October 2020 - Leader Dogs for the Blind

October 29, 2020

The second voice in Voices of the Leader Dog Community is Leader Dog Client Andrew “Andy” Stone. He has an MBA from ITT Technical Institute and works in Supplier Managements – Galleys and Monuments for The Boeing Company. Together with his wife, Andy currently has one retired Leader Dog, two cats and a horse. He received his first guide dog, Leader Dog Ingrid (pictured with him above), in 2008 and his second dog, Leader Dog Rayna, in 2016.

Thinking back to when I got my first Leader Dog, Ingrid, I was at a really different place in my life. It wasn’t the best of places; it was when my vision started to get bad and I wasn’t handling it very well. I wanted to have a companion with me all the time and getting Ingrid really made a huge difference in my mental state at that time and it made me more independent to get out more. I didn’t get her to be outdoors more because then I was relying on friends and family to help me out with stuff. I was still in Michigan and living with my dad at the time.

Getting Ingrid gave me the confidence to step outside of my circle. So, when I was looking for jobs, I was looking all over the country because it was around the housing crash and I wasn’t getting any interviews in Michigan.

I’ve always liked being out-of-doors. I used to camp in the backyard with my brother and sister when we were kids and then when we got older, we went camping in Northern Michigan and the UP. When I got the job offer in the Seattle area, I knew it had way better transportation than where I grew up in Flint, Michigan. But I am passionate about getting out and enjoying the outdoors, that is one of the biggest reasons that I took the job offer, Boeing is fantastic and really close to the mountains and rivers and campground. However, when I moved out there, I knew nobody.

Fishing – I always liked fishing even as a little kid. In the early 90s I had a really cool opportunity to go to Alaska with my dad to visit family. My great-uncle was a fly fisherman and he taught us how to do it, and it just took off for me.

I’ve always has retinitis pigmentosa, but we didn’t really know about it until I was in my late teens/early 20s. My whole life I’ve had difficulty seeing in the dark and now I have a little central vision that is still fairly good when I’m super close to something. In order to tie flies onto the line when I’m fishing, I have glasses with magnifiers in them. There were many times when I had my first Leader Dog, Ingrid, that she and I would go fishing on our own. I’d tie her leash to a tree, and she’d wade in the water while I fished.

Over the years I have run some 10Ks but now that I’m in my 40s I’m starting to have knee issues. But I want to stay active as I age so I currently do CrossFit 4‒5 days a week for 1/2 hour at a time. One of the best, and most tiring, experiences I had was completing a Spartan race several years ago with a group of friends. The race was 10 miles on hiking trails with obstacles to go through along the route and if you fail an obstacle you have to do 30 burpees (if you don’t know what a burpee is, you can Google it, but I can tell you they aren’t fun). I was able to complete the race by using a running tether or holding the hands of one of my teammates. We weren’t trying to go for time, we were trying to finish the race in one piece.

As I get older, staying active is beginning to include traveling to new places. When my wife and I were planning our wedding and honeymoon in 2018, we wanted to go somewhere interesting. We asked people of places they have been to that they liked and threw all the locations into a hat. We drew out one piece of paper and ended up in Malaysia. That was my first experience going outside the U.S. (besides Canada).

Malaysia was beautiful and interesting. They had a lot of accommodations for visually impaired people around the city including tracks that you follow with your cane in the train stations. I couldn’t take my Leader Dog Rayna with us because she’d have to quarantine for two weeks. So, we boarded her at a facility that sent us pictures of Rayna running and playing with other dogs, we were beginning to think she wouldn’t want to come home when we returned.

We still have the hat filled with locations and will try to visit the others down the road.

Since I met my wife, I’ve been hiking a lot. We haven’t hiked much this year because my wife has an ACL injury and we’re really following safe COVID procedures. I have hiked with my dog Rayna over the years but have also hiked some using a cane. I didn’t have to do any special training with Rayna, but I did use a Gentle Leader in the beginning because the woods provide many sniffing opportunities for Labs. Once Rayna was trained against sniffing, I didn’t use the Gentle Leader as much. I was always amazed when coming to makeshift stairs on a trail, Rayna would stop just like we were stopping at a curb.

