The tough decision of Rentons retirement

Renton sitting in the drivers seat of the car looking in the wing mirror

Unless there is a snap general UK election in the next 12 months, this forthcoming Scottish Election at the beginning of May, will be my guide dog’s last one before he retires! Bit of a shock I know! One of the reasons I started this blog was to explain the process of how a blind person is trained to work with the new dog and all the bonding and frustrations that go along with it. So far he’s been on the road with me on two UK elections, one local council election, a Scottish Referendum on independence and oh yes, a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU still to come at the end of June.

So Renton has certainly seen his fair share of political action.

It’s never easy making the decision to retire a guide dog, but as he’s coming up for 8 and it can take some time to get the exact dog for my needs, it was suggested it may be time to start the process of retiring him.

So, before the Easter break, I sat down with one of the guide dog instructors to set out a plan and timetable for Renton’s retirement.    The one thing I didn’t want to do was have a last minute rush to stop him working, which would leave me with no dog at all or push me into getting a dog that  doesn't quite fit my needs.  Because of this we’ve put a plan in place that he will retire sometime over the next 18months!

There are two things I have to consider when retiring a guide dog.  His welfare and my mobility. One doesn’t supersede the other, they are both equally important. It’s very easy to get sentimental, but it doesn’t help. Fundamentally, I’m blind and need a dog to get about. Plus he needs some time to enjoy life without the stress of work.

picture of the bag of Ian and Rentons heads as they sit in the car

A  colleague at work had said that they thought that 8yrs old sounded young to retire a guide dog? Well, in many cases this may be true. However, it does come down to the dogs work load and breed. German shepherds are larger dogs so do tend to age a bit quicker than the average Lab.8-9yrs old is about an average age for a dog which is so big...and he is huge! So to give them some kind of quality after work life it’s best to retire them a bit earlier. 

So anytime over the next year and a half, I could get that call saying we’ve a new dog for you. Then the real emotion kicks in and the next big decision. Do we keep Renton? Or find him a new home for his retirement? 

  

To sleep per chance to dream

So... the clocks have gone forward an hour and we’ll all lose extra time in bed. However, the up-side is that long sultry summer days are just around the corner - fantastic! (You can’t say I’m not an optimist.)  However, being blind, apart from the hot sun against my face I won’t detect any difference, as I can’t distinguish between day and night. 

It is estimated that 70% of totally blind people have a sleep disorder and as many as half of everyone with a significant sight loss could also be affected.  It’s because they can’t tell light from dark. 

I’ve discovered that I’m one of the unfortunate 70% of totally blind people who have trouble sleeping. It’s like having permanent jetlag. There I am laying in bed, wide awake at 4 am in the morning, physically exhausted - wondering why I can’t sleep. It wasn’t until I presented a radio programme that I discovered my poor sleep pattern may have something to do with my blindness.

The problem is caused by the disruption of the melatonin in the body. It controls the circadian rhythm, so we sleep at night and stay alert during daylight hours. The amount of light which reaches the eyes controls the quantity of melatonin that the pineal gland produces. Light slows down the production of the hormone.  So on a bright sunny day, you are alert and filled with energy. On a dull day when the house is full of dark shadows, you become more lacklustre and sleepy. When evening falls and the lights go out, the pineal gland increases its production of melatonin. The hormone flows throughout the body and makes people sleepy. However, if you’re blind, this doesn’t work affectively and the body’s natural rhythm becomes disrupted throwing the sleep pattern out of kilter.

I’ve been visually impaired since birth, but because I had a little vision and the light was getting through to my pineal gland, my body was still excreting the melatonin hormone, so disturbed sleep patterns were not  really an issue, until I lost all my sight a few years ago.   A blind friend of mine had been complaining for years of not being able to get to sleep at night and he didn’t understand why.  Consequently he would be shattered the following day at work, making it very difficult for him to function affectively.  He also believed that his lack of sleep was much more disabling than his lack of vision.  

Like him, if I’ve had a good night's sleep I can function quite normally. Moving around independently, operating my computer and interacting with my colleagues doesn’t present any difficulty. But if I’ve not slept, it’s quite a different matter.

