Get the latest updates on PTGDU news,
stories, activities and events.
Photo courtesy of The Seeing Eye
Monthly News Updates
Current Activities & Events
PTGDU Spring Meeting
Join us on Wednesday, May 1st at 6:30 PM eastern standard time for our annual spring meeting. PTGDU member Nicholas Giudice, PhD., Professor of Spatial Informatics at the University of Maine, and founder & Chief Research Scientist of the Virtual Environments and Multimodal Interaction Laboratory, will be discussing his team’s extensive research on making fully autonomous vehicles accessible for use by blind and low vision passengers. A brief business meeting will be held after the presentation. Send us a message for the Zoom information and meeting agenda.
Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Many thanks to Mainebiz.com, a leading source of news for Maine business owners, for featuring PTGDU’s new service animal flyer in its recent article titled Maine Businesses May Be Barking Up the Wrong Tree When it Comes to Service Animals. We greatly appreciate Mainebiz’s efforts to educate Maine businesses about their rights and responsibilities when it comes to allowing access to people with service animals.
Our Personal Stories
Read this powerfully moving account of one man’s struggle to adjust to gradual vision loss. With raw honesty and genuineness, PTGDU member Steve Lambert openly shares his tumultuous path to acceptance, reconciliation, and growth.
New Educational Flyer
Want to educate your community about real service animals? Share PTGDU’s new flyer specially designed to help businesses and others recognize legitimate service animals. (Photos for the flyer provided curtesy of K9s for Warriors and The Seeing Eye.)
Air Travel Barriers
Several PTGDU members who travel by air, for work or recreation, have been negatively impacted by the inaccessibility and complexity of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s service animal attestation form that many airlines currently require. Read PTGDU’s comment supporting the National Federation of the Blind’s petition to restore meaningful access to air travel for those of us who fly with guide dogs.
Improve Your Safety!
Listen to Seeing Eye instructor Lukas Franck share his extensive knowledge and experiences about improving safety and walkability for blind and low vision pedestrians.
Want to Learn More about
PTGDU’s Work?
Visit our new Meeting Minutes & Reports page for a summary of the discussions and decisions that take place at our membership, board, and committee meetings.
Free! Guide Dogs in Action
Educational Series
Check out the free materials for our Guide Dogs in Action Educational Series as a guide dog team makes a trip to the country store. Learn what challenges they’ll face and how the guide dog uses its skills to navigate a variety of situations along the way.
Join the Pack!
Our Members & Friends of Pine Tree Guide Dog Users Facebook group is an informal group page developed to build an active and vibrant community among PTGDU members & friends. Participants post their own photos, videos, share experiences, ask for recommendations, support one another, and more.