Welcome to Dixie Land Guide Dog Users Online, and Top Dog-2019!

We Dixie Land Guide Dog Users are the South Carolina affiliate of Guide Dog Users, Inc. Our tails are wagging! Due to the amazing response to our Top Dog-Charleston, 2019, our event hotel is booked to capacity and we are no longer taking registrations. Our heartfelt thanks to all of our registered attendees! We can't wait to see you in January!
For those of you who cannot attend in person, keep those ears up and stay tuned for our recorded sessions to be announced!

Contact the Dixie Land Guide Team!

Contact the Dixie Land Guide Team!
Dixie Land GDU, Inc., 1608 Acacia St., Charleston, SC 29407 (843) 571-0737

We provide education for the sighted community and peer mentoring with advocacy for the blindness community (guide dog, cane and sighted guide users alike), while promoting one community at large.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Dixie Land Guides Support National Braille Challenge!

Brianna Murray with her family in Los Angeles



Brianna Murray, Charleston, SC spends time with her mom, dad and sister as she takes a break from the intensive competition of the 2010 National Braille Challenge in Los Angeles, CA. Blind since birth, Brianna is an honor student preparing to enter her senior year at the Charleston, SC School of the Arts, as a Violin Major.

The Braille Challenge is Braille Institute's national reading and writing contest in Braille. It is a great way to motivate blind and visually impaired students to practice their literacy skills. Students test their skills in reading comprehension, Braille speed and accuracy, proofreading, spelling and reading tactile charts and graphs. More than 500 students from first through twelfth grades participated throughout the US and Canada on the regional level, in the Preliminary Round. The top-scoring 65 went to the national competition in Los Angeles, in June for the Final Round—two days of competition, camaraderie and fun!

Brianna holding up varsity sign at National Braille Challenge

 


Brianna was among these 65 students, the First-Place winner in the 20-10 South Carolina Regional Braille Challenge, Varsity Division! Here she is, holding up the “Varsity” sign as she poses with her peers in Los Angeles.

“Although I did not win,” Brianna says of the national Braille Challenge, “it was a great trip in a number of ways. I talked to a lot of blind friends, read a lot of Braille, and even received a new Braille book. I learned a few more ways of Braille graphing, and a great deal just in general.”

In 2008, Dixie Land Guide Dog Users voted unanimously to offer an annual scholarship in the amount of $100 for the first South Carolina student to contact us, with qualification for the current year's National Braille Challenge. The Dixie Land Guide Team was truly honored to help sponsor Brianna’s trip to compete in California this year. We believe in the encouragement and support of a strong, positive presence within the blindness community and among the community-at-large. We promote Braille literacy, taking pride in the hard work and accomplishments of South Carolina's blind youth.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Dixie Land Introduces "Paws To Educate"!

Nancy and Giza with children



Dixie Land's President, Nancy Moore, helps kick off our new "Paws To Educate" initiative! Nancy and her guide, Giza; Audrey Gunter and her guide, Zack and Laurel Jean, with her long, white cane, "Slim" team together to offer our very first program at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in North Charleston.

There were kids of all ages present at the Vacation Bible School's special presentation and each learned something about blindness, guide dogs and long, white canes. Afterwards all harnesses were removed and everyone was given the opportunity to visit with our guides and us.

Our next program was requested by the Charleston Animal Humane Society, where we met and talked with about 20 teenagers. Although the theme was supposed to be about guide dogs, these kids were more interested in our blindness and how we cope with living without sight. We found this group to be especially intriguing and were appreciative to share various stressful situations with them. Although the motor vehicle laws in SC protect blind pedestrians, few of these young drivers even knew that a long, white cane and guide dog in harness were symbolic of the blindness community.

Dixie Land promotes education for the sighted and blindness communities in our effort to improve the community at large. If you are in the state of South Carolina and would like to learn how our “Paws To Educate” Initiative can help you, your church, community, school, business or civic organization, be sure to give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you!

About Us

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Charleston, SC, United States
Dixie Land Guide Dog Users is the South Carolina Affiliate of Guide Dog Users, Inc., the largest guide dog-related organization In the United States.