I’m using my last post to shamelessly spotlight our fur-kids. In addition to Rayna, we have two cats, Amelia and Cortes, and last July we bought a horse named Breeze. Breeze is actually a horse that my wife grew up with when she was volunteering at a Girl Scout camp 20 years ago. We are currently working on getting her back into top riding shape. My wife is also trying to teach me on how to ride.

The cats came into my life along with my wife who I met when I had Ingrid, my first Leader Dog, and the cats had not been around dogs. At first it was a constant rotation of moving the animals around to different rooms until they got used to each other. Now, with Rayna, they really seem to miss her when we take her somewhere.

We would like to thank Andy Stone for sharing his passion for getting out and enjoying the outdoors with us. Thanks to YOU for joining us today to listen to a Voice of the Leader Dog Community!

November 12, 2020October 28, 2020

Introduction by Guide Dog Mobility Instructor Ashley Nunnelly.

Hello, readers!

Today I have a different kind of post for you: a collection of special stories.

Sometimes being a guide dog mobility instructor (GDMI) is really hard. During class, you work an average of 60 hours a week (usually more), and it can be emotional, stressful and high pressure. Sometimes you have to break bad news, sometimes you feel like you failed and your heart is broken for a client.

But on the flip side? You see magic. You see independence and confidence blossoming. You make teams and give people their new partner and love. Every GDMI has a story. They have a story that gives them goosebumps that they file away to think about when days get tough. We all have that moment that got us hooked on this job or where we were just incredibly amazed by a person or a dog or it made our little Grinch hearts grow 10 sizes that day.

So, to share some of these special stories with you, I reached out to my teammates! There are instructors here at Leader Dog who have been doing this work for decades. These are their stories.

Keith McGregor ‒ 36 years at Leader Dog

In 1985, we had a client in class named Barbara who was Deaf-Blind. She had enough remaining vision in the right light to read lips but would only understand about 50% to 60% of what we said (which is normal for lip reading). As I got to know her through class, we began talking about Deaf-Blindness. Barbara said, “You should learn sign language because there are a lot of people who are Deaf-Blind and want a guide dog but no guide dog schools will train them.” I thought to myself, after doing this work for several years, you are the only client who is Deaf-Blind that I’ve met. How many other people with dual loss could there be? Toward the end of class, she bought me a book about learning American Sign Language (ASL) and suggested I attend a conference for people who are Deaf-Blind. I proposed this to Leader Dog and they supported me in attending this conference.

Keith sits on a bench with a female client. They are smiling and looking down toward a yellow lab in Leader Dog harness that is sitting on the sidewalk in front of them. — Keith with a client in Florida during a warm weather Guide Dog Training session.

I was overwhelmed to say the least. I met hundreds of people who had dual loss and many I spoke with (through interpreters) said they were interested in getting a guide dog. After I returned from this conference, I wrote up a proposal to ask for support to go learn ASL. Leader Dog accepted the proposal and the Deaf-Blind Guide Dog Training program was born. If not for Barb being willing to come here for guide dog training when no one could communicate clearly with her, and for Leader Dog being open to working with clients who wouldn’t be accepted at other organizations, this program would never have been developed.

The other story is about a client who lived and worked in Washington D.C. and came to Leader Dog with quite a bit of remaining vision and dual hearing aids (she had been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa and Usher syndrome type II). After a few days of being here, she told me she didn’t belong here because she wasn’t “blind.” I asked her to give me two weeks to show her how a Leader Dog could assist her, even with remaining vision. She got a yellow Labrador named Beau. She ended up staying and graduating with Beau, and he became her life. She showed him her route around D.C. including the Metro system, traveled the world, even became the first person allowed to take a guide dog on the Senate floor. As the years went by, she lost all of her vision and became very reliant on her dog to travel around D.C. Years later, Beau retired. Since then she has come back for three more Leader Dogs and now wouldn’t be without one. To think she almost decided to leave the program because she felt she had too much vision.

