Hello, please see my answers as submitted for candidacy in the 2024 Guide Dog Users Incorporated Election.
Thank you for your consideration in this very important matter.
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Application for Candidacy:
GDUI has three major responsibilities:
A. To promote the acceptance of guide dog teams by all agencies, employers, educational institutions, commercial establishments, and the general public.
B. To work for the expansion, standardization, and enforcement of legal provisions, both civil and criminal, governing the rights and responsibilities of guide dog users in the areas of public access, employment, housing, personal injury to dog and handler, transportation, and recreation.
C. To work in cooperation with guide dog training providers by contributing constructive input concerning selection, training, health care, and accommodations for both canine and human students, and providing constructive suggestions that will improve the quality of the training experience. With these goals in mind, please answer the following questions:
Date: 08/06/2024
Position for which you wish to be a candidate (please specify specific officer or director position): One Director – 1-year term

Applicant’s Name: Patty L. Fletcher City/State: Kingsport, Tennessee
E-mail Address: patty.volunteer1@gmail.com
Are you a guide dog user?
Yes.
Describe your background (Educational, occupational/professional and/or general experience).
First, a little personal background.
I am a single mother with a beautiful daughter, of whom I am enormously proud. I have a great son-in-law and six beautiful grandchildren. From April 2011 through September 2020, I owned and handled a black Labrador from The Seeing Eye® named King Campbell Lee Fletcher A.K.A. Bubba. Sadly, after a long battle with illness on September 24, 2020, King Campbell went to the Rainbow Bridge where all is peace and love. In July 2021, I returned to The Seeing Eye® and was paired with a Black Labrador Golden Retriever cross named Blue.
MY BLINDNESS…
I was born one and a half months premature. My blindness was caused by My being given too much oxygen in the incubator. I was partially sighted until 1991, at which time I lost my sight due to an infection after cataract surgery and high eye pressure. I used a cane for 31 years before making the change to a guide dog.
WHERE I LIVE AND WORK…
Currently, I live and work in Kingsport, TN.
I’m a member of the American Council of the Blind and am quite involved with the Community.

I’m a member of Guide Dog Users Incorporated where I serve on the GDUI Election Candidacy Task Force, and the membership Committee.
I work with the Audio Description Project by serving on the ADP Performing Arts Committee.
I have also recently joined Blind Information Technology Specialists (BITS). Another special affiliate of ACB.
Though I’ve not yet found my place there, I am learning things from their informational content.
I’m the creator and owner of Patty’s Worlds Publishing, previously known as Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing (Author, Blogger, Business Assist), The Writer’s Grapevine Online Magazine and the creator and host of the Talk to Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing Podcast, which have recently been reconstructed and can all be found in Patty’s Worlds.
WRITING GOAL…
All my work is done with the goal of bridging the great chasm which separates the disabled from the non-disabled.

I’m also a published author.
I’ve written and published four full-length books. All of which are guide dog related.
I can also be found in four anthologies.
The following is taken from my work resume – 2024.

SUMMARY OF SKILLS
• Leadership-skilled in scheduling work shifts and coordinating events.
• Communication-Author, Motivational speaker, Non-profit consultant and Online Promoting.
• Customer Service-Inbound and outbound calls
• Assistive Technology-Trained in Windows JAWS (Job Access With Speech), accessible phones, other digital devices and Braille
• Team Building- Coordination of volunteers for non-profit organization.
• Proficient in Microsoft 365

WORK HISTORY

Self Employed Owner of Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing, July 2017-Present
• Promote Authors, Small Business and Nonprofits Via social media
• Proficient in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress, Podcasting
• Network and Outreach to include email and phone

Contact Concern of Northeast Tennessee, Inc., July 2010-February 2015
Volunteer Coordinator
• Responsible for scheduling volunteers to work phone shifts.
• Assisted with training volunteers.
• Assisted with fundraising and coordinating events.

AmeriCorps VISTA, July 2007-July 2008
• Responsible for the expansion of the organization
• Created a program which was implemented and still used throughout the organization.
• Assistant to the Volunteer Coordinator
• Worked phone shifts in information and referral.

