Newspaper Articles
Blind archer is first to compete in national event
By MERI-JO BORZILLERI THE GAZETTE
Janice Walth carefully pulls back her bow, anchors her hand under her jaw, then stands still and waits. When the time is right, she lets it fly. Her arrow hits the target 30 meters away with a satisfying “thwack!”
Then, as other archers squint through their scopes to check where arrows landed, Walth waits again.
When you’re a blind archer, you learn about delayed gratification.
Walth’s mom, Jacquie Unitt, stands off her daughter’s shoulder and looks through binoculars.
“I say, ‘Three red,’ or ‘10 white,’” she explains later.
Jacquie is acting as her daughter’s spotter this week at the Archery National Target Championships that begin today at Memorial Park.
The number is the location of the arrow on the target, in clock-face terms. The colors are how close Walth, 47, got to the yellow bulls-eye.
One arrow hit red, the band next to the yellow. Most are in the white, the farthest band. A couple miss the target completely, one landing in the grass behind.
No matter. Walth has yearned for this moment, when she could participate in a big competition that means something. Walth will compete in a category by herself, the first visually impaired archer to participate in the sanctioned national tournament, and this year, the only.
“I’m just really hoping to be here, shooting in an official category and just to expose everyone to the fact you can shoot blind,” Walth said, sitting under a canopy at Memorial Park with her husband, Courtney, 46, a sighted archery competitor, and her mother. “I’m really excited the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) has accepted it as a sport.”
Visually impaired archers now have a place at the world championships, but not yet at the Paralympics, though they are for 2012.
Walth is coached by two-time Olympic coach Sheri Rhodes. How can a blind person hope to compete in archery, where precision is everything? Being an inch off at your release point means you could miss a target by 2 feet.
“We would lose 10 arrows sometimes,” said Courtney of early backyard practice sessions that utilized the tool shed wall as a safety barrier for the neighbor’s house. “When we’re shooting, we make sure they’re not out in the yard.”
Walth, from Lodi, Calif., has to aim by feel. Courtney constructed a tripod with a sight. Walth touches the knuckle of her bow hand to the sight to get the correct elevation. Homemade foot markers help position her feet, the foundation for how the rest of her body must set up. Consistent form, the ramrodstraight posture of the classical archer, is crucial.
With a staggering number of variables, this tactile arrangement means lots of trial and error, and patient discoveries.
Walth found if she makes tripod contact with the dent between her third and fourth knuckle, she’ll be off target. But a half-inch lower, where the dent is less pronounced, produces a more accurate shot.
The couple also found it better to have the aiming system of tripod and foot markers in one piece to make minute adjustments consistent.
Competing in nationals is a dream for Walth. She won’t come close to beating sighted archers. Her personal best score of 766 of 1,440 is well behind the 1,200 to 1,300 top archers typically score.
But it means she can compare her scores to other visually impaired archers and hopes to compete against them in a future Paralympic Games.
Walth never had normal sight. As a child, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease of progressive vision loss due to the degeneration of retinal cells.
She sees no shapes, color or detail, just some shades of light through peripheral vision. Walth has a guide dog, Liza, and takes her mother’s arm when they walk to the target.
As far as she and archery officials know, Walth is the only blind archery competitor in the nation.
Walth may lose a few arrows this week, and cringe when she has to rely on others to find them. But she wants nothing more than to be taken seriously.
“I don’t want people to think that this is just a cute novelty,” she said. “My goal is to be accepted as an equal.”
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0259 or merijo@gazette.com
Blind Archery
by Janice Walth in the Archery Focus Magazine
I’m sure some of you at one time or another have thought about how you would do certain things if you were blind. You probably wondered how you would cook a meal. You may have wondered how you would match your clothes. But, it’s probably a pretty good bet that you’ve never wondered how you would shoot archery if you were blind.
I have accompanied my husband to club shoots and tournaments for the past four years. During that time he and I had many discussions about how I might be able to shoot archery as a blind person and share in the fun. I searched the internet for any information I could find regarding blind individuals who shoot archery. I could not find anything in the United States, but discovered that it has become quite popular in Europe. I contacted British Blind Sports who forwarded me information regarding their technique.