(Ashley here: Keith is credited with being a pioneer of training guide dogs for Deaf-Blind clients. He is being humble—there have been hundreds of clients served through Keith’s innovation and hard work! Thank you, Keith!)

Meredith Bryde ‒ 5 years at Leader Dog

Meredith works with a yellow lab in training in the hallway of the canine center on Leader Dog's campus. — Meredith works with a Leader Dog in training.

I was working with a client from Spain who was a new guide dog user. He was very active in his personal life—skiing, golfing, hiking—he did not let anything hold him back from the activities he liked to do. When he met his guide dog the first time, they had a tearful, lovely first greeting. I gave him about half an hour and then took his dog out on their first walk. When we left the building and went on the practice course, he whispered, “This is what it is like to just walk?” Even after all his activities, he was so floored at the feeling of just walking without a cane. He immediately started crying and bent down to hug his new dog. They have been doing great ever since.

Heidi Vollrath ‒ 4 years at Leader Dog

Sometimes it is the little things that happen in class that keep you going. Every class, we teach our clients with a method called “back chaining,” which is a technique that helps a dog learn to return to objects in an environment after moving away from them. Typically, this is used for specific doors and chairs but can really be used with anything. After giving the lesson each class, I like to give my clients a little “homework” assignment of patterning (using back chaining to teach their dog to consistently find a specific object) their dog to a new item in the residence area here at Leader Dog. Clients will usually pattern them to a chair in the piano lounge or a specific door.

Heidi walks with a young attendee at Leader Dog's Bark & Brew event. — Heidi walks with a young attendee at Leader Dog’s Bark & Brew event.

One class after a long day I was sitting in the instructors’ office checking email and discussing the plans for the next day. The wall of the instructors’ office is windows so that GDMIs can keep an eye out to assist clients when needed. On this particular day, one of my clients was going back and forth just on the other side of the windows, working his golden retriever in harness. With each pass the team looked more confident. The golden retriever’s tail wagged faster and he picked up his pace, the client’s grin got larger each time they passed the windows. One of my coworkers walked in and asked me what this particular client was doing. I responded that I wasn’t sure but they looked great working together and then went on with the email checking.

The next morning at breakfast, the client with his golden retriever lying faithfully beside him told me with the biggest grin on his face how he patterned his dog to find the ice cream vending machine the night before. A light bulb went off in my head! That’s what they had been doing! He went on to tell me how excited he was to pattern his dog to his P.O. box and many other things when he got home. It was amazing to see how he was able to creatively apply our lesson to a destination (the ice cream machine) that was important to him and how that would translate to his everyday life. Watching my clients discover the small, unexpected ways their dog is going to help them in their day-to-day lives is one of the pleasures of my job as a GDMI.

Phil Griffin ‒ 30 years at Leader Dog

Phil stands next to a female client and her black lab Leader Dog in front of a photo background with repeating blue and green Leader Dog logos. — Phil with a client at Leader Dog.

My story does not include a client but rather a graduate return dog I was tasked with evaluating upon its return. In my 30 years of training dogs to be guide dogs, one scenario that has always impressed me was this work evaluation. The dog and I (I honestly do not remember the name—this was the mid ‘90s) were working on Main Street in Rochester, traveling south from 5^th to 4^th streets. At that time there was a sports shop know as the Varsity Shop on the west side of Main, about mid-block. The business was in the process of closing, and a moving semi truck was parked curbside in front of the business. The movers had a loading ramp extended from the trailer into the actual front door of the store. There was no getting around this hazard while remaining on the sidewalk. Did I mention that the loading ramp was located at the front of the trailer and we were approaching from the back? The trailer was probably 45 feet long and the door maybe 10 feet from the front of the trailer.

