Seventh Month Home
To start our seventh month home we are in Washington D.C lobbying on Capitol Hill in relation to disability rights issues having to do with employment and medical devices. In addition to being in Washington DC to lobby on Capitol Hill, it is also my first week of my spring semester at SFSU. I am grateful once again to be in an online hybrid program, which gives me the ability to advocate around disability rights issues and other travel events while completing my studies.
Our trip to D.C was successful with 13 appointments with both Congressional members and our two senators. When traveling down the halls of Congress the staff were amazed at how flawlessly dogs could guide us around all of the obstacles and other surfaces encountered. I also learned through this trip that many of the members choose to bring their dogs to work with them. As a result of the members bringing their dogs to work it did make it more challenging for Eve and I, but nothing that we could not get through.
Lindsay standing in front of Congresswoman Nanette Barragan’s office.
Lindsay and Eve walking down the halls of congress.
Although we had successful meetings with our members, it would not be a trip without the reminder of @uber and @lyft denials. On this trip alone we had four denials between the four days we were here. This was not the icing on the cake though, One of our roommates got denied boarding her flight because she did not have the proper paperwork even though she had the required DOT form to travel with a service animal. Thankfully after several phone calls my other roommate and I were able to get her on the next flight and safely home, but it was definitely a reminder of the challenges faced by service animal handlers when choosing to fly.
Not only did we get reminded of the challenges of flying with a service animal and the challenges that it sometimes brings, but our 8 hour travel day turned into a 12 hour travel day as a result of Vegas’s airport becoming flooded causing our flight from Ohio to Vegas getting canceled. Thankfully @shelbi_nichole and I are well versed in the airports that are offered in the Southern California area and opted to fly into Ontario instead of waiting until 5 am the next morning to get a flight from Ohio to Long Beach as originally planned.
The week after being in DC was a week of recovery for both Eve and I as I caught something often coined “convention crud.” I was grateful to be working remotely Monday of this week as a result of more bad weather across the state of California, which afforded me more rest and recovery. The rest of this week Eve and I continued preparations for our upcoming office move and other office projects, while completing assignments for my spring courses.
The second week in February was quite eventful with Valentine's Day and a Disney trip to celebrate @kristentheguidingeye’s 6th birthday. On Valentine's Day I was able to capture this picture of Eve with her favorite new rose bone from @barkbox. In addition to getting this picture of Eve with her rose bone on Valentine's Day, on Thursday of this week @shelbi_nichole, @kristentheguidingeye, Eve and I made it on the @guidingeyes social media channels as part of the advocacy work, we were doing in Washington DC earlier this month.
Eve laying in her bed with her rose bone on Valentines Day.
On Friday of this week @shelbi_nichole, @kristentheguidingeye, Eve and I went to Disney to celebrate @kristentheguidingeye’s 6th birthday. While there we got this picture with Minnie and a picture of @kristentheguidingeye in front of the floral Mickey arrangement at the front of the park.
@kristentheguidingeye sitting in front of the Mickey floral arrangement.
Lindsay, Eve, @shelbi_nichole, and @kristentheguidingeye posing with Miney in her house.
The third week in February Eve and I went to work and school as normal. During this week we finally got to see the temporary space we would be working out of for the next few months before moving into our permanent space later this summer. At the end of this week Eve @kristentheguidingeye, @shelbi_nichole, and I went to Segerstrom Center for the Arts to see The Lion King. The show itself was great because this particular showing offered audio description. Audio description is when all of the visual aspects of a movie or performance are described to a person who is blind or has low vision. When this description is happening the person needing description wears a headset to hear the additional visual information being given by the descriptionist. This particular performance was special because we got to meet the descriptionist after the performance, which usually does not happen.
Although this performance was great we did face five @uber denials when trying to get to and from Segerstrom Center for the Arts. As a result @shelbi_nichole and I did file complaints to @Uber in regard to this as it was unacceptable and resulted in us missing 30 minutes of the show. Not only did these denials make us late, we also did not have the opportunity to get the pictures we had planned to in front of the Lion King prop as originally planned.
The Lion King The World’s #1 Musical Play Bill.
The last week in this month consisted of Eve and I going to work and school as normal with a few appointments in between.
