With the help of her guide dog, Rebecca Dunfield navigates the busy pathways and corridors of UNLV’s campus, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019.
Saturday, March 2, 2019 | 2 a.m.
Rebecca Dunfield hurries out of the rain and rushes to her afternoon classes with her piping-hot peppermint tea in hand. It’s a similar scenario for other UNLV students.
Unlike her peers, Dunfield has a guide dog, a silver poodle named Cindi who helps her navigate campus. Dunfield, 23, was born legally blind, and although she can see some things in low light, she depends on Cindi to help her move freely — from campus to hiking at Red Rock.
Having a guide dog requires a blind person to have “really good orientation and mobility skills,” Dunfield said. If people who are blind lack these abilities, they must use a cane.
“A cane is an obstacle finder ... a guide dog is an obstacle avoider so you’re not running into things as you’re walking,” she said.
Dunfield got Cindi two and a half years ago through the nonprofit Guide Dogs of the Desert. The 5-year-old poodle has helped her avoid numerous obstacles, from small everyday events like stairs on buses to larger events like avoiding getting hit by a car.
“I felt her stop, push back and back me up, and then the next second there was a car going right in front of us. She totally saved me,” she said. “If I had a cane I wouldn’t have known, so it’s a little scary, your heart’s going a little bit, but to know that I can rely on another living thing when things like that happen is really, really cool.”
Dunfield, who goes by her middle name Skye because she was a “stubborn child,” has a 3.9 grade point average at the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, majoring in criminal justice. She hopes to work in crime statistics or as an advocate for victims of violent crimes.
“People are polite, [they] hold the door, make accommodations — I just don’t know that they know how to start a conversation,” said Alex Kennedy, an associate professor of Criminal Justice and one of Dunfield’s professors. “They want to ask questions, but they don’t want to appear insensitive.”
In mid-February, Dunfield took over the college’s social media page to help educate and debunk stereotypes of blind people. In addition, Dunfield volunteers at nonprofits and advocates for legislative efforts on behalf of blind people. She will be in Carson City doing just that at the Nevada Legislature with the National Federation of the Blind on March 13.
When Dunfield took over her college’s Instagram page, she taught Afsha Bawany, director of communications at the UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, how to use picture descriptions, so screen-reading technology could help blind people visualize the images.
This is the same technology that Dunfield uses to read her notes for classes, write or be active on social media. And, yes, Dunfield uses Instagram just as much as most 20-year-olds and often posts pictures about Cindi. You can follow her adventures @poodle_eyes or see her posts for the social media takeover at @unlvurbanaffairs.
“Most people who are blind are not going to get offended if you ask them about themselves. We like questions and we like people to ask them, and then if you feel someone needs help, just go up and ask them,” she said. “That’s always really nice. But in general, if you see us, we want you to think that we’re like normal people.”
