In response to the July 21 letter about the young lady who went bear hunting, being vision impaired (“Youth Outdoors is misguided”), this is not a “blind girl,” she is a girl who is vision impaired. She is not “handicapped,” she is a person with a disability. She received and is consuming the meat from this hunt. Who are you to judge her dreams and aspirations? I’m pretty sure no one “sought” letter writer Robert Holczer’s opinion on this nor does he get to judge how others legally spend their time, effort and money.
My family helped found this program because we believed that people like our daughter, who is also vision impaired, deserved to participate in the same traditional life experiences that the rest of our family does. Before you start judging us, we actually support a local service dog program and our daughter benefits greatly from her service animal.
I volunteered for eight years as a 4-H dog trainer, many of our kids trained their dogs as canine good citizens and spent time with the elderly and less fortunate. I belong to an AKC group which has supported wonderful therapy and community programs for individuals of all abilities.
So, please, before you speak or write about a subject publicly, at least learn the facts. More importantly, learn how to speak in a respectful way about individuals who live with disabilities.
