Letting Go of the Harness for the Last Time: A Descriptive Realism Approach to Exploring the Ending of Working Relationships with Guide Dogs

摘要

In this research, I use a combination of feminist methodology and descriptive realism to explore my experiences and the experiences of other totally blind individuals who have ended working relationships with guide dogs. Little research has been done on the approximately eight thousand blind people who are partnered with guide dogs in the United States (Eames u26 Eames, 2004). A primary goal of this qualitative study is to give voice to the unique narratives of people whose experiences are rarely explored in academic literature (Contreras, 2003; Schneider, 2005). I blend information I gathered during interviews with five blind authors and ten blind participants with my autoethnography to illustrate how concepts can be applied to broader social issues, such as policies at agencies that provide guide dogs to blind individuals (Denzin, 2001; Ellis, 2002).