Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hapner with my co-host, Leslie Hoskins and Timothy cuo. So it's gonna be a busy summer start of the summer at Leader Dog. We have so many things happening. It
Leslie: is getting busy, lots of things happening. One of the things that's exciting that I always look forward to every year is our professional seminar for orientation mobility specialists, so the people who work with people who are blind or visually impaired on those long white cane skills.
It's a great event. We actually welcome O MSS from all over. The United States and Canada are welcome to join us on campus for about a day and a half of learning. They get free continuing education credit. So as a certified orientation and mobility specialist, we do have to maintain continuing education for our certification.
Yeah, so it's a great opportunity to get some credits. It's completely free and they get to stay on campus, which we know anytime we get people to campus is always [00:01:00] so much fun. Yes. Um, so we'll take 'em on a tour. Um, but also just talk about, you know, how do you help somebody who's interested in a guide dog?
What are the skills that they need? Yeah. To prep and get ready. How to help them with their application. What are we looking for? How to take that video. All sorts of really good stuff. And then, you know, by bringing in multiple o m's from different areas, we at Leader Dog, us as the OM team learn so much too about what's going on in the field, who's struggling with what.
How can we help in different ways?
Christina: That's really cool, really cool aspect to bring people from all over the country and make those connections. 'cause we do serve people all over the country and internationally. So to be able to have other people to go to where they know that they can come to us with any questions.
I love professional stuff and getting to know people who work in the same. Field and getting to know each other. So that's a lot of fun.
Leslie: Yeah, it's really great. So not only like helping clients prep on the front end, but also, you know, if you have a client who comes home with a guide [00:02:00] dog, how can you help orient them to a new environment?
Timothy, I'm sure that would've been really helpful for you going home, right?
Timothy: Yeah. It would've been really great to have that. Yes.
Leslie: Yeah, so, you know, a lot of times O and M specialists are out working in the field and they work in an itinerant model and they're kind of by themselves and maybe don't have a lot of peer support.
And so it is a great way to network and get to know other comms so that you can, you know, pick up the phone if need be, or you can always call our team at Leader Dog and ask some questions and things like that. It's, it's nice to kinda have that support.
Christina: So I'm curious 'cause I'm sure other people are, well, what does it take to be a certified orientation and mobility instructor?
Leslie: Yeah. To be Or specialist.
Christina: I'm sorry.
Leslie: Yeah, a comms, you do have to complete a um, university program. Then you do have to do an internship with an organization or an agency to get in so many hours. And then also you have to sit for the certification exam through A-C-V-R-E-P. So that is probably the most intimidating part of it, but [00:03:00] it's really important to be certified and um, and then maintain that continuing education.
So. It's a, a little bit of a task, but totally worth it. I would say it's the best career out there. And, uh, we're, uh, very fortunate that we get to be one of those organizations that, you know, helps others in their journey and helps others continue their education process. Because new things keep happening.
New things keep developing technology changes, the environment changes, uh, all the reasons why we say our clients never graduate from o and m and that those brush up are all really important. So same for us as professionals. We need to go to conferences, we need to attend meetings, we need to know what is happening out in the field.
So, um, it's always just an event that I really look forward to.
Timothy: What's cool about being a comms is you're the first step that somebody takes in their journey with blindness, and that is, you know, that's, that's cool that you guys start that and that, and then, then the process, either they get a dog or not.
It's just a rewarding job. I'm sure.
Leslie: It is. It is. And everybody's got very unique and individualized [00:04:00] goals and it's really fun to kinda step in and help them achieve that and. Sometimes on the, when we're working at Leader Dog, right, we're training in the same environment all the time, which you would think maybe could get a little boring, but it never does.
'cause you're always working with a new client who always has, um, different goals or different experiences or different visual conditions. And so it's, it's always interesting and, uh, very rewarding. So we're really fortunate that this is a fun career and we get to be outdoors a lot of the time, and it help people be independent.