Archers who can see the target use bow sights, but archers who cannot see the target use tactile sighting aides. It has been found that a lack of vision causes alignment and balance issues resulting in problems with body sway. For example, At 60 meters a visually impaired archer can miss the target 4 out of 6 times, but at 30 meters she may miss the target face, but should not miss the target entirely. The British Blind Sports development team created what is known as the Burntwood round. By utilizing this Burntwood round, the archer shoots at 30 meters and changes the size of the target to simulate the four distances. A 40 cm target represents a distance of 90 meters, a 60 cm target represents a distance of 70 meters, an 80 cm target represents a distance of 50 meters and a 120 cm target represents a distance of 30 meters. There is no difference in target size shot by male and female archers. The Burntwood FITA round enables visually impaired archers to attend mainstream outdoor competitions. When shooting indoors, a visually impaired archer can shoot the same distance and target size as the sighted archers (40 cm target at 20 meters).
My husband tacks down the tripod which holds my sight and the foot marker. The foot marker allows me to stand in the same place each time I return to the line to shoot. When I pull back the bow, I aim by touching a particular area on the back of my hand to the sight. Otherwise, my technique is the same as any other archer. I have a spotter who tells me the position of my arrow on the target by calling out the color and clock face. For example, 12 o’clock outer red, 3 o’clock inner blue.
As I develop my technique, it is important to me that I am not shooting with any advantage over a sighted archer. I want to be confident that my skills and score are comparable to that of a sighted archer at the same level of experience, even though I am competing as a blind person.
I shot in my first tournament on May 1st at the Cotton Boll Classic in Tulare. I had a lot of fun participating along side the other archers. The sighted archers and officials made me feel at home and like part of the group. Three weeks later, I shot at the State Outdoor tournament in Long Beach, California. It was at that time that the State Archers of California voted to recognize blind archery as an official category at all California events. This was very exciting news and is the first step in gaining recognition on a national level.
I am pleased to be able to introduce blind archery to the United States and hope that other visually impaired individuals will want to join in the sport.
British Blind Sports Contact:
http://www.britishblindsport.org.uk/archery_txt.htm
Sandra Nesbitt
BBS Archery section chairperson
Tel. 0191 4567912
email stephen.nesbitt1@btinternet.com
mobile 0793 1219393
Teacher's pet project: A guide dog in the classroom? Goum has become the heart of the school - and a lesson for everyone
Montreal Gazette (2005-02-27)
Teacher Catherine Martel was thrilled the principal of the school hiring her would allow her to bring a guide dog she was training to class. But on the day last June she was signing the contract, she figured it was over when she turned around and saw what her dog had done on the carpet.
In the middle of the principal's office.
Luckily, Shawn O'Donnell, principal of Ecole Bilingue Notre Dame de Sion in St. Laurent, loves animals and was convinced the experience of having a dog in the private school would be wonderful.
He was right.
The beautiful blond Labrador retriever being trained by Martel since last April to assist an impaired person has also become the heart of the school. Goum plays with students at recess, lies with children who are sick in the infirmary and has made the children more sensitive to people with disabilities.
There's no doubt there will be tears when Goum departs next month, but everybody at the school says they have learned so much from her presence.
"The kids love her but they also understand what an important job she will have and that they are raising a pair of eyes for someone else," said Martel, who will be sending Goum back to the MIRA Foundation for further training.
It was necessary for Martel, a Grade 1 French teacher at the school, to keep Goum with her because the dog is not allowed to be alone for more than four hours a day. MIRA provides disabled people with dogs that are trained to meet the needs of each individual.
O'Donnell said the experience with Goum exceeded his expectations.
"The children understand that this dog will really help someone," he said. "And just having a nice, calm puppy around has lifted everyone's spirits."
Carrie Czerwinski, the English teacher who shares a class with Martel, was a little concerned about the dog at the beginning of the school year when she was hyper and chewing on things.
"But it's really been great motivation for the children," Czerwinski said.
While docile and sweet, Goum has had her moments. There was the time she was tied to a desk and just started to walk out of the classroom, dragging the desk behind her. She has been known to forage in wastepaper baskets for food. And she once ate a whole container of fish food from another classroom.
"The whole school has been touched by this dog," said Stephanie Rossy-Beauchamp, whose son, Ryan, is in Martel's class. Ryan, 6, said he will try not to be sad when Goum leaves because he knows she has an important job to do.
"She really made the year more fun," said Selena Percio, 6.
