prevented if I had paid more attention to my own travel. I will never know. What I do know is that while I trust my dogs greatly, I am part of a partnership and I am responsible for two precious lives while I am on the road. I owe it to both of us to exercise all the awareness I have. That means no headphones, no conversations in the street, no selfie videos in the street, etc. I can only expect the best from drivers when I am also giving my best to the safety process.

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About Sarah Blake LaRose

Sarah Blake LaRose teaches Biblical Hebrew and Greek at Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry in Anderson, Indiana. She is one of three blind academic scholars who received the Jacob Bolotin Award from the National Federation of the Blind in 2016 in recognition of innovative work in the field of access to biblical language texts and tools for people who are blind. In addition to her work as a professor, she provides braille transcription services specializing in ancient languages. Her research interests concern the intersection of disability, poverty, and biblical studies.

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