So what more could you ask for? So good things. Yeah, all good things happening. Uh, the Pro Seminar, if anybody's interested, you can always find information on our website@leaderdog.org. We're gonna jump into it because we've got another exciting guest today. Our guest is a leader dog client who is involved in many aspects of
Christina: Leader Dog.
Yes. Stuart McGregor was working in education and is now an accessibility advocate, currently working [00:05:00] for Accessibility Standards Canada as a policy analyst, creating standards to make the world more accessible for everyone. He's a three-Time Paralympian and a Boston Marathon champion.
Timothy: Stuart, it's great to have you on the podcast this morning.
Let's start off what's causing your visual impairment?
Stewart: Well, good morning, everybody. Yes. Uh, my name is Stuart McGregor. I was born, or I suppose I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at the age of 12 years old. So I believe Timothy, that might be a similar condition to what you have. Um, so yes, I, I was diagnosed at 12 years old with retinitis pigmentosa.
It was quite, quite an ordeal at the time. Um. Basically, uh, growing up I was, I was born in Ottawa, Canada, in a house filled with three brothers. So a very busy house. Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah. My poor mom. Yeah. But basically we're, we're a regular household. Our, our house is, you know, [00:06:00] very active house, very athletic house, uh, very sort of adventurous household as well.
Um. I was a pretty typical Canadian boy. You know, I played hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer and played all the school sports and whatnot. And, you know, as as I got a little bit older and I was growing up, I started to realize that my vision was changing and I felt like all of a sudden I wasn't able to see quite as well as I normally could, particularly in the dark and dim lighting, uh, situations.
And it started to become like very noticeable and, you know, being a somewhat. Shy and introvert, introverted kid. I didn't really say anything for quite a long time. And, um, you know, very strangely, just, just one day my, my father had said, well, he had to go into the eye doctor and he wanted to get his, his eyes tested and glasses adjusted.
So I just very casually said, well, you know, I think I'm not seeing so great. I think maybe I need [00:07:00] glasses. So is it okay if I sort of tag along with you? And what was to be a very routine checkup, um, ended up being a massive, um, awakening. So I was actually sent to the Eye Institute in Ottawa, which is a world renowned facility, and we're very fortunate to have it in our city.
But, um, yeah, I, I was just going in for somewhat of a checkup and that turned into about a five or six hour or ordeal where. I had literally every test you can imagine, a visual acuity test, a visual field test, um, a colorblind test, you know, and just being 12 years old, you know, it was a little bit like, what's going on here?
I thought this was just gonna be a regular thing. And, and then, you know, kind of a bombshell was dropped on, on my poor parents that day. That, you know, this, your, your son is. Legally blind and, and very legally blind that he's got. I think at that time I probably had [00:08:00] somewhere around 15 degrees of peripheral vision left and um, you know, it almost was somewhat undetectable in a sense because I just managed so well and I never said anything and, you know, uh, pretty good athlete as a kid and that kind of thing.
So nothing really. It didn't really show itself except in the dim and dark situations. Um, so it was almost immediately that, that day at the Eye Institute, um, from going from, you know, a fully sighted, you know, regular kid to this legally blind child that all of a sudden should get orientation, mobility, training, and the guide dog right away and connected with our Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
It was just such a shock, you know? Such a shock for, for my poor parents and. And, you know, I, I remember my mom being very protective and not wanting the doctor really to tell me all that. So she, you know, the doctor told my parents and my mom sort of delivered the news sort of, uh, a lot [00:09:00] softer, I suppose.
But, um, yeah, it was a big day for our house for sure.
Leslie: Absolutely. And I, it's crazy too that had your dad not been going to the eye doctor, you know, when you would've maybe said something or had that opportunity to go get an evaluation. So once you were, um, diagnosed, right, and kind of maybe finding some answers a little bit to what you were experiencing, how did that then impact you?