So it's no wonder this year's class picture features smiling students, an English teacher, a French teacher and the real teacher's pet: Goum.
kseidman@thegazette.canwest.com
KAREN SEIDMAN
Moving forward
Oars back in water, blinded Gilbert envisions a future
By Tony Chamberlain, Globe Staff | October 24, 2004
CAMBRIDGE -- The sea birds still fly and cry over her as she rows, and the waves still lap against the hull as the bow knifes through the water. Her body moves with power and grace as she pulls the oars, and on a crisp fall afternoon the seasonal change is palpable in the air over the river
All of this Ariel Gilbert can hear and smell and feel around her, even if she can't see the world with her eyes anymore.
Just before 4 p.m. today, Gilbert, a 50-year-old sculler from Marin, Calif., intends to make history as the first blind rower to complete the Head of the Charles's winding course with its six tricky bridges.
Gilbert will be paired with Olympian Sarah Jones in the championship women's doubles. Jones, an eight-time national team member, finished first in the 2004 Olympic trials and competed in Athens in August.
At the Cambridge Boat Club Friday, Jones and Gilbert (along with seeing-eye German shepherd Hedda) met for the first time since coming to town for the regatta. Then, says Jones, who has rowed the Charles four times, it was time to make a plan for the windy, winding course.
For Gilbert, the race is another step in a rowing career that was interrupted for only six months after a vicious act of vandalism blinded her in March 1988. A pediatric nurse at Marin General Hospital, Gilbert had just finished her shift. She recalls that her eyes felt irritated, so she used some eye drops from a common over-the-counter brand. Right away, she knew there was trouble.
"As soon as I felt the pain, I knew that something was terribly wrong," she said. "I found out later that the drops had been adulterated with lye, and I became the one-in-10-million person who is victimized with tampering."
With bewildering suddenness, Gilbert was living in a dark world. An athlete who loved the outdoors, she became a shut-in, finding some solace only from music and audio books. Her nursing career, her rowing, even just taking simple walks -- all of it seemed gone forever.
"When I lost my sight, everything I imagined trying to be able to do, from just being able to walk through my house to cooking and finding my clothes -- you know, really basic living skills -- was an obstacle to me at that point," she said. "I was a toddler in a 34-year-old body."
While developing her other senses to the point where she could function more easily took several years, there was one thing she found she had left: rowing. She had not tried it for six months after losing her sight. Feeling that she might not be able to balance in the boat because she had lost the horizon line, she was reluctant to try again.
But then a friend persuaded her to join her in a double scull.
"She called and told me I didn't need to see to row, and that she would steer the boat," said Gilbert. "The skeptical owner of the boathouse nervously agreed to let me try.
"And I was nervous. I didn't know whether I could balance. But I remember taking the oars in my hands and taking the first couple of strokes and then I began taking those deep breaths, and I remember just having that feel of comfort go through me and I thought, `Ah, I'm home.' "
Gilbert had found the one activity she could engage in that would let her escape for a while from the ever-present awareness of her blindness.
Moreover, rowing sightlessly presented her with a project, an opportunity to improve and learn new techniques. As her rowing improved, so did the rest of her life, as she mastered ways to make things as normal as possible.
At the Orientation Center for the Blind in Albany, Calif., Gilbert learned independent mobility with a cane, reading and writing in Braille, cooking, and other skills for independent living.
"I attended Guide Dogs for the Blind, where I got my first guide dog, Webster, a golden Labrador retriever," she said, "and I went back to work at Marin General Hospital, first developing X-rays, then as a medical transcriber."
Her first walk with a guide dog showed her that she did not have to measure her steps, that she could walk as fast as sighted people. With her skills developing, and her rowing resumed, she was gaining her self-confidence back.
"Between having a guide dog and rowing, my life has taken on some normalcy," she said.
As her rowing has progressed from pure recreation to competition, Gilbert has become active in the Paralympic movement, which, she believes, will introduce adaptive rowing in the 2008 Olympics.
"I saw the benefit of an adaptive team [through the US national team] as a thing that could open doors to other people who were thinking that they might want to get into rowing," said Gilbert. "And the fears that people in boathouses may have of having somebody who has a disability rowing -- the equipment, the liability, and things -- well, maybe adaptive rowing can break down some barriers."
She has met and overcome a host of personal barriers, one coming in 1999 when she paired with veteran Perry Heffelfinger, who asked Gilbert if she wanted to try the 26-mile Catalina Crossing race. She had her doubts.
"Could I row for six hours continuously?" she said. "Was I strong enough? Could I endure the pain? Was I good enough to row with Perry? In 1998, we tested the waters together, and Perry hadn't spent much time in a double. It was awkward at first. In the beginning, we were like two teenagers learning how to dance."
