Christina: Welcome to the taking the lead podcast, where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hepner with my co-host Leslie Hoskins and Timothy Cuneio. So today Leslie did a big thing this morning.
Leslie: Listen, I am barely hanging on. I right now know it is an emotional day. I took my little, my little, uh, five year old to his first day of kindergarten.
Such a big he's. So, wow. Such a big boy. He's so big. And he was so excited. Thank goodness. He was excited. He said he was a little nervous, which of course. We went through all the things. Okay. What's your teacher's name? What grade are you in? Because you just drop him off. Like you don't get outta the car with him.
You just pull up and then he hops out and that's the end. You just hope he makes it there? No pictures. Oh, I mean, I took pictures at the house and then I have pictures of him walking in, but like, I don't know that he made it to his classroom. I'm assuming he did.
Christina: I'm sure that there are adults there that, you know, helped direct all the little kids.
Leslie: And know there were multiple adults, they were helping him, but I was, I waited at least till he got outta the car. And then I subbed uncontrollably subbed like embarrassingly subbed. Um, Timothy
Christina: Leslie was showing me the pictures. He is adorable. Like, he just looks so happy for his first day of school.
Leslie: He was pumped and his little backpack, not his little, his giant backpack, cuz they have to have a full size backpack to carry like all their winter clothes and stuff and whatnot. But it was full of all the school supplies, all the crayons and the markers and the uh, Lysol wipes and all the things. So, I mean, I'm lucky he could even walk with it and he didn't just like dip over backwards.
Timothy: Hey million. Well, that's a, that's a big step for a five year old to go to kindergarten for the first day. Who,
Leslie: yeah, I just, I can't believe we're here and it's weird cuz you know, we just moved as everybody knows. So we're in a brand new school district. We don't know anybody yet. Um, so really just drafting him off to building where I know no other humans, which is a crazy thought.
So I told Christina, I was like, we've gotta get [00:02:00] outta here this morning. I gotta get there. I gotta pick up my kid. I gotta be in the parking lot. Ready to go.
Christina: I'm excited to see how his first date went. I'm sure. I'm excited to hear how that
Leslie: all went. He's so good. He'll it'll be great. Did you put one of
Christina: those apple
Leslie: tags on him?
Oh my God, God, Tim. Why haven't I thought of that? I need to do that. Be careful with those apple tags though. Cause anyone can tag onto those. That's true. So you don't wanna
Leslie: put one of those on your children. What can I do to track him? Oh, God, he's gonna hear this one. Oh my Lord.
Timothy: Ask Christine's father
Christina: Yeah, I ask my dad that's true. Um, life 360 is I think that's the app or something like
Arabella: that. Well, then I have to get him
Leslie: like a device. Oh yeah.
Christina: You don't want him to have a cell phone in five years, right?
Arabella: Fifth grade. Heavens no.
Christina: Or kindergarten fifth grade. I just said your child was in fifth grade.
Leslie: Okay.
Settle down. We're just now in kindergarten. And it's weird right now, too. Cuz my daughter is with, um, my in-laws and then she'll be with my parents this week cuz she doesn't start school till after. So we have a whole week with just Zach, which is so exciting and fun to do some special one-on-one things.
[00:03:00] But it's, it's weird, you know, when you have two and only one of 'em saw for a while.
Timothy: Makes it special for him. Yeah. Makes it special for him for the entire week. Yes, that's
Leslie: good. Yeah. And I think then he'll be able to show her where to go and stuff next week. So he'll be able to be the big brother and
Christina: yeah, that's gonna be fun with them too.
Both in the same building together. I be Saab and next
Leslie: week too, but that's nice
Christina: that they're in the same building they
Leslie: are. And normally. It's
Timothy: cool now to become teenagers. And then that's when the issues will start.
Leslie: I loved being in the same school as my older brother, my little sister. It was cool. Cuz I like knew all his friends already.