'cause as you said, you're a very athletic person, young child. Um, did your athletics change in any way? Did you have to make a adaptations or what happened in that sense?
Stewart: Yes. I mean, it did happen gradually over time. I'm, I mean, at the age, uh, you know, about 12, 13 years old, I was still playing hockey at a fairly high level.
I was playing competitive hockey, and believe it or not, I was the goalie.
Oh, wow.
Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. So as you can imagine, someone with like very little peripheral vision, my head was on a swivel like crazy. Yeah. So I just back and forth. But anyway, that, you know, that obviously I just. [00:10:00] That ended at some point, and I, I stopped playing that.
But I, you know, I, I just kept doing things like, despite, despite my vision limitations, I still did everything. You know, I, I still played all the sports that my brothers played and, um, was involved in everything. In fact, even in high school, you know, grade nine and 10, I still played in the high school basketball team.
Which was tough, you know, it's, you know, as the, the boys get bigger and stronger and the, the screens are coming faster at you. Like, I was a little bit exposed that way, but I still was able to play and, um, just do the best I could despite my vision. Mm-Hmm. Um, however, um, I still, I was always a good runner.
Like that was always my thing. Yeah. That was always what I was best at, and that's sort of what I kept going with. Um. Having really tight tunnel vision, I still was able to, you know, see the lines on the track and kind of, uh, that, that never was [00:11:00] difficult for me. The only time it became difficult was in a very crowded race, and that did become a factor as I got older and older.
Um, but just all that to say, I didn't act as if I was a legally blind kid. Like nobody really knew.
Yeah.
Stewart: And, um. I remember one of the hardest days of my life was I was, I, I believe I was grade nine and I just won all the city meets for track and field. In fact, I won three races for my, for my region, and then I, I won, uh, three races for the city.
I was kind of like this undefeated kid. And I, and I was going into provincials as, you know, one of the best in the, in the province and in the country. And then I, I had an interview and. You know, I felt really special as a kid. The first time I was really getting interviewed, and it was a big story that, you know, this boy, he's won all these races, blah, blah, blah, and, you know, he felt really important.
Then all of a sudden, the next day the, the, uh, article was posted and the [00:12:00] headline is something like, legally Blind Runner Runs to Victory, or something like that. And that I was, I was like, outed. And, and, and it was like, it was really, really tough. Like I said, I was a really shy, sort of introverted kid. I didn't, I told the odd person about my, my, uh, my eye condition and whatnot, but I wasn't really out with it.
And that just was devastating to me. I remember it being posted in my high school and I remember just ripping it off the wall. I was so mad, and I was so mad that somebody could just take that and just decide to. Write something about me without even asking me about it in the, in, in the interview and stuff.
So, yeah. Anyway, just like that, I'm, I'm known as this legally blind runner and not just a great athlete anymore. It's like I'm a blind runner, not a able-bodied runner. So that, anyway, that was tough and that was sort of my introduction. A lot of people found out about my eye condition that way. And then it just sort of went from there.
So I, I continued with athletics and I [00:13:00] continued running as an able body runner my whole life, you know, competed at the national level as a, as an able body quote, unquote runner. Yeah. Um, and then honestly, like it was again, my, my fantastic mom. She just behind my back, she, um, she, she, um, she looks into Parasport, um, and like.
The, uh, Paralympic team and you know, nine, this is 1995 or so. And, and really back then, like the Paralympics were not nearly as big as they are now. Like they weren't as well known. I never even heard of it. And all of a sudden, you know, I got my mom reached out to the national coach saying, look, I have the son, like, he's legally blind.
I don't know what the qualifications are for Parasport and whatnot, but this is what he can do on the track. These are his times. Are you interested in him? And. Honestly, within like weeks, I was flown out to Arizona for a trading camp. Oh my gosh. Camp. And I was with some of the best, you know, [00:14:00] Paralympians and also Olympians in the world.
