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Class learns how dog can be eyes
By Elise Franco
AUSTINTOWN
Photo
Geoffrey Hauschild|The Vindicator.Tracie Reiser speaks to students at Watson Elementary about living with a vision disability accompanied by Faith Sylvester, 5, a student at the school who lives with impaired vision and Reiser's guide dog, Jimi, a golden retreiver, while in Austintown on Thursday afternoon.
Tracie Reiser wants young children to know it’s possible to live a normal life with the help of friends, family and her seeing-eye dog, Jimi.
Though Reiser, 36, now lives in Akron, she wanted to teach children in her former school district about what it’s like to be visually impaired.
During a Thursday afternoon program at Watson Elementary, kindergarten students listened to Reiser tell stories of how she lives with her disability and asked her questions.
“There are different kinds of visual impairment, but I am completely blind,” she said. “But I have really good friends who help me out.”
Reiser said her 9-year-old seeing-eye dog, Jimi, acts as her eyes in every situation. She said he helps her get from place to place safely.
“He basically is my eyes,” she said. “He keeps an eye out for me because I can’t do it.”
Principal James Carchedi said he invited Reiser to Watson for two reasons — because she is a graduate of Austintown Fitch High School and because kindergartner Faith Sylvester, 5, also has a visual impairment.
Carchedi said he wanted Faith’s classmates to have a better understanding of some of the things she goes through.
“I think this is probably their first experience with a handicapped child,” he said. “They need to realize they’re going to encounter a lot of different handicaps throughout their lives.”
Carchedi said it was important to introduce this to the youngest children in the school so they can learn the difference between a disability that is temporary versus one that is permanent.
“Young kids really have no concept of something that’s finite,” he said. “But I think, for the most part, they understood today.”
Most of the children’s questions were geared toward Reiser’s dog, Jimi. They asked her about how he helps her get from place to place and how he knows when she could be in danger.
“If we’re about to cross the street and there is a car coming, Jimi will get in front of me,” she said. “He knows not to let me cross until it’s safe.”
Reiser said besides her dog, she has several other instruments to help make everyday tasks a bit easier.
She said all of her clothes have special tags labeled in Braille so she can read them.
“I have Braille on everything,” she said. “I have it on my CDs and movies, so I know what I want to listen to and what I am going to watch.”
Reiser said she also has a special synthesized laptop that allows her to make lists and store phone numbers.
“It has a Braille display and it talks to me,” she said. “So even though sometimes it’s difficult, there’s always someone who’s trying to help and make it easier.”