So. . Yeah. And then I married one. It was really convenient. yeah.
Christina: See, I was only in the same school with my sister. Okay. Um, yeah. And I remember she could drive and I couldn't. So like I had to rely on her and sometimes I had to take the bus.
Leslie: Yeah, that wasn't so fun or I'd always have to sit in the back seat cuz you know, whoever my brother was [00:04:00] into got to ride enough run seat.
Oh yeah.
Christina: Same. And or I'd be like, no, I'm your sister. I'm sitting in the front seat. Yeah. I'd have those moments, you know, those high school moments. Geez. That you look back on and you're like, why? Like
Arabella: what was the point? so funny. Oh, I
Christina: can't wait to hear about all your kids going through all of that. Oh God.
I mean
Leslie: you got time, but thank goodness. So listen, I'm barely holding on today. So. But anyways, in other news, besides my emotional breakdowns, yes. Um, we are really super excited for today's guest. I had the pleasure of meeting her while she was on campus, getting her very first, uh, guy, dog, which was really not too long ago.
Yes.
Christina: And a ball of Jones is a new leader, dog graduate, who is living in St. Paul, Minnesota with her leader, dog ALA, and three cats. She's currently working as an ophthalmology assistant after switching careers or from veterinary. Ella enjoys working in the ophthalmology office and helping others with visual impairments.
Timothy: Welcome to the podcast. Abel, it's exciting to have you here today. [00:05:00] So tell us a little bit more about yourself and how you
Arabella: lost your vision. Hi everybody. Thank you so much for having me. Um, I have RP like you Timothy. So I have retinitis pigmentosa. I am considered legally blind. I have about. Um, 15 to 20 degrees of central vision left and, and that's that's about it.
And so
Leslie: you lost your vision and how has that really like impacted your life what's what's changed for you? Has it been a kind of a gradual thing or was there one day you kind of woke up and you were like, okay, wow, this is different. This is new. What do I have
Arabella: to do? No, it's actually been very gradual for me, um, to the point where sometimes I don't even, I think back to when I was a teenager and.
Wow. I, my vision's really changed because I do, I think about things I've done as a teenager. And I was like, oh man, I could not do that now. um, or things I saw or, you know, just, just [00:06:00] life things. So it's been very gradual for me, um, which I think, you know, is good and bad.
Leslie: Absolutely. Yes. Everybody experiences, vision loss in different ways.
And it that's an interesting perspective. I hadn't thought about that to really, you know, look back and say, wow, oh my gosh, I could see more. Or I did so many different things because I could see more. Um, and now you're just tackling things in a different way. Yeah,
Arabella: exactly. Yeah.
Christina: It is a really cool thing to hear.
And so. Did you ever, so you have a guy dog now, did you ever use a white cane? Did you ever get those orientation and mobility services before getting your guide dog?
Arabella: I did. Interestingly, I got, so I was diagnosed with RP at 22 and I'm 28 now. Um, and I got O and M turning pretty much right away after getting diagnosed, which I don't think I would recommend.
to anyone. Um, just in the sense that I was very emotional when that happened. And so I was like trying to [00:07:00] process all these emotions of just having been diagnosed with RP and having my vision change and I wasn't able to drive anymore, you know, and all these things. Um, and then doing the O and M on top of it.
I don't, I didn't really absorb as much as I should have. . So what ended up happening is I just didn't use my cane for the longest time because I was stubborn and it was just really difficult for me to mentally. except that I needed to use the cane. Um, and then when I was about 25, 26, my vision started getting worse and worse.
And, um, I had a few instances where I, you know, tripped over steps or, um, fell. You know, I fell down a stair, ran into trees, things like that. Um, ended up in the emergency room a few too many times. And finally I had to accept in myself. I was like, okay, this is no longer safe. I need to start using my cane.