And, and just like that, like a few weeks later, my, my times that I'd been running against able-bodied were now good enough to run. The Paris Circuit and I just like that I made the 1996 Paralympic games and Wow, that's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Like it was so crazy. And then I had this life of Paralympic sport after that.
Yeah. The rest is history, I suppose. But
Christina: that is amazing. And you know, the fact that your mom went behind your back, you know, sometimes our moms do that and then they do that. They do that. Yeah. But they always mean the best. And look at it turned into you being a three time Correct. Paralympian.
Stewart: Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, I ran three times. So
Christina: doing that. And then, um, you know, in your bio we also said you're a Boston Marathon champion, so tell us about that journey as well.
Stewart: Yeah, so I, I went through, there's, there's a little bit of a hiccup along the way, so I, you know, I ran my three Paralympics and, um, so I ran my third one in Athens in 2004.
And then [00:15:00] That's so cool. You said that just
Leslie: like no big deal. That was the last one's like, oh, you were in Georgia. Oh my gosh. That's incredible.
Stewart: Well, truthfully, like the Canadians, we, we do come down to the states quite a bit, so we do love your beautiful country. I, San Diego and Florida and North and South Carolina all the time for running and I.
We, we loved your country, especially during February and January where it's freezing. Yeah, yeah. No kidding. Uh, but yeah, um, yeah, after, after my, um, third Paralympics, it was 2005, um, I was actually, believe it or not, I was just coming into my prime at that point. And, uh, I was about 24 years old. And, uh, really tragically, I, I was out on a training run and.
Um, I was hit by a car.
Oh, wow.
Stewart: And uh, like it wasn't a minor hit, like I was really hit and it just absolutely shattered my [00:16:00] tibia and fibula and to the point where I had five surgeries on it. Oh my. It goodness. It wasn't a minor. Like it was huge. Like, it just like lots of. Rods and pins and, you know, I don't need to go through the, all the details, but it took a lot of surgeries to put my leg back together.
So I never really got back to my international form of, of what I once was and where I was going with it, believe it or not. And, um, so that, that was tough. And at the same time too, I was blessed with, you know, a few kids coming along the way and my wife and kids. So now I have three kids and my kids are starting to grow and um, they were starting to become.
Kind of athletes as in their own sense. So, you know, I, I really love, you know, watching my, my son grow up and become a real good hockey player and things like that. So, you know, I, I sort of gave up running completely, um, for a while. Then after a while, you know, as I say, my kids did grow and I, I really did miss it.
So I wanted to just kind of come back to running, but not in the same. Capacity and not in the same [00:17:00] competitiveness, I suppose. So I started running, I started training again just on my own without going to practice, but just sort of marathon training on my own. And yeah, I took a few years at it and I ran the AWA marathon and did fairly well.
And then I qualified for Boston and um.
Yeah.
Christina: And then what, I know you're saying this so casually, like, oh, you know, I did it for, uh, for fun and I won the Boston Marathon.
Stewart: Yeah, there was, there's actually a pretty crazy story that happened in the Boston Marathon. I, I, one of my very best friends, his name is Matt, and he is a firefighter.
Actually, just to explain it a little bit, like, you know, to run. Turn it at the pace that, that I'm running it, it, it requires a lot of help, you know, from guides and whatnot. So I actually had two guides. I have one guide to run the first half and one guide to run the second half. Oh my God. Just to be able to, to manage.
And, but my, my good friend Matt, [00:18:00] who's a firefighter and a very accomplished runner in his own right, um, he was guiding me and he, he'd just taken over at the halfway point. So, uh, let me think in your. So 13 miles. I'm trying to think how 13 miles are. Thank you. Uh, yeah, you're welcome. Yes. Yeah,
no necessary.
Um,
Stewart: so he took over and it was a really funny situation. Like, it's funny, not funny, but, um, so we are running and the Boston Marathon is absolutely, it's crazy. There's so many great runners that can run really fast. So a lot of regular marathons. There's only a handful that can sort of run at the pace that we are running, but here there's hundreds and thousands and so it's never like.
