Happy October! The school year is back in full swing, and yesterday morning my friend Jamie drove Seeing Eye dog Whitney and me to Deerfield, a suburb of Chicago, to talk with third graders at Kipling Elementary School. We were there as part of Educating Outside The Lines, a disability awareness program that uses a […]

I am pleased to have Hava Hegenbarth back as a guest blogger today. Hava volunteered as a puppy-raiser for Leader Dogs for years. We’ve never met face to face, but she’s been following our Safe & Sound blog since it started, so we feel we know each other. Hava is retired after a career in the […]

A week ago today my sisters accompanied me to Peach Plains Elementary School in Grand Haven, Michigan—my Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I were giving a presentation to Brenda Wittkopp’s fourth-grade class there. Since Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound is a picture book, some schools figure the older kids won’t be interested in what […]

My Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I spent yesterday afternoon answering questions from third-graders who attend Goudy Elementary, a Public school in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The third graders are part of a Friday “reading buddies” program at Admiral At the Lake, a retirement community where I lead weekly memoir-writing classes. Goudy is so close to […]

Whitney and I took a commuter train to Deerfield, Illinois Thursday to talk with third graders at Wilmot Elementary about what it’s like to be blind and get around with a Seeing Eye dog. I started by explaining the three rules Wilmot students should keep in mind if they happen to see a guide dog […]