So I did a refresher [00:08:00] of my on and M skills, um, and then started using my cane more frequently. So Arabella, I just wanted
Christina: to touch on, you just said that, you know, you should have waited to get services. I don't think we've heard that before. You know, we've heard like, you know, people had been ready or that sort of thing.
You know, you said you should have waited and
Arabella: gone through that emotional journey. Yeah. And you know, I think it's different for every person. I, when I was diagnosed, I still had, um, a significant amount of functional, remaining vision. So it wasn't a. Like emergent safety issue with me. Um, and I was kind of rushed into it, whereas like, oh, you need to go to, you know, you go to blind school, you need to learn braille.
And I was, I was just processing the fact that I never considered myself to be visually impaired before. Um, so I was really just processing all of that and I, I just didn't, I felt like I wasn't able to get the same out [00:09:00] of, on and M training as I maybe would've if I had been able to process the emotional side of being diagnosed first.
Leslie: I think you bring up such a good point. It's so important to know, or be ready for services, right? You have, there's so many different stages of, of grief and acceptance and denial and bargaining. You know, there's all those different seven steps where, and people go back and forth and you can jump into services a little too soon and not get out of it, what you need to.
So I think that's a really important point. Sometimes it's not the right answer to jump right into getting services after being diagnosed. And for other people, it is, they have to get moving. They have to get started. So kind of knowing yourself and being able to step back and say, okay, I'm not quite ready, but I totally understand when you're getting into that.
And people are just, they wanted help. Everybody wants to get you excited and it's great. That services were available to you. I think that's a real positive, but I totally understand that. And I, I really appreciate you bringing that point. .
Arabella: Yeah, I think it's important to think [00:10:00] about the emotional and mental health side of, of disabilities, because there's, it's, it's so much, you know, disabilities affect our mental health, um, so much.
Yeah. And you know, you also said that you did a little refresher course. So how did you know you were ready to get a guide dog? And how did you find a
Arabella: leader dog? Well, to be quite honest with you guys, Have been an animal lover since I was very small. I mean, I was that kid that like, I once found a orphaned baby squirrel oh.
And I brought in the orphaned baby squirrel and like was caring, you know, nursing this squirrel in my closet. And I was trying to hide it from my mom. um, so I have been like, animals are just, I have such a relationship with animals. quite honestly, when I was diagnosed with RP and as we were kind of working my family and I were working through emotionally and practically of what my life's gonna look like 5, 10, 20 years from now.
[00:11:00] Um, and changing that perspec, changing that idea of what my life's gonna look like. It was just kind of like, well, you're gonna get a guide dog. Of course you. Arabella guide dog. It just makes sense. Um, that makes sense. so it's just always been my, I mean, even my dad said it in one of my very first occupational therapy appointments.
I remember my dad asking, well, when can she get a guide dog? Because I know my daughter and my daughter's not going to use a cane, but she will like, she will work much better with a guide dog. You know, the cane is just, she's not gonna get along with the. but she will work with a guide dog, much better just knowing who I am as a person.
So I kind of always saw the cane as steps I needed to take to get a guide dog for me personally, Leslie is heartbroken over right now. I think I wanna talk to your father over
Christine: the cane, Sheila, you know, she trains on that white cane and [00:12:00] that is her number one. You know,
Arabella: I, there have been moments though that now that I've.
ALA, you know, the cane, there's a lot of pros to the cane. Um, The cane doesn't shed. And I think my robot vacuum probably appreciates my cane a lot more. Very good. There we go.
Leslie: Yeah, I'll
Arabella: take what I can get. I definitely don't wanna, you know, say that I'm anti Kae. I still use my cane when I need to, um, you know, coming up here soon, I'm gonna go to the Minnesota state fair and that's just not an environment where I think it would be fair for ALA to be expected to be at her best behavior with food everywhere.
And. Smells. And so I'm gonna be using my cane. So it, I mean, it's very important to have your cane skills, even if you have a guide dog. And that's probably the thing I've learned through leader dog, one of the best things I've learned through leader dog.