Not busy. So as someone with, with tunnel vision, like you really rely on that guide to sort of get you through and to see what you're not seeing and all the people in front of you and the traffic and the water stations and all that. Anyway, in my little sliver of vision, we were running just after the half waypoint, he'd just taken over and a water bottle just happened [00:19:00] to go right in front of us and.
The, the amazing thing is my little sliver of vision. I was the one that saw it, but it, it was, I, I might have heard it, I'm not sure. Anyway, my, my poor guy who's a firefighter, he stepped right on it and he just rolled his ankle like he wouldn't believe. Oh, he, and he was done. And so like, well, what am I gonna do here?
So he, he couldn't keep going. So I just ran and all I could do was. Maybe Timothy is, you know, you just, you just focus in on one thing and you just, you just literally use your tunnel vision and, and do the best you. It was tough. Oh my gosh. And so what happened was, I, I probably ran about five miles without him, or maybe not quite that much, but quite a while.
And I'm just, I'm struggling, but I'm doing the best. And the really cool thing was a lot of people around me knew that I was blind and saw what happened and so many people offered to help and just like, no, no, no. You go ahead, like you run your race. I'll just. I'll manage No problem. And, and don't, I hear, um, you know, about, [00:20:00] about 45 minutes later or something like that, my, my guy, my poor guy that rolled his ankle terribly, found his way back to me and ran through the pain, his, his ankles, like a grapefruit and just.
Once he realized that he didn't break a bone, he just sort of ran through terribly, oh my gosh. Injured ankle. It was just unbelievable. So anyway, all that to say, we, we managed through together and we found out later that we were the, the champions for the visually impaired category. And that was pretty special.
So
Timothy: that's pretty amazing. 'cause I, I see what my eyesight looks right now and there's no way I could run. I have retired from running.
No, it's not. Yeah,
Leslie: just the kindness of humans though, right? Yeah. Like people around you being willing to like step back and help or do whatever, and then your guide Oh my gosh. To be able to run on a, an ankle. Yeah.
Stewart: That's,
Leslie: that's awesome.
Stewart: What a champ. I know. It was, it was a true team event. Like it was really like, you know, [00:21:00] they're guide runners at the Paralympics.
It's a true team sport. It really is. Oh. Like you can't, you can't do it without them and it's just, uh, they're. They're unbelievable athletes.
Leslie: Well, that's awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of your athletic accomplishments. I do wanna kind of move on just a little bit because we have so much, so many topics here to talk about.
Um, but I wanna talk about your Leader dog experience. So can you give us just a brief, how you found Leader Dog and got started with us? And then I wanna talk about all the things you're currently involved in too.
Stewart: Yeah, very much the same. Like I'm talking to you about these, these odd experiences that happened, but I was just.
On the Retinitis pigmentosa Facebook page, and one day I happened to notice one person talking about o and m and, and the experience that they had. And, um, you know, it's something, obviously I think it's something that resonated with me. I knew that, um, you know, I probably had wasted a lot of time just not getting this training and I knew I needed it.
I knew that a lot of, um. [00:22:00] Yeah, just I, I was avoiding certain situations, like I was avoiding some, some things that were just really difficult to do and, and wondering, you know, am I gonna make it with my vision? Is this gonna be something that I'm gonna feel nervous about? And anyway, so I was kind of thinking about it and, and I just happened to see on the Facebook page people talking about o and m and then somebody just mentioned Leader Dogs for the Blind on there.
And, and just like that, I just like, well here we go. So I just emailed. Uh, client services, I believe, and just asked a lot of questions and, and they answered all of them like immediately. It was just amazing to get the feedback right away. All the questions that I asked. And then, you know, I said, well, here are the two sort of caveats I said, I.
