Okay, I need to rant. Yall ready? I am forever grateful for both my guide dogs, and I would not want to go back to life without them. But I am SO DAMN SICK of how anyone going through life with a service dog becomes invisible to the people who are so excited about OMG THE DOGGIE. Total strangers walk up to me and ask me my dogs name. I introduce myself pointedly and then tell them the dogs name. Some of them have the sense to look sheepish and realize that they wouldnt go up to a total stranger and ask their name, and they cant exactly hold a conversation with the dog. Some of them come right out and tell me that theyd only wanted the dogs name, not mine. Note that hello is not part of the conversation at all. I go into a store, and if they dont try to kick me out, the staff often are more interested in finding out about my dog than in selling me things and collecting m money. My dog is adorable, but Im the one giving you business. Taken alone, none of this is a big deal. But its not alone; its a symptom. Yesterday a close friend had a medical emergency, and I called for an ambulance. While the EMTs put her on a gurney, I took responsibility for both her guide dog and my own. As I followed her with the dogs to the ambulance, a strange man suddenly popped up in front of me and began taking pictures of me with the dogs. I make no apologies for anything I called him as my friend was loaded into the back of the ambulance. A potentially life-threatening emergency was taking place, and all this guy could do was stand in the way and take pictures of the cute doggies. He apologized and left. As I joined my friend in the ambulance, the EMT assured me that the guy had only been taking pictures of the dogs, not us. Yeah, I know. I guess thats better than photographing random women getting into ambulances, but were not setting a high bar here. At the hospital, doctors and nurses were more than happy to tell my friend and I how cute our dogs were, but less willing to check on her or tell her what her treatment options were or whether shed been scheduled for any of the relevant tests. Now, I realize that some of our questions were not simple yes/no questions, but when youre in an ER, the patient is there because of an emergency. The dogs neither have an emergency nor pay the bill. If a black labrador is your patient, you probably work at a veterinary hospital, not the largest (human) hospital system in the state. My friend is okay (in case you were wondering), and as we were getting ready to leave the hospital, she told me about a few months ago when she fell down and broke her ankle. She was lying in a bus bay at the T stop, unable to get up, for some time. No one stopped to help her, but several people stopped to pet her dog, who was on duty at the time. And thats the cliff people go off of when they see our dogs before they see us. I am willing to acknowledge that my dog is cuter than I am, at least some of the time (although when I go out dressed to the nines and cute as hell, people still comment on the dog first). But my dog does not do my job, pay my bills, buy my stuff, pay for my dinner, carry on conversations, or think for me. I do. My dog is a huge part of my life, and I talk about him a lot, but when I become invisible in his presence, that can get dangerous for me. I can stand not being the center of attention, but I do wish people would stop and think before they do something rude, stupid, or negligent. Okay, thats it for now.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 01:42:36 +0000
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