Leslie: That's so good to hear. I love that. now she's all.
You're perking me right up. I love it.
Arabella: I [00:13:00] still prefer ALA whenever possible. Yeah, no,
Leslie: you build me up. You knock me down. I'm sorry. I'm totally kidding. That's really funny. So you
Timothy: finally decided to get a guy dog mm-hmm . So what made you choose leader dog?
Arabella: It was actually a post on Facebook. Um, I was looking yes into.
So here's kind of what happened. I, I did my refresher course in cane training and I knew I needed to use my cane consistently and well and get comfortable with it. Um, so I was doing that for a couple years and then I kind of was like, okay, I'm ready to start looking and getting a guide dog. Um, my own personal dog passed around the same time that I, my vision declined.
And so it was kind of like I had to deal with the emotions of, of her passing and I didn't really want to. Get a new dog right away. Um, so I was looking at all the guide dog schools and I [00:14:00] was following their Facebooks and Instagrams and all that stuff. And a leader, dog posted something about their dogs wearing winter boots.
And I was like, well, that's. Obviously the best case scenario for me because I live in Minnesota. Um, and we, you know, we have a big winter yeah. Winter is something we're well known for. So I was like, well, that's perfect. Um, I don't know. It just kind of made me look into leader dog more and I appreciated that they were closer to Minnesota.
Um, Every, and then I inquired with their client services and just every experience I've had with leader dog is just so everyone's so nice and welcoming and warm and great. And I it's just, it was a no brainer.
Leslie: that's awesome. You've got Christina fist pumping over here with her Facebook push she's like I nailed it.
Yeah.
Arabella: Boots.
Christina: Right. I, the digital marketing. So it's great to know that it's working and that it's reaching the people. We want it to reach and you're doing it [00:15:00] posting. A little bit of everything I'm really trying over here. That's awesome. Really makes me happy that you saw it
Arabella: on Facebook. yeah,
Leslie: that's really cool.
Yes. That's one of my favorite days, honestly, is when they do train the dogs with the little booties, you know, cuz they just can't quite figure it out. They're like what is going on? And they walk so funny and they like don't wanna put their feet down, but they have to have their feet down and it's just hilarious, but they wear the little booties for winter and super hot weather, which I found interesting.
Christina: I tried to put booties on my dog duke one time. It didn't go well. ,
Arabella: it's, it's one of the funniest things to watch. There's it's sport duke. They're good sports about it. Yes. Yeah. ALA's about to get her refresher course. Um, in boots, I ordered her some winter boots and she's gonna get refresher course here
Leslie: soon.
you'll have to send us some photos because we love that. It's so cute. So how is ALA doing now at work in the office, your home? How is everything transitioned?
Arabella: She has been doing great. I think [00:16:00] most of our issues are like, she, she knows what to do. It's me stressing or having anxiety yeah. Um, it was a lot harder, you know, bringing her home than I even ever imagined.
It was, I mean, I guess hard is not the right term. It was just kind of stressful. Everything's different. Every everything's different and you just don't think of all the ways that things are gonna be different. Um, but I will say. She's just doing great. She takes every challenge that I give her with, like such Gusto and her tails wagging and she's just ready to go.
Um, so she's been absolutely wonderful at the office. My coworkers love her. Um, they wish they could love her, you know, pet her and stuff. They're very respectful. um, to the point where, when she first came. like the first week or two, like, people wouldn't even look at her cuz they were like, well, we don't wanna, we don't wanna distract her from working.
Like we don't wanna distract her. They were like, I was like, [00:17:00] you can look at her it's okay. that's great though. Yeah, no, they were like so respectful and great. It's it's better for people to err on this side of more respectful cuz that's that's usually not what you get. Absolutely.
Leslie: That's awesome. So, so tell us a little bit about what you do there and what your office does and how that's really impacted you.