It’s a very difficult thing to describe. Another blind friend who suffered badly from sleep deficiency explained it as having a squishy shield between you and the rest of the world. I know exactly what they meant.  In this state of semi awakeness, combined with blindness, it can be extremely dangerous when moving around. It’s so easy to get disoriented and misjudge stairs, traffic and other obstacles.  Although it’s largely incurable, the worst aspects can be significantly reduced by taking the drug Melatonin before going to bed. Oddly, you would imagine that this would be commonly known, both among the blind community and the medical profession, but it’s not. 

Nearly three years ago I presented a documentary for BBC Radio Scotland on this subject and I was astonished how people were not aware of the problem. Many of the blind people I talked to admitted 'Yes I do have a sleep problem'. However, few knew why, and even worse, when some went to their GP to get help, hardly any of the doctors linked their patient’s blindness to their sleeping difficulties. Melatonin doesn’t work for everyone though; some people can suffer from side affects, like headaches. So it’s still worth getting medical advice, even if the GP is not fully aware of what you are talking about.  

Over 24 hours my body clock can slip by 30 minutes and over a six-week period, will do a complete 24-hour cycle with the added complication of no two days being the same However, if I take my Melatonin every night before retiring, it can stabilise my sleep pattern. 

It’s not only visually impaired people who suffer from a sleep disorder. Shift workers who do irregular working hours, can also be badly affected. Parents with small children can also find their circadian rhythm being thrown off balance by having to get up at irregular times during the night. 

It is very difficult to get Melatonin from your doctor here in the UK, as it’s not on the list of approved drugs for prescription. Although, it is relatively easy to get it from the internet.  

Sleep deprivation is only a problem because, as a blind person, I have to fit into a sighted world. If I didn’t have to go to work at the same time every day or sit down to eat with everyone else, I could let my body clock fall into its own natural sleep pattern: Breakfast at midnight, lunch at four in the morning and be home for dinner at around nine.  However, the reality is that I do have to fit in, so for that reason I will keep taking the pills. 

  

Sting in the tail movie link. Should've gone to spec sellers!!!!!

Sting in the tail my new Silent Movie...not for Blind people, but by me and Christine about my humorous take on every day advertising.

For those of you who know me well, will also know how laid back and easy going I am. You’ll never hear me complain, grump or moan about anything. [Please note this is a rhetorical statement and doesn’t require a response from anyone. Thanks.] Anyway, there is nothing annoys me more when I’m being asked for a particular form of ID.

 

There I am this morning standing with a bloody huge guide dog in the bank with his harness on and they ask me; Mr Hamilton, “do you have a drivers licence?” "What do you think?” It’s not as if I’ve not been in there before and they don’t know who I am. Plus they can see the dog as I come in. They know I’m blind. I think the question; “do you have a drivers licence?” is just a stock question they ask everyone when they are looking for ID and it’s out their mouth before they’ve engaged their brain.

 

Anyone fancy a lift? “Ok Renton, which way do we go now?”

 

 

Newsnight Scotland tonight on BBC 2

In my latest film Renton and I travel in the Tardis to the year 2034 to findout what happened after Scotland voted YES to INdependence at the 2014 Referendum.  This is one of two films the second one to be shown next Monday night, looking at what happens if Scotland votes NO in the Independence Referendum.

I met four people with very different views, of  how a future Scotland might be.  So watch tonight at 11pm BBC2 Scotland to see me with my time traveling dog

Our nerves are shredded.....and breath....

I don’t want any of you folks to fret, but I’ve had a monitor fitted for the last 24 hours to check on my blood pressure.  No! No! I mean it, don’t concern yourself about my possible demise. No tears please, it’s embarrassing.  It’s just one of these things you have to go through when you get to a certain age. I’ve been informed its preventative encase I have a heart attack or a stroke in the future.

 

I had my blood pressure done in the surgery as part of a general check-up, but every time I have had my blood pressure taken by the nurse the pressure increased.

I hate anything medical. “It’s probably white coat syndrome.” the same nurse said. So this is why I’ve got this monitor fitted and it’s driving me nuts as it goes off every 30 minutes with a bleeping and whirling sound, as the arm band inflates.