Realizing the dog had no way to get around, we approached the loading ramp. I was casually observing the dog, well aware that I was probably going to have to provide a level of support and direction as there was no clear way to avoid or work this as an obstacle without turning back or avoiding it all together. As we approached the ramp, I could tell that the dog was sizing up the situation. I fully expected an attempt to duck under the ramp and from there, I would need to stop the mistake and direct the dog. Instead, we stopped at the ramp, similar to an overhead obstacle. I praised and gave the “forward” command. Expecting the worst, I hung on and waited to see what would happen. What do you think the dog did next? Wouldn’t you know it, this dog turned me a complete 180 degrees and worked me to the back of the semi-trailer where he turned, faced the street and stopped at the curb like a good boy. Not wanting to believe it and thinking to myself, “Is this dog really going to do this?” I again gave the “forward” command. The dog stepped off the sidewalk onto the street, worked to the side of the truck where he turned and paralleled the entire truck on the street side until he cleared the front of the truck, turned and took me back to the curb and sidewalk. Mind you, all I did was ask the dog to go forward. That’s some good problem solving!

Kate Roberts ‒ 8 years at Leader Dog

Kate stands outdoors in front of a fence holding a yellow Labrador/golden retriever cross puppy. She is smiling — Kate holds Future Leader Dog Legacy, a puppy she is raising in a team with two other guide dog mobility instructors.

I have worked with several groups of clients from Central and South America. After working with a few of these groups of clients, I went on a couple of trips (Costa Rica and Peru). It wasn’t until I was in the environment that I truly appreciated what our dogs adapt to with the support of their handlers. The huge grates over gutters, large gutter drops-offs (many times over a foot deep), broken sidewalks, crowded streets and buses, different animal distractions—the ability of our dogs to adapt to all of these changes is astonishing. There is only so much we can do as puppy raisers and instructors to prepare them for the life they may have as a Leader Dog. The rest is up to these special dogs and the clients. This was really driven home when I went to these other areas of the world.

Ashley Nunnelly ‒ 5 years at Leader Dog

I piloted a new training technique with a small group of clients in a recent class. Essentially, it is a cleaner and more effective method to teach clients to teach their dogs to “target” different destinations. This is useful for when they are home (with no instructor around) and they want to teach their dog to accurately find their mailbox, or their door, or the restroom in their workplace, etc. And to make sure that the dog does it on cue.

Well, I had done a few sessions of instruction with this new method and one of the client’s dogs was very successful at “find the piano.” He challenged, “Well, [the dog] is only doing this because we just fed him a lot there.”

So, I said with confidence, “You’re right. Now tell him ‘find the coffee.’” While we had worked on “find the coffee” the day before, the dog had never found the coffee from as far away as he was at that moment. Honestly, I was taking a risk with my bravado there.

Ashley is standing at a curb on the sidewalk of a tree-lined street. She is smiling at the camera and walking with a yellow lab in Leader Dog harness. — Ashley works with a Leader Dog in training in downtown Rochester.

As soon as he heard the cue, this angel of a dog walked out of the room, around the corner, into a different room, and booped his nose right at the precise spot on the coffee counter where we had been working the day before.

“Wooooooow!” the client said.

I said, “Okay, now say ‘find the piano.’” Again, it was quite the risk. We had not worked on targeting this brand new object from that distance.

The dog confidently walked through the door, around the corner and back to the piano bench.

“Oh my gosh!” the client said with joy.

After the session, the client came up to me and said, “So it’s because of you that we’re allowed to do this? Can I give you a hug? Thank you so much!”

Best moment of my whole career so far. Every day I strive to give people that level of empowerment. That client doesn’t need me anymore! THAT’S what Leader Dog does.