Yeah. So
Arabella: I work as an ophthalmology assistant. I work at the university of Minnesota's eye clinic, um, actually in their neuro ophthalmology department, which is a subspecialty of ophthalmology. And I do a lot of administrative tasks. Um, some patient care tasks. I don't do, you know, like the vision testing, um, and things that people are used to.
When you go to the eye doctor, I'm more of. I communicate between the patients and the doctors. So I facilitate essentially making it so that every patient comes in, they [00:18:00] get all the tests they need. I communicate with the technicians that are running those tests with the doctor. If there needs to be any changes, I make sure all the records are collected from previous visits.
Um, and then I get, you know, I have the patient, see the doctor. I facilitate whatever the doctor needs in terms of that visit and then coordinate further care, depending on the situation we'll refer to other doctors or treatment or things like that. So I'm kind of the behind the scenes person moving all the little parts to make sure all the big parts run as they're supposed to.
That's a
Leslie: lot, sounds like a lot of tasks. It can be a lot sometimes.
Timothy: What made you move from the veterinary profession tool to
Arabella: ophthalmology profession? That's actually an interesting question and, and it really comes down to my vision. My vision got to a point where I was no longer able to work in patient care in veterinary medicine, [00:19:00] and that's what I loved.
And so I moved into administrative and then I, I was just kind. Looking at career options. Cuz I had to, with my vision declining, I kind of had to accept that my career needed to take a different path. So I ended up getting a job at the front desk at the eye clinic. Um, and then a position opened up for this facilitator position, working with one of the neuro ophthalmologists there and I took it and I ran with it and now I, I love it.
So. Kind of fell in my lap in a way, but I did certainly it intrigued me to work at an eye clinic being visually impaired.
Leslie: Absolutely. So are there people there that are coming and kind of re receiving these diagnosis of legal blindness?
Arabella: There are, I mean, EV almost every day, so
Leslie: what's that like being on kind of the other side of it and, you know, kind of being [00:20:00] around people that are going through this and just finding out this type of information.
Arabella: I really like it, it brings me a lot of job satisfaction and just personal satisfaction too. Um, I really try in our office specifically to create a more wholesome or all encompassing service to where of, you know, of course we're there as medical professionals to diagnose. You know, to give you a prognosis to offer treatment, those kinds of things.
But I also have created a lot of resources for people hand to hand them of, you know, where what's next. Like, okay. So now I have been diagnosed with this, you know, vision. Challenging disease. Um, what's next? So I have handouts for driving rehabilitation programs, um, or state services for the blind here in Minnesota, [00:21:00] which is a great organization that helps peop visually impaired people connect them with resources, things like that.
So I think that's something that I I've brought to the table. just with my own experience.
Leslie: That's incredible seriously, cuz that's the biggest thing that we hear from clients all the time is that, you know, they're diagnosed and then they don't know what to do or where to go or how to proceed. So to have somebody in that office, one, who's a wonderful example of all of the things you can.
Do you know, while visually impaired, I mean, nothing has really slowed you down by any means. Um, and then two, just to be there, to hand them resources and let 'em know this isn't the end. There are, you know, multiple different things that you can go and start doing when you're ready. Of course. Um, but I think that's absolutely incredible.
I wish every ophthalmology office had an Arabella. Cause I think that's a wonderful,
Arabella: I really take pride in that. And I, there was one time I got to meet another leader. um, a patient brought in or patient was there and she was, she had a leader dog, [00:22:00] and I got to meet her and they got to meet ALA and it was just like so cool.
Cuz they were so surprised to kind of see me in my role. Um, and I think there's such a stereotype of, you know, visually impaired blind people can't do things or like can't have like a professional job. And especially like a medical job. And so I think she was so surprised to see me there. And I was like, yeah, like I have RP, I have vision loss.
I'm working. This is my leader dog. She helps me. She's she's, you know, very used to clinic life and things like that. So that was really cool.
