[gps-talkusers] Re: FW: [TSE-Chat] Fw: [doggie-den] Fw: Please Show That Discrimination Is Not Acceptable!

  • From: "Sarai" <bucc7465@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 13:33:15 -0500

Or lawyers. Or maybe someone can pod cast the entire thing.

-----Original Message-----
From: gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of gerry leary
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 1:26 PM
To: gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gps-talkusers] Re: FW: [TSE-Chat] Fw: [doggie-den] Fw: Please
Show That Discrimination Is Not Acceptable!


Maybe we should bring another large group with imbedded reporters who
don't look the type.  Gerry

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sarai <mailto:bucc7465@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>  
To: Seeing Eye <mailto:seeingeye-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>  ; GPS
<mailto:gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>  
Cc: GDUI <mailto:GDU-United@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>  ; ACB List
<mailto:acb-l@xxxxxxx>  ; alabama <mailto:alabama@xxxxxxx>  
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 12:11 PM
Subject: [gps-talkusers] FW: [TSE-Chat] Fw: [doggie-den] Fw: Please Show
That Discrimination Is Not Acceptable!

 
-----Original Message-----
From: TSE-Chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:TSE-Chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Barbara Gatto
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 11:19 AM
To: Seeingeye List
Cc: Seeing eye Chat
Subject: [TSE-Chat] Fw: [doggie-den] Fw: Please Show That Discrimination
Is Not Acceptable!


Subject: Please Show That Discrimination Is Not Acceptable!


| Hey, all,
|     I haven't posted much recently, since I'm only on  the Digest
version,
| but I wanted to enlist your help. I just returned from a  wonderful
week 
with
| the Sendero Group (the maker's of the BrailleNote GPS) in  Maine.
Every 
year,
| the Sendero Group goes on a tour to an interesting  destination
anywhere 
in the
| world. They've toured California's Gold Country and  last year they 
visited
| Ireland and Scotland. As I said, this year's trip was to  Maine and, 
luckily,
| they have scholarships for college students and young  professionals
which 
pay
| for the hotel and traveling expenses. The trip is  basically just a
group 
of
| thirty blind folks going to a cool location and  traveling around 
independently
| using their canes, guide dogs, and the Braille  Note GPS. I highly,
highly
| recommend that those of you who are interested in  going next year
apply 
for a
| scholarship. It's a really great time.
|     Okay, so anyway, that's the background. Here's why  I need
everybody's
| help.
|     As wonderful as the trip was, we did encounter one  really
disturbing
| incident. As a cane user, I don't encounter guide dog  discrimination 
myself, so
| traveling in a group where many people used dogs was  an eye opening
| experience. On Thursday, we were in Portland, Maine and after  lunch, 
several of us
| decided to go to the Shipyard Brewing Company. Some of our  other 
traveling
| companions had had Shipyard beer at the restaurant where they'd  eaten

lunch and
| they highly recommended that a group of us go check it out. So,  about

fifteen
| of us braved the light rain that had begun to fall and walked the
mile or 
so
| to the Shipyard Brewery. With visions of hops and barley dancing in
our 
heads,
| we all trooped into the brewery. Unbeknownst to me at the time,
several 
of
| the brewery employees pulled two members of our group aside and told
them 
that
| they didn't want "all these blind people" going upstairs and taking
the
| tour. After all, they said, there are hoses all over the floor and
puddles 
of
| water everywhere. Luckily, these two people explained that we would
all be 
using
| canes or dog guides and that these mobility aids would prevent us from
| getting into any sort of trouble.
|     Things seemed settled and we all trooped in to the  waiting room. 
There
| were about fifty or sixty people waiting to take the tour. A  brewery
tour
| guide came up to the front of the room and announced, "Just so
everybody 
knows,
| we're going to watch an eight minute film on the brewery and  the
brewing
| process. After that, we're going to go upstairs and take a tour.  This

will involve
| going up three flights of stairs and there are hoses and  puddles of
water
| all over the place. So, you might all want to think about that  as you

watch the
| film."
| Naturally, all of us knew  that this was code for, "Are you blind
folks 
sure
| you can handle this?" So, we  all nodded and smiled amiably and sat 
through
| the eight minute introductory  film. After it had ended, the tour
guide 
came
| back and informed the audience  that guide dogs were not allowed
upstairs. 
We
| tried explaining to the employees  that not allowing the guide dogs to

come with
| their owners was against the law,  but they didn't care. They seemed
| particularly concerned that the dogs  would somehow contaminate their 
yeast. We
| reminded them that guide dogs are very  well groomed and cared for and

that, after
| all, how could they guarantee that  any people who went on the tour
had 
good
| hygiene and were clean? After arguing  with them for quite some time,
it 
became
| apparent to us that they would use any  excuse to keep us from going. 
First,
| they didn't want us to go because of safety  concerns. When we refuted

those
| concerns, they brought up the guide dog issue.  After we told them
that 
that was
| discrimination, they told us that they just  didn't like large groups 
coming
| in. (This is complete crap. We were just going  to tag along with a
public 
tour
| of about fifty or sixty people and their were  only about fifteen or 
twenty
| of us. There was plenty of room.) Finally, they  offered us a tour if
we 
left
| the guide dogs downstairs. Most of the group  decided not to go on the

tour on
| principle and also because of the practical  matter of where they
would 
leave
| their guide dogs. However, two guide dog users  agreed to leave their
dogs
| downstairs with a friend and go on the tour anyway.  Being a cane
user, I 
decided
| to join them. So, Jamie took the tour guide's arm  and Denna took my
arm 
and
| we were off. I was still seething, but I wanted to see  what about the

brewery
| floor was so treacherous and frightening. I can honestly  say that
there 
was
| no reason the dogs couldn't have gone. We were never in  contact with
any 
of
| the actual product and, as I said, they don't screen people  for 
cleanliness
| and all of the guide dogs were probably better groomed then some  of
the 
people
| who take the tour.
| Because we had  been treated with such disrespect, none of us bought 
anything
| from the gift shop  and Mike May called the Seeing Eye to look into
the
| matter. We quickly found out  that another guide dog user had once
been 
denied
| access into another brewery and  the court had found the brewery to be

guilty of
| discrimination. We wished  we had known this when we went in, but we 
warned
| them that they have not seen  the last of us. Sendero Group and the
Seeing 
Eye
| are going to have their lawyers  contact the brewery.
|     In the meantime, we need to show the brewery that  denying access
to
| blind people who use guide dogs is unacceptable. Many guide  dog users
in 
our
| group have toured other breweries without incident and, as I  said,
there 
is legal
| precedent that breweries are not allowed to do this. Please  email the
| brewery and let them know that they have lost your business and that
of 
your family
| and friends. They need to know that what they did angered not  only a 
group
| of fifteen blind people, but also those people's family and  friends.
I
| especially encourage you to pass this on to other listservs,
particularly 
guide dog
| users listservs. Here is the Shipyard Brewing Company's  contact info:
| Email: info@xxxxxxxxxxxx
| Office Phone: 207-761-0807
| Office Toll Free:  1-800-789-0684
|     Thanks for your  help!
| Stacy
| PS Throughout  the trip, all the scholarship winners were responsible
for
| writing a web log of  the trip. You can check it out at :
| _http://www.senderogroup.com/blog.htm_ 
(http://www.senderogroup.com/blog.htm)



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