By Kate Rammuni, Staff Writer
Reprinted from the Connecticut Post, January 10, 2010

DERBY -- Fifth-graders at Irving School have been learning about living with disabilities, and on Friday got a chance to see first-hand how those who can't see manage.

Joyce Kane, of Stratford, and Derby resident Bernadetta Pracon, brought their guide dogs to visit the class to show them how the canines are able to guide the two through life.

Pracon is a student at Emerson College in Boston, studying journalism and political communications. Her black lab, Kip, allows her to maneuver around the city alone, going everywhere with her.

"He's my best friend, but he's also my eyes," Pracon told the students.
She was born blind, Pracon said, and always wanted a guide dog. At 16 -- the earliest she was eligible -- she got Kip, Pracon said, and the two have become partners in life.

"It is amazing how you are able to really integrate with them," she said. "They're basically your eyes." She was in high school when she got Kip, Pracon said. "A lot of the kids didn't know how to act -- they were afraid he would bite them or run away," she said. But he would do neither, she said, because of the intensive training he underwent before being placed with her.

In college, the other students who live in her dormitory love Kip, she said. "They are happy when he is off the harness because that is when they can play with him," she said. "When a guide dog has its harness on they are at work and you have to ask permission to pet them or even go up to them." With Kip at her side, she is able to attend classes and live her life freely, Pracon said. She has participated in a lot of activities at Emerson, she said, including working on the school newspaper, magazine and radio station, and this semester will be doing an internship at the Boston Globe.

Kane, on the other hand, lived much of her life able to see. But she became blind 12 years ago after a heart operation. "I woke up in total blindness," she said. "It's been an adjustment. I had to learn things all over again, so I just put one foot in front of the other and went on."

She was always an avid crafter, Kane said, and that didn't change after she lost her sight. "I wanted to learn how to do it without being able to see," she said. "I thought it would be cool to get a bunch of blind people together to share our love of crafts and our skills."

She started a group that now reaches worldwide, she said. "We have students from Australia, India and England," she said. "It's an exciting venture that is just spreading and spreading."

She had one guide dog for eight years, until its death. She has been with her current dog only two months. "We are still learning about each other," she said.

Her guide dogs have accompanied her on trips, in airports and hotels.
The students were thrilled to have the dogs in their class and peppered the women with questions.

"I thought it was fascinating to get to see what people have to go through who lose their sight," said Drew Cirillo, 10. "It got me thinking about what it would be like to be blind and what obstacles they have in their lives."

"This was a great opportunity to see what they have to go through every day," said Alexis Bohn, 10. "It's amazing what they are able to do in that situation."

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