But from those tentative days came a series of very respectable finishes, as Gilbert's pair racing only improved. And Jones, coming off her Olympic effort, makes the duo a most competitive boat in the Boston races.
"She's just a phenomenal person," said Jones. "Even with all my experience, I'm constantly amazed by her. She's just so fit and well-trained.
"In all my experience, I've never met anyone who has taught me more about the importance of being positive and putting your hardships aside. This is a real reward for me."
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
PETS TO HELP PROBE ENVIRONMENTAL, GENETIC FACTORS
Saturday November 22, 2003 - Pets to help probe environmental, genetic factors
By Jane Futcher
Clues to Marin's breast cancer epidemic may soon come from an unexpected source - a canine study Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael hopes to launch next year.
The probe of genetic and environmental factors influencing canine breast cancer would follow hundreds of active and retired breeder dogs within a 50-mile radius of the organization's San Rafael campus.
Among female dogs, breast cancer is the most common malignancy, as it is among women - excluding non-melanoma skin cancers. In Marin, the rate of invasive breast cancer for non-Hispanic white women rose six times more rapidly between 1998 and 1999 than it did in comparison counties, according to theNorthern California Cancer Center.
"Since our breeder dogs live with families in the Marin area, known for its high rate of human breast cancer, we are also uniquely positioned to assist researchers studying human breast cancer in the Marin and Bay Area," said veterinarian Patricia N. Olson, director of Guide Dogs' canine health and training operations.
"Preliminary work suggests that the incidence of breast cancer at Guide Dogs for the Blind might be higher than at an East Coast 'sister school' that manages its breeding population similarly to us."
If Marin women and canines have higher rates of breast cancer than their counterparts in other communities, that could point to the environment as a key factor in Marin's high rate of the disease, according to Olson.
"With new genetic technologies and the ability to get environmental information on our breeding moms, we might be in a good place to unravel a part of the cancer issue," she said. "Animals are often used as sentinels to understand human risk factors for disease."
According to Olson, the entire canine genome should be sequenced by geneticists by mid-2004. In anticipation of this important genetic information, her organization has already collected DNA from about 2,000 dogs born on the San Rafael campus, from blood normally collected for assessing health.
Eventually, all the dogs' genetic information could be compared with their health outcomes and environmental data over a minimum of five years.
The proposed study, which needs a still undetermined amount of funding to go forward, has received preliminary grants - to be used in collaboration with the University of Missouri - of $100,000 from the Baer Foundation in St. Louis, Mo., and $15,000 from PetsMart Charities in Arizona.
It has won kudos, but no cash, from Larry Meredith, director of Marin County's Department of Health and Human Services.
"We think this is one of the unexpected opportunities in Marin County to further our exploration of environmental factors that may be involved in breast cancer, and for that matter other cancers," said Meredith, whose department has provided epidemiological input on the proposal. "And so we are very supportive of this collaborative relationship."
The principle designer of the study, with Olson, is Colorado State University epidemiologist and veterinarian Dr. John Reif of the veterinary college's Animal Cancer Center.
He said Guide Dogs' breeding program dogs are an excellent population to study because they receive a high standard of veterinary care and researchers will have access to their medical records, diet and nutrition information and physical environment. Female dogs neutered prior to puberty have almost no risk of breast cancer, according to Reif, while dogs that are not neutered and are therefore more exposed to natural hormones have a risk that is as much as 20 times higher than neutered dogs.
Not yet known is whether breeding dogs who have more puppies have a lower risk of developing cancer than dogs that have fewer puppies - as appears to be the case in women who bear more children.
"The hypothesis is there is a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors that are important in breast cancer," Reif said. "With respect to the environmental risk factors, the most likely mechanisms are through some hormonal pathway that would change the balance of hormones with the dog. Estrogen is one of those hormones."
Marin veterinarian Dr. James Coddington of The Country Vet in Novato welcomes the study because his animal practice, one of Marin's largest, is seeing a marked increase in the number of several animal cancers. In dogs that he treats, mast cell or malignant skin tumors are on the rise, as are hemangiosarcomas - tumors of the blood vessel cells; in cats, thyroid cancer rates are soaring.
Canine breast cancer is not spiking in Coddington's practice but he said that could be because most of the female dogs he sees are spayed, and are therefore at a lower risk of breast cancer.
What would prove significant, he said, is if the study could compare spayed dogs with unspayed dogs, something that is not yet planned.
