Services

Providing Kansans with Guide Dogs

• Mentoring & guidance to a guide dog school.
• Working with blind individuals on new technology to assisting with navigating the city and their home.
• Sponsoring a blind individual to help guide them through a guide dog school application process.

Training guide dogs costs $45,000-$60,000 and there is a waiting list of 1-2 years before a person can get a dog. This makes obtaining a guide dog challenging for many, resulting in delays and sometimes denial of the opportunity for those who are blind or have low vision to be more independent.

Raising money to train more dogs is the heart of Guiding Paws ICT’s mission. We need your help to raise funds and awareness so more dogs can be trained and become available for local people who are blind or have low vision.

Not only are dogs trained in facilities, but they are trained in public places, too. The people getting a new dog also go through training in real life settings. The dogs need to be able to handle many new situations, so this training is vital and costly.

Business Hiring Solutions

Finding good employees is a vital part of the success of any business, and today’s environment, good employees are hard to find. Blind and low-vision individuals make up a skilled candidate pool that is largely overlooked. They create an untapped talent pool for your business.

With advances in adaptive technology and the training of guide dogs, this is an excellent time to reach out to people in the blind and low-vision community for talented, motivated employees.

Guiding Paws ICT is dedicated to educating the business community on the benefits of hiring blind and low-vision employees. To learn more, attend Guiding Paws events or schedule a presentation.

Experiences & Presentations

Into the Light

A blind guide leads visitors in small groups through different settings in absolute darkness. Through this unique experience, participants learn how to interact without sight but by using their other senses. They experience what it is like to be blind. The experience aims to change mindsets on disability and diversity, as well as increase tolerance for “otherness.” Learn more.

Inspirational Speaking

The Guiding Paws ICT presentation can be tailored for the group in terms of content and length. Content options include the mission and work of Guiding Paws ICT, what hiring blind people can mean to them and to businesses, the experience of blind and low-vision people in general, and Andrew’s personal experiences with his guide dogs.

Presentations may also include demonstrations of how Andrew and his guide dog, Vaughn, work together. Length of presentations is variable, 20—60 minutes, depending on the request.

Contact us to learn more and schedule a presentation.

Below: Guiding Paws ICT presentation at National Federation of the Blind’s 2024 Kansas State Convention