Well, this is all sounding great, but you know, the one thing is that I'm Canadian, so this probably doesn't apply to me, does it? And you say, oh, yes it does. We absolutely cater to Canadians. We'd love to have you. That kind of thing. And then, and like, wow, okay. Like, and then the last one [00:23:00] was, well, this just sounds too good to be true.
It's gonna be a week, it's a week away, but how much is this gonna cost? It's free. Whoa. I just, I couldn't believe everything that they were saying, and it was just like, it was almost, it sounded too good to be true. And, and I still think of it as too good to be true. Like even to this day, it's, it's really too good to be true.
All the things that you learn and you take away and, you know, coming away with such confidence and, and new skills and it's, it's just like such a blessing to my life. Like. Yeah.
Leslie: And so you came and you spent a week, uh, doing the o and m training, right? With Mr. Lynn? I believe
Stewart: that's correct. Yeah. Who, I'm sure they cho they, they chose Well, when they, they put me with Lynn because I think it was, well, you have your intro meeting Yeah.
With this person. And you know, we just talked about her. You know, our lifestyles. And I talked to him about, you know, my active lifestyle and he's a very active person as well. Mm-Hmm. I [00:24:00] think, I think it was day two, he asks me to, are you up for going on a, a five mile walk tomorrow? I have this loop that we like to do, or I, or I like to do, and so I'm kind of like, honestly, a little bit.
A little bit arrogant, like I'm thinking, okay, yeah, sure. Like there's no way we're going on a five mile walk. Walk. Like, I, like I said, like I'm a marathon runner. Like I know distance, I know time. This is gonna take, you know, this amount of time. There's no way that this older guy's gonna be, I knew he looked fit, but I'm like, there's no way it's this long.
Yeah. And sure enough, sure enough, yeah. We walked forever that day. So we, we did this massive square loop. And we talked the whole time and we learned so much. And he brought me through the mall. He brought me through this auditorium. He brought me through revolving doorways. He brought me up and down stairs.
He, every last thing you can imagine in this, on the first real session together, I was so impressed. And, um, you know, we just got to talk and learn and he, [00:25:00] he figured me out. And, um, you know, I, I like from learning from him. He. He just hit me exactly how I needed to be hit because, you know, I, I'm not that young anymore, but, you know, in my, in my blindness, in my, you know, dealing with it, I kind of was, you know, I, I was like young in the sense, and I just, just like so many people that are probably listening right now, just like, you just hate to get to that point.
And it sort of happens before you know it and you, you realize, man, I'm not doing a lot of things that. I should be doing, I want to do only because I'm living with this condition and my, my life is so hard because I can't do anything by myself. And, and, you know, so I got into these conversations with, with Lynn and, and, um, I said to him, you know, Lynn, I've, I've learned so much already from you.
Like, I just, I can't thank you enough. I feel so much better. I said, but I know like the hardest thing for me [00:26:00] is going to be going home back to Ottawa. Actually just using this cane, and his response was just like a hundred percent what I needed to hear at that moment. He just says, well, well, what do you mean?
He says, well, do people at home not know that you have a visual impairment? Like do people around you, do they not know? I'm like, well, yeah, yeah. They do know. Like they, people that know me, of course they know I have a visual impairment and you know, you know, through my sport and the media, people know that I'm legally blind.
I'm like, well, so what's gonna happen is you're gonna go home, you're gonna have your cane with you. People are gonna see it, and they're gonna be like, Hmm. And they'll be like, yeah, that makes sense. And that's it. And then he said like, what's better, like for people to, to have that momentary, like you have that momentary conversation with people, they notice quickly like, what's, what's worse?
Like, do, do you want to keep walking around, bumping your head, bumping [00:27:00] your sheds, not feeling safe, not feeling calm, not feeling, or would you rather have that? And he just talked to me like that. Like I, like I was the student. He is the teacher. And like I said, you're a hundred percent right.
Yeah.
Stewart: And you know, like as I, as I've come home and that's exactly what happened.