April 1, 2024October 21, 2020

Leader Dogs for the Blind’s core values include doing what is right and showing respect and compassion to each and every person as the foundation of the organization’s overall mission and service provision. This includes our clients, team members, volunteers, donors, Lions and the community. Leader Dog does not discriminate against race, color, national origin, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation or gender identification.

The events beginning in May 2020 that spurred nationwide protests caused us to pause and further evaluate if we have been actively promoting diversity within Leader Dogs for the Blind. We have decided that we can do more. We are working together as an organization and as a community to proactively impact positive social change.

We are committed to making deliberate and concerted efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion within our own organization and throughout the communities we touch. This commitment is for today, tomorrow and every day that we provide our life-changing services to people who are blind or visually impaired.

Our plan includes four strategic goals:

Enhance and strengthen a diverse and inclusive environment within Leader Dog constituencies.
Advance a culture of diversity and inclusion within the Leader Dog governance structure.
Advance a workplace culture supporting team member engagement in diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Amplify the voices of diverse constituent groups across all Leader Dog communication and philanthropic platforms.

April 29, 2024October 14, 2020

October 8 was the first day of our Voices of the Leader Dog Community series, where we feature stories and perspectives from LDB community members. Our first voice was Leatrice Fullerton, Leader Dog client and guide dog user. She has a master’s degree in social work, is a program manager with the Disability Network SW Michigan and is the mother of two. Leatrice received her first guide dog, Leader Dog Brewer, in July 2020.

There are two types of people who wear masks: the people who choose to do so out of convenience, and the people who have to do so in order to survive. I find myself in the latter of the two groups. Not only do I wear a mask to survive, I do so in order to protect others. I am a wife, a mother, and an advocate for different issues. I’ve always felt that it is very important for me to appear brave, confident, and strong at all times. Having the freedom and ability to expose myself for all the world to see is something that I’ve never been able to do. As long as I can remember, I’ve always hidden myself within the confines of my mask to keep my fears and vulnerabilities away from others. I was safe there. If I was wearing my mask, I thought no one could hurt me. My mask was my shield. June 2020 showed me that I was wrong for thinking this.

I proudly reside at the intersection of several marginalized groups. I am Black, I am a woman, and I am a person with a disability. Often, we as a society like to group others in one group or another. Intersectionality is when we look at the different identities people have in order to get a better understanding of the issues and/or discriminations they face from day to day. It considers every aspect of a person, not just the parts of them that we’d like to acknowledge. Let’s face it, systemic oppression is real. Marginalization is real. I once attended a training where the presenter said something that sticks with me even still. They said, “Either you’re at the table, or you’re on the menu.” So, I’ve made it my personal mission to find my seat at this table. I work and actively volunteer for area agencies where I am able to represent and advocate for others from these different groups who haven’t found their voices
yet. June 2020 had me asking myself, “Is that enough? Do I have more of myself to give? Am I doing all that I can for my people?” My people are still being oppressed. Am I truly making a difference?

I am the third oldest of six daughters who were raised by a single mother living in poverty. It wasn’t until I had children of my own that I was able to get an understanding of some of the challenges my mother dealt with. My mother, one of the strongest women I know, did what she had to do in order to make sure we had food on the table. Growing up, I didn’t know that we were poor. After all, we had a place to sleep, we had food, and most importantly, we had each other. We were raised to believe difference was just that, difference. It wasn’t good or bad, it just was difference. Unfortunately, some children are brought up with the belief that being different is either being superior or inferior. Here’s where discrimination begins. I truly believe that hate and oppression are things that are taught. If everyone was raised with the same values that my mom and other active participants in my “village” instilled in me, the world would be a much better place.