Leslie: It sounds like. I mean, when we SP when you were on campus, like you have a ton of support in your office too, like the doctors and other professionals there, like, are encouraging you, they want you to, you know, maybe continue on it in your education and go further and do such amazing things, which is
Arabella: awesome.
Yeah. I have, I work with a absolutely wonderful doctor. Um, And [00:23:00] he's just so nice and supportive and all my coworkers technicians, super my management, everyone there has just been so supportive and gung-ho and just anything I need, they'll get me.
Leslie: That's incredible. I'm so excited. I'm so happy that you found leader dog because of those little rain boot, Facebook post.
I know.
Leslie: you're making so many other people's lives like you're impacting so many other people who are recently going through this again, as an example of what you can do, but also just sharing resources. I mean, that is that the most incredible thing I think you can be doing. Um, but I'm curious too.
So recently you had your family, uh, kind of hosted or did a leader, dog golf out or not a leader, dog golf outing, but a golf outing, um, in support of leader dog. Do you wanna tell us a little bit about
Arabella: that? Yeah. So it was yesterday actually. So it's fresh in my mind. Um, it was through my dad's local chapter of the, uh, [00:24:00] VFW.
He's very active in that they have every year, a charity golf tournament and they wanted this year to support my family in some way. So they kind of came to me and said, you know, how can we. Support you, what, what charity would you think would support, you know, the world, the world of visual impairment.
And I said, leader dog 110%. so leader dog was our beneficiary. Um, I was there with ALA. We were there with some local lions club members as well to. Do we did a little game where people would put a blindfold on and, and, you know, hit a golf ball and try to, you know, try to get it towards a target. And, um, however, I was astounded that they ended up raising.
The final numbers haven't come out yet, but it's gonna be somewhere around $30,000 for leader. Wow. That's
Leslie: awesome. And like the [00:25:00] awareness to, I mean, the money of course is amazing. We're so appreciative. Um, but also the awareness that you're spreading. So you're sharing about not only visual impairments, but also specifically leader drugs for the blind, who knows what'll come out of that too.
If you know, Maybe more donors, maybe a puppy razor or volunteer or somebody else coming to get services. So we are appreciative because that is awesome. And I'm so glad it went well. Sounds like it was a
Arabella: lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. Um, we were a little bit concerned about rain, so it was kind of cute.
I had ALA's rain jacket after ready um, to go, but it thankfully did not rain. It ended up being a beautiful day. you know, that was great. Absolutely
Leslie: love that. And one of another local client came, uh, so you got to meet him and his guide dog, and he shared a little bit about his experience with the group too.
So it sounds like it was just an
Arabella: awesome event. We got a lot of really nice comments after. Um, so Daniel said something, I said spoke a few words. Um, and, and we got a, really, a lot [00:26:00] of really nice comments. People even came up, you know, kind of teary eyed and crying and being like you've inspired me so much.
And, um, It, it's just great. It's it's just such a nice feeling when you really change, change or educate someone about your disability. It's it's great.
Leslie: It's empowering. That's exactly what you're doing. You're empowering yourself and others. And I wanna thank you. We wanna thank you so much. Not only for the fundraiser, for the awareness, the work you're doing at your doctor's office, but also for joining us today.
We're so thankful that we're able to take the time out of your very busy schedule to join us and share a little bit about yourself.
Arabella: Of course, I'm so thankful that you guys had me. Absolutely.
Leslie: And thank you so much to our listeners for listening to the, taking the lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy CUO and Christina Hoeppner.
We hope you enjoyed learning about Arabella. Please join us next week as we continue to dive into the world of blindness.
Christina: And if you'd like to learn more about applying to leader, dog, you can head to leader, [00:27:00] dog.org. Or call us at (888) 777-5332. And don't forget, you can reach us at taking the lead at leader, dog.org.
With any questions or ideas, if you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever podcast street.