Volunteer
Facilitator of three calls in the ACB – American Council Of The Blind, March 2021 – present day.
• Responsible for providing content for all calls, both social and learning,
• Engaging with all callers in a fun, safe, respectful, and welcoming way at all times during the call.
• Scheduling all calls.
July 2006-February 2015
• Responsible for phone shifts in information and referral
• Assisted with fundraiser presentations.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Author, Campbell’s Rambles, published 2014.
• Bubba Tails From the Puppy Nursery at The Seeing eye Published 2017.
• Pathway to Freedom Broken and healed: Book One How a Seeing Eye Dog Retrieved My Life Published, 2020.
• The Blended Lives Chronicles: Sides of the Order book I Published, 2023.
• Owner Editor of The Writer’s Grapevine News and Literary Magazine
• Owner Creator of Online Promotions Business Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing (Author, Blogger, Business Assist)
• Owner Creator of Podcast Talk to Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing
•
• EDUCATION
• Tennessee School for the Blind, Donelson, TN, 1991
• Obtained GED

Describe your connection to, experience and previous work within the guide dog community.

Once I became a guide dog handler, I began doing public speaking in my local school system.
In 2015, I worked with one of our elementary schools where I developed the “Reading on Campbell’s Corner Reading Program.”
I came each week to the school and for an hour, sometimes longer, I spent time either in a group or one on one encouraging the special needs class students to read aloud to my then guide dog.
The rule was, “If you are reading, you’re petting. If not, hands off.”
Sadly, this program ended in late 2016 with the changing of the school liaison.
However, it was not only instrumental in helping to further the reading abilities of mentally challenged children but assisted with the raising of awareness concerning guide dogs, and their blind handlers.
At the end of my last school year with the students, Campbell and I attended their field day celebrations during which we built a maze and then I assisted students in walking with Campbell my then guide while blindfolded.
Still today, I run into children who remember that time.
Though I was not collaborating with a guide dog group at that time, I feel it was important to the guide dog handler movement.
Also, as shown above, I have written and continue to write about the guide dog experience.
Why do you WISH to serve on the GDUI Board?

I wish to serve on the GDUI board so I may become directly involved in the growth and maintenance of the organization. It is my wish to assist with the growth of GDUI by assisting with bringing those inactive members of GDUI back into an active role and to assist with bringing in new members.
I also wish to work toward bridging the great chasm which separates the disAbled from the Non-disAbled by working with my fellow board and GDUI members to advocate for more rights and to protect the rights which are already in existence for guide dog handlers.
I also wish to assist with raising awareness of the guide dog movement.
I would also like to work to educate medical, fire, and law enforcement personnel on laws concerning guide dogs and their handlers as well as how to better assist us in a time of extreme emergency need.
I also hope to assist with raising awareness concerning unsafe conditions for the working guide dog team caused by attacks of loose dogs.

Have you served on the GDUI board previously? If so, when?

No.

If you previously served on the GDUI board, what activities and/or initiatives were you involved in?

Which of your skills and experiences would most support Board activities?

I believe my skills in writing, public speaking, and content promoting will be useful in the director position as an advocator for the guide dog movement and to the growth and maintenance of the organization.

Please describe a time when a group of which you were a part accomplished its goal(s). What caused the group to be successful? How did you contribute to this success?

In 2023 and the beginning of 2024, while collaborating with the GDUI Membership Committee, I assisted with the creation of two Zoom call events to introduce Guide Dog Users Incorporated to the ACB community. During the holiday season we held a holiday tales call, during which members and friends of GDUI gathered to share a bit of fellowship while telling tales of our current or previous guides.
Early in 2024, we held another community Zoom call event during which we introduced various members of GDUI to the ACB community.
Both calls were well attended.
We broke from holding calls during our busy summer-time convention season but plan to schedule more calls during the fall and winter season.

What made these calls successful was solid communication between myself and fellow committee members, being diligent in creating useful content for the Zoom call events and making certain fellow attendees and I worked together to be engaging facilitators during the calls.
Previously before becoming a guide dog handler, during my time as an AmeriCorps Vista, I worked with my fellow Vista and other volunteers within the organization to create a data gathering program which was designed to show the types of callers needs coming into the organization via way of our telephone helpline hotline.
These findings were then used as proof of need for working toward implementing more community services programs within our area.
A form of this program is still used today.

The GDUI Board of Directors primarily uses e-mail to communicate with one another. Do you have access to e-mail? Are you able to communicate effectively using this medium?

Yes, email is my preferred way of communicating.

The GDUI Board of Directors meets every other month by teleconference. Meetings last from 2 to 3 hours. Other ad hoc telephonic meetings are sometimes called as well. Board Members are often asked to chair and serve on committees and perform tasks on behalf of GDUI as directed by the officers and committee chairpersons. Will you be able to find time to perform the tasks described above?

Yes.

Please note: The information you have submitted in your application will be shared in its entirety with the GDUI members eligible to vote in this election. Do you understand and accept this fact?
Yes.

Signed: Patty L. Fletcher

*** Thanks again for your consideration in this important matter.
And please, consider joining GDUI today.