Like many other people around the world, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police had a huge impact on me. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t leave the house. I was hurting. My mask, my shield, my protection from everyone and everything was betraying me. I experienced feelings of hopelessness, fear, anger, confusion, and shock. The feeling that stuck out the most was loneliness. Perhaps the fact that I’d grown so accustomed to keeping my feelings to myself was the reason. I felt I couldn’t run the risk of looking weak. After all, I’ve people to represent. So, I still showed up to meetings where I was the minority, and I smiled and said I was fine when I was asked. I facilitated trainings feeling like something was pressing on my chest. Praying the whole time, “God please don’t let me break down in the middle of this Zoom training.” Like many others, simply showing up to work during the first couple weeks in June was very challenging for me. There were also days when I couldn’t do anything at all. I literally sat in the same spot for the majority of the day with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. Why does this keep happening to us? What have we done to deserve this?

I was never brave enough to watch the video of Mr. Floyd’s murder. That was something that I knew would’ve broken me. On one hand, I felt weak for not watching it, but on the other, I knew I was afraid to watch it. I have a 9-year-old Black son. Because the wrongful death of Blacks by police is history
repeating itself over and over again, would I literally be watching my son’s future? Many mothers of Black boys have had the strength to share their fears with the world. Although it hurts to read the different blogs and articles, it feels good to know I’m not alone in this. I’ve been talking to my husband
about my fears since Aaron was 2 years old. Asking him when he plans on talking to our baby about how to handle himself in interactions with police. This is ridiculous! Black fathers shouldn’t be charged with this task, but they are. It’s as natural a life lesson as how to tie a tie. My husband is able to keep me calm for the most part, but every time another story makes the news, I find myself in that same place. What happens when my baby isn’t “cute” anymore? What will I do? What can I do now?

As a result of Mr. Floyd’s murder, there has been a global outcry bringing attention to the Black Lives Matter movement. I’ve been shocked by some of the different things that I’ve seen, especially on social media. I’m at a place where if I want to be shocked, I get on Facebook. Like many of my friends,
I found myself explaining to people why saying, “All Lives Matter” in response to Black Lives Matter is wrong and offensive. I personally can attest to the fact that wealth gaps exist. I know and live intergenerational poverty. My family has been directly impacted by mass incarceration. My children have attended public schools with mostly Black students who needed assistance providing hats and gloves to students in need. If society believed that “All Lives Matter,” this wouldn’t be the reality of so many Black Americans. I’ve also seen different comments made by mutual friends describing the movement as one that is divisive and hateful. According to their official page, “Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.” So, it would seem that they exist to end hate and division.

The most disturbing message that I saw was posted by a friend who identifies as being Black. They posted they’re not in support of Black Lives Matter Inc. because they are here to encourage homosexuality and that goes against their religious beliefs. They also encouraged other friends in their network to take the same position. Another part of the Black Lives Matter Inc. mission reads, “We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. Our network centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.” I mentioned intersectionality above. Believe it or not, there are people who are Black and queer. Like me, there are people who are Black and disabled. Just because we come from different groups within the Black community, doesn’t mean our lives should matter any less. Unfortunately, everyone doesn’t see it this way.

Another disturbing thing that I’ve seen going around are statuses encouraging that if we expect Black lives to matter we have to stop “Black on Black crime.” Usually when people say this, they share news articles about violence in big cities. The most recent post that I have seen was about two young Black children who were shot here in town. I would never attempt to downplay the importance of these killings and injuries. I couldn’t begin to imagine the fear and anger that the mothers of the young children here in town felt when their babies were rushed to the hospital. However, we are talking about two different beasts. My oldest sister Tawana was killed when she was 35 years old. The shooter was a Black person. Should I feel that for this reason, institutional racism and police brutality should continue? That doesn’t add up to me. One could also argue that institutional racism is the cause of Black on Black crime. So, if we aren’t willing to examine the root of the problem, we cannot accurately examine the outcome. Yes, people should stop killing people. However, people in positions of power should stop oppressing people as well. Furthermore, it is very important for everyone to examine where the term “Black on Black crime” originated, how it evolved, and how it has impacted Blacks in the United States. Many people simply consider the term to be an inaccurate description. Black violence against other Blacks isn’t done based on the race of the victim, it’s simply a by-product of concentrated poverty and residential segregation. What is the cause of concentrated poverty and residential segregation amongst Blacks in the United States? Institutional racism. Again, we cannot address the problem without addressing the cause of the problem.