"If breast cancer is increasing in both populations, that increases the (likelihood) of environmental causes," he said.
Animal diseases are often predictors of human diseases, according to Coddington, because their lifespans are shorter and they manifest diseases faster than people. They are also more affected by the environment.
"They're exposed via animal-grade foods that have environmental contaminants," he said. "They're close to the ground, they walk on grass, they lick their paws, they drink possible contaminated water from streams, they spend more time outdoors."
If Guide Dogs can secure funding for the study, Olson said the results could yield a major benefit for the largest guide dog school in the country - healthier dogs, well-suited to their jobs, with longer lifespans. Currently, only 50 percent of Guide Dog puppies become working seeing-eye dogs.
"When a dog has to come out of service prematurely for a disease, it's a huge emotional toll," said former Guide Dogs board member Janice Peterson, whose 11-year-old dog, Mittens, a retired breeder, was diagnosed with breast cancer about a year ago. "It's losing your best friend. It's also losing your mobility. It's losing your eyes."
NOTE: Debbie Walker puppy walked Gladys
The Oregonian
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
LIVING SMART PETS GUIDE DOG GUIDES: PUPPY-RAISERS TEACH BASICS
> By DEBORAH WOOD
When Debbie Walker goes shopping, 1-year-old Karola goes along. "I take Karola everywhere," Walker says. "She goes with me to my son's school, to church, to the bank. We've even gone to the movies. We go out to dinner constantly; she's so good at restaurants."
There's a purpose in taking this friendly Labrador everywhere: Karola is preparing for her future as a guide dog. Walker is a volunteer puppy-raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind. She's giving Karola the basic skills to prepare for the demanding, rewarding life ahead.
“We're always looking for more puppy-raisers," says Cathie Laber, a puppy-raising adviser for Guide Dogs for the Blind. There are about 150 puppies now being raised by volunteers in Oregon. Puppy-raisers receive a fuzzy 8-week-old puppy. The dogs are Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, Labrador/golden crosses and German shepherds bred by Guide Dogs for the Blind. Puppy-raisers provide a loving home, socialization and basic training to the dog. When the dog is about 13 to 18 months old, it's called back to the organization, where it receives five months of intensive training. The dog is then paired with a visually impaired person for a lifetime partnership.
Giving the dog up.
"The number one question we get is, 'How do you give the dog back?' " says Laber. While she admits it isn't easy to give up a dog that you've cared for and loved for a year, there is enormous reward in seeing the dog become a guide dog. "The goal is to see the dog graduate. Sometimes friendships develop between the puppy-raiser and the person who receives the dog." That's exactly what happened with Debbie Walker and the person who received her first guide dog puppy. "We instant-message each other all the time," Walker says.
Basic requirements.
Puppy-raisers can be adults or children as young as 9, as long as the whole family is committed to supporting the project. You must provide a safe and secure environment for the puppy. While a fenced yard is preferred, some puppies have been successfully raised in apartments or condominiums. Young puppies need to be supervised throughout the day, and all dogs sleep inside at night. "Lots of times, this is a family project," Laber says. One parent might take the dog to the office, and a child might take the dog to the mall for socialization. There are also opportunities for people who just want to raise puppies until they're 4 months old, and for people who want to raise them after that age.
Raising puppies the Guide Dog way.
Puppy-raisers are required to attend regular meetings, where they receive generous amounts of help, guidance and practice. Puppy-raisers accustom the puppies to being touched all over their bodies, since that's the way visually impaired people inspect their guide dogs for injuries.
Puppy-raisers are taught how to teach their dogs basic obedience using Guide Dogs for the Blind methods. For example, guide dog puppies aren't given balls to chase, since that might make the dog more likely to be distracted when it's working.
"We practice food avoidance," Walker says. "A working dog might be accompanying a high school student. The other kids might want to feed the dog french fries. We can teach the dog to look away from food and not eat it." A puppy-raiser's biggest job is to socialize, socialize, socialize. The dogs wear distinctive jackets and are always crowd-gatherers. "You won't get through your grocery shopping in 10 minutes," Laber says with a laugh.
Career change dogs.
About half the dogs don't pass the rigorous program to become a guide dog. Puppy-raisers have first priority to adopt "career change" dogs. Some dogs become search and rescue dogs, dogs for the deaf or therapy dogs or are adopted through the organization's career change dog adoption program.
More information: 800-295-4050, www.guidedogs.com (click on "Puppy Raising").
Deborah Wood:TaoBowwow@aol.com.