Oh, the other thing that he said is when you go home, you do not leave your house without it. It's like no matter how small a trip it is, if you're just going for the mail, he said, you bring it with you. 'cause this is you now. And that's really what made the biggest difference because you know, it'd be easy to kind of take it with you, not take it with you and just sort of get in that zone of, well, do I need it or not?
But. The times that I don't use it is the times I often need it most. Right? And um, and really what it does is it normalizes it, um, for people to see me with the cane all the time and for me to use it all the time, I just feel so much safer, so much more at ease. And it just, it's just me now and it's [00:28:00] fine.
You know, like I, I was just dreading it for so long, just using this white cane, but now it's just giving me this sense of peace and calmness and to the point where. You meet so many new people in your life now when you meet them for this first time, it's not like, um, well, they just see me with the cane and that, that's just me now.
And, and that's what I was avoiding for so long. And now it's something that I've grown to love and, and really appreciate because it's, it's just such an extension of who I am and it just helps me so much.
Timothy: It sounds like our stories are similar. You gotta get to the point where you've gotta accept your blindness and your, uh.
At that moment, your capabilities, and you've gotta go get that training you've got, but you've gotta take that first step, and that's the hardest thing to do, is take that first step to improve your life.
Stewart: Yeah, I totally agree. And I just think I, there's, I just wish I'd done this 15 years ago. You know, there a lot of time was wasted.
And for the people that are listening right now, I just would highly recommend not [00:29:00] waiting, just it's your life and, and you know, don't. Let time go by without just taking care of yourself. This will make you so much more at ease. I promise you. I can't tell you the amount of times where I've received help, when, when needed, or, um, you know, just using the cane, just the space that it opens up.
You know, as a person who uses public transit and travels to restaurants and, you know, just are in crowded environments or whatnot, it just opens that little bit of space and gives you that, that brief amount of room that you need to be comfortable. Or ask the question for help if you need to. And it's just, it's just, it's so much simpler than before when you're just struggling with people not really understanding why you're having trouble in certain situations.
Leslie: I appreciate all of that. That was fantastic and I'm so happy that you've had that experience and it's been such a positive experience for you. And yes, somehow these teaming ups, the matches that we make with o and m specialists and [00:30:00] and clients sometimes really are. Just, I don't know how to even say it.
Like it just meant to be right. You're, you're with the right person. Like Timothy and I were matched together and it's been a beautiful relationship, uh, and we accomplished so much. And same thing with you and Lynn. Lynn is a fantastic instructor and he really is hit the ground running kinda guy and tell you how it is.
And it sounds like that's exactly what you needed at that time. So I'm so happy that worked out. We do have to kind of wrap it up here, but Stewart, I'm thinking we need a part two episode because we did not even get Yes. To a lot of the things on our list here today. So we're gonna wrap this one up. I wanna thank you for joining us, but we're gonna work on scheduling part two to come back and discuss all those other items.
Stewart: Wow. Thank you so much. I, I don't usually talk very much, maybe because I can't see any faces right now, but
Leslie: No, it's been fantastic. It's
Stewart: such a pleasure being on, on the, uh, on the podcast. Thank you so much for all your time. And just for people that are thinking about Leader Dog, honestly, just get to their website.
And start talking to client services, it'll change your life.
Timothy: Oh, and [00:31:00] I wanna thank Leslie 'cause she didn't take me on a five mile,
Leslie: remember I was eight months pregnant or however many that's did at that time too.
That's right.
Leslie: That's great. That's great. Well thank you so much Stewart, and thank you so much to our listeners for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy Kno and Christina Hoeppner.
We hope you enjoyed hearing part one. We'll say Yes of Stewart and his accomplishments. Please do join us next time as we continue to dive into the world of blindness.
Christina: Yes, and if you'd like to learn more about applying to our free services at Leader Dog, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332.
And don't forget, you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas. If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever Podcast Stream.