My family and I watched the televised funeral of George Floyd together. I decided to honor him by writing during the eight minutes and forty-six second moment of silence. Here’s what I wrote that day. “Participating in a moment of silence for a man who can never speak again. I find it difficult to believe that so many don’t believe that Black Lives Matter. George Floyd is more than a memory. The countless lives that were wrongfully taken from us by the very folks who were supposed to protect us is saddening. I have a Black son. I have a Black daughter. Am I exempt from the threat of losing my babies? The fact that this community member, this father, this symbol of what Black is was taken. He was literally on the ground asking for a chance to breathe, for another opportunity to hold his baby, but as a result of the color of his skin, wasn’t given the chance. I hope that my children are able to make positive changes to this world. It is my goal in every encounter that I have with family, friends, strangers, agencies and politicians to share and show that Black lives do matter. I’m struggling with being able to find a place where I truly belong. If we were able to unite as a world and recognize the value of each and every human life, we can begin to undo some of the generational wrongs that exist among marginalized people. Black lives matter! Disabled lives matter! I am thinking of Michael Jackson’s song, ‘man in the mirror.’ If we want to change the world, we need to start within. What can I do? I can read more to learn about the challenges of the oppressed. I can volunteer at agencies that help the oppressed. I can donate funds to Black owned businesses. I am somebody! I matter! My children matter! George Floyd Matters! However, in order for all lives to somewhat matter, we have to recognize the plight of Black Americans. I just want to leave here knowing that I truly did my part to bring about positive change in this world. World peace doesn’t have to be a figment of our imagination, it can be our reality. Black lives have always mattered, unfortunately we as a society weren’t willing to acknowledge it!” This seemed like the longest eight minutes and forty-six seconds of my life!

Hopefully after writing and sharing my thoughts with the world, I’ll be comfortable with living in my truth, no longer having the need for a mask. I am Black. I know the feeling of walking around fearing the future of my children. I know what it’s like not knowing where my next meal would come from. I know the feeling of being discriminated against for a characteristic I was born with. I know the feeling of being “different.” However, I know that I am able to represent my people at every table I sit at. I know there is some good in the world. I know if I want to make this world an even better place, I can’t give up, I must persist. In Maya Angelou’s words from the poem “And Still I Rise,” “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.” Blacks from the past and from the future are depending on me to make change in the world. I know there’s still plenty of work to be done. The most important thing I know is that Black Lives Matter.

We were honored that Leatrice shared her story with all of us. We hope you’ll join us on social media on October 29 to hear the next voice of the Leader Dog community. You can find out more about our voices of the Leader Dog community here.

October 7, 2020

In recent months, individuals and organizations have been challenged to take a critical look at ourselves. Here at Leader Dogs for the Blind, we are no exception. What can we do to be a force for positive change in society? How can we be more proactive than simply voicing our support for social issues?

As part of a multi-pronged plan to be an active force for change that spans all aspects of our Leader Dog community, we are giving members of our community a platform on which to be heard. The people who make up Leader Dog’s diverse community represent individuals from many walks of life who have a vast array of stories and experiences, many of which have never been shared on a large scale.

We have decided that our social media platforms can be more than just a way to tell the Leader Dog story. These platforms can be used to amplify the many unique and diverse voices that make up the Leader Dog community. Moving forward, we will be sharing stories and personal journeys that go beyond being a guide dog user, a volunteer, a Lion or a donor.

In the coming months, members of the Leader Dog community will share the stories they think we all need to hear in their own words. Our first community voice will be LDB client Leatrice Fullerton, who will share her experiences on October 8 across all our social media channels. Join us to hear her story and many others so that together we can listen to the voices of people in our community and challenge our ideas and perspectives.

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