Spring Break
Student relies on guide dog to navigate campus
A perceptive pair
By: Heidi Fenton
Issue date: 10/27/08 Section: News
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But the experience is a whole new playing field for one that is visually impaired.
Katelin Archer came to Central Michigan University this fall with her guide dog, a German shepherd name Norris, and said she can testify to the daily challenges of being a college student with limited vision.
The Pennsylvania freshman has learned to create a map of campus in her mind, not based on familiar sights but rather by recognizable sounds.
"It's really weird to trust a dog with your life," Archer said. "It's like, 'You're a dog, you eat things out of a bowl on the ground, and I am trusting you?'"
Archer was born completely blind, but her eyesight has improved to 20/200 vision with contacts. She can make out basic shapes on a sunny day, but rain and snow pose special challenges.
Suzie Pletcher-Rood, director of Student Disability Services, described Archer's process of learning to navigate campus as one of flexibility and repetition. She said upon coming to campus, visually impaired students go through mobility training, where she or Jerry Dominowski, coordinator of Adaptive Technologies for Disability Services, walk around and familiarize students with the area.
"(Disability Services) breaks the campus up into four quadrants - North, South, East and West," she said. "We find something identifiable for them in each quadrant so they can identify the area."
Archer lives in the Fabiano area, and can usually hear sounds from the Education and Human Services Building's on-going construction when she's nearby.
"In the center of campus, (Archer) can listen to the fountain across from the UC and can figure 'this is where I am, this is where I go,'" Pletcher-Rood said.
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