 

Having a sensitive German Shepherd in the house is not helping my readings at all.  As every time it bleeps and whirls, Renton gets a fright and starts barking as he doesn’t know where the noise is coming from.  Which then gives me a fright which then probably increases my blood pressure.   Both of our nerves are shredded. I expect the reading on this monitor when it returns to the surgery will not make happy reading. I’m anticipating when the nurse plugs it in to her computer to analyse the data all kinds of alarms will be set off and an ambulance will be sent automatically to my door to cart me off to the local heart ward.

 

Bleep, bleep, whiz, whiz Oh their it goes again must remember to breath out. WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! “Shut up Renton.”  Breath in breath out..ning ning nang nang nang and relax...grrr woof.

 

 

 

Integrated Education - I recently completed a TV piece on mixed ability education and here is a piece "wat I wrote" for the Herald newspaper

Integrated Education.

I suspect I’m out of line with other disabled people when I say that integrated education doesn’t work well for the majority of blind children. Personally, I believe that the drive to integrate blind children into mainstream schools has more to do with political dogma than providing visually impaired pupils with a rounded education. I can speak with a little authority, as I’ve experienced three different flavours of our education system: mainstream Primary education, a specialist secondary school for a range of children with various disabilities and latterly a college education aimed exclusively at visually impaired students. So I’ve been at the receiving end of the entire array of educational experiences. Admittedly, it was some years ago. However, I’m in no doubt which one I preferred and more crucially the one I benefited most from both educationally and socially. The Royal National College for the Blind, was the best for me, as, it is an institution which is aimed not only at academia but also towards developing a person who can function as independently as possible in their own local community setting.  They do this by focusing on mobility, daily living skills, social skills, and academic qualifications.  

Crucially it was the support of a peer group which I missed throughout my primary and secondary education. It wasn’t until the age of 18 that I met with other people who had a significant visual loss like my own. Until then, I felt like the only blind boy in the village.  To meet and find out about the world with other visually impaired people was vital for me to understand my own value. It helped me to learn about how blind people operate. For example: The first time I was able to play football with other blind people was an incredible experience. On this occasion there was a bell in the ball to help us play the game. Now I felt part of the team rather than hanging about the edges hoping that the ball would just suddenly find me!   As a blind person in a sighted school I would never have got into the school football team.  I was also taught mobility skills in order to move around safely using a white cane. The college also started to teach me brail. As an 18 year old this was far to late,  I should have been taught how to use this from the age of 5!. I was also shown how to look after myself: cook, clean and navigating home whilst under the influence of alcohol! A skill that wasn’t on the college prospective, but one that was passed on from one generation of blind student to the next.   

There has been no evidence in recent years to change my opinion that a specialist education for blind children isn’t still superior. 

Blind children need to be taught that they have a rightful place in the visual world and have the confidence  that they are being taught the right range of skills from as young an age as possible. Being the only blind person in the classroom, with the talking computer and the classroom assistant only highlights the fact that you are different from everyone else, which is why peer support is vital.

Now, I’m deliberately saying ‘blind’, as opposed to those children who are ‘partially sighted’ and have some useful vision. These children, can gain a great deal from a mainstream education but for those of us who have no or little vision, the experience can be a frustrating and isolating one. 

The difficulty is, it all comes down to individual circumstances, for example: the involvement of parents by giving them proper information and choices, how confident the child feels about their blindness, plus does the school have the proper resources in place to support a blind child and do they have a positive attitude to make integration within the classroom actually happen. 

To underline my argument for specialist education I would like to compare state schools that specialise in subjects for high achievers like sport and music.  These children have to travel many miles every day in order that they get every opportunity to focus on their talents with the best coaches and teachers. Why can’t we see blindness as a talent that has to be mastered and ensure that all resources are gathered together to hone that talent.

As a society we must be cautious not to force children into their local school because of specific labels like, disability, and integration etc. Disabled children are not a homogenous group and have different specialist needs and skills.  Politicians tell us that mainstream education is what the disabled community wants. That’s certainly the formal view of the disability movement. However, I hear from more and more blind people that perhaps integration has not enhanced blind children’s education.  That the mainstream class room, is full of visual influences that exclude blind children.  Glancing up and down at the blackboard at a mathematical equation, is not equalised by using a talking computer, the learning experience is utterly different.