During high school I had been fortunate enough to have great O and M instruction, so I felt comfortable with my cane and with navigation. This is the most important area for prospective students to focus on—you will always need to maintain your orientation and mobility skills, whether you have a guide dog or just a cane.

I’m so glad that I made the decision to get a guide dog, and specifically to get one from Mira. I’ve had my dog Recchi for two years now and I wouldn’t change anything about the experience because Recchi isn’t just a great guide dog, she is also an excellent companion. She constantly surprises me with how much she knows or remembers. I can revisit a classroom I used the previous semester and Recchi will remember what seat I sat in, or the route I took to leave the building. She remembers which machines I use at the gym and she can follow a hostess to a table in a restaraunt.

Sometimes the smaller things my dog can do make a huge impression on me—like finding an empty seat on the bus. For a blind person with a cane, that can be a difficult, often embarassing process, but with my guide dog it’s very simple.

Improved safety is one of the biggest advantages to having a guide dog, not to mention the increased speed and convenicnce of travel. When I cross an intersection with Recchi I’m the one listening to the cars and judging when to cross, but she is the one making sure I stay in the walkway and that I make it to the opposite corner. Recchi stops at the opposite curb, so I know exactly where I am. When I’m going to the grocery store or the pharmacy I tell her “inside” and she can find the door easily. I can tell her to find counters, chairs, doors, staircases, and even familiar people.

As a blind person, it can be very easy to find yourself with a very limited world. It takes practice and effort to learn orientation and mobility, or to complete the extra forms, tests, and complications that arise when you’re a visually impaired person in college. When you’re born without sight you will have to work harder to acomplish the same goals as your sighted peers, but independence is definitely possible.

I am very lucky to have a guide dog from Mira, and I hope that other blind children can be as fortunate in the future.