[Doug]: Welcome to episode 29 of Feeling Through Live. I'm joined here today by Alice Eaddy and we will be talking about everything that has to do with the disability community and the upcoming election that's just days away here. Certainly there's a lot to get into, but Alice, you know, I know that in my research, if you will, for this episode, I've certainly learned a lot. And, you know, one thing that is not something that I have had to previously think about before that I've learned a lot about is a number of different considerations for a lot of people in the disability community, as far as different obstacles or challenges with just casting a vote for the election. I'd love to start off just really like from your specific experience, if you could kind of talk about some of the things that you've had to deal with in prior elections or for this upcoming election in casting your vote.
[Alice]: Okay. Before, when I do, I have used the electronic machine, the adapted one with the headsets and the big controllers and that, but I no longer can hear enough, even with all my mechanics and cables and all that jazz that that's not doable. So this year I actually did it by mail. But even then the consideration was, I always went super early. Like I was always there by 6:45 in the morning, make sure I had plenty of time. I also, the polling person always had an extra person that sat with me through the whole thing because seriously, the volume that I had the devices on they were, they could hear it standing next to me anyway. So if I had problems, figuring out what the instructions were and that kind of thing, they were right there and readily available, the person that coordinated any repairs or anything like that, he was also the first person there. Anyhow. So it was, it was different, but most of the time in my own county, I was the only one that use that machine in the first place. And that's kinda sad. So, and that whole process, while if you were hearing and could do it hearing blind for me, it could have taken anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half or more to complete, but, you know, I was determined and I stayed in there now doing it this way. You didn't account for, for instance, I had got my ballot in New Jersey, we can electronically do it. So regardless I would have been, had to have somebody fill it for me, which I did that meant calling an agency, making sure they were available, going over there, hooking up with a case worker and letting them fill out the forms and everything they had it equally had to call for advice. So that, that you had that time in, and, you know, the bus trip over and you're out of town and the whole night it was pretty lengthy. But you know, and transportation is equally a problem for most. I do know that they sent out information about specific open polling locations. So I did know that mine isn't outrageously far from here. It's still more than a 45 minute walk, but you know, not outrageously far. But here again, as the blind person, that that would have been the choice we would to have been new, to use the, the adapted voting machine, which I cannot do since I have dual disabilities. So that's not counted in Pennsylvania. It was, they had judgments made that allowed for electronic voting to the extent of not only being able to fill in your form and print it out and mail it that way. So there were other ways that could be done more electronically related to vote than there are here,
[Doug]: You know, in some of what you just said, you know, I'd read, in reading a number of articles prior to today, I'd read in one that during the 2016 election election in one particular poll noted that 83% of polling places posed at least one impediment for voters with disabilities. And sometimes it was more than one impediment. This year, obviously through, for reasons largely around the pandemic, various other forms of voting such as mail-in voting, or drop box voting have certainly added another dimension to the options available for voters. Has that in and of itself made a large positive impact for the disability community, having those additional ways to vote?
[Alice]: Well, for me personally, after I had my form filled out and everything, the drop box election drop box actually was literally right outside their door. So when my paratransit came to get me, all I had to do was walk out the door and stick it in. But in some places there are, should you say, fake ones that people were told or the right election thing box to put it in. So you really had to make sure you check with your county as to where are the authentic drop boxes were, unless you just threw it in the mail in general, and then you wanted to make sure you did that really soon and tracked it if at all possible. I confirmed mine and it's definitely there. They had it on the eighth, so I was good.
[Doug]: Good. Well, I'm glad that worked out for you particularly. And, just the first question, Barbara is wondering what state and County that you voted,
[Alice]: I'm in New Jersey and I'm in Cumberland County,
[Doug]: Cumberland County. And what have you found again, you were starting to get at this, but you know, I imagine it's quite different from location to location, but previously when you voted in person, you kind of talked about having to go really early and know that you are going to face, perhaps some extra impediments there. Are there other people in the disability community, in your general area that you've spoken with about their voting experience in past?
[Alice]: You have to remember that in between 2016, they even moved our actual voting location. So when you got there, there was a lot of confusion as to how do you get in and a whole lot of other things. And because of, you know, me being dually disabled, where they actually put it, if I was hearing blind, you really wanted your machine to be in an area where it was relatively quiet, which really doesn't happen because it's not doable. So sometimes you would have other voters complaining about the machine in the first place you'd have. So you had to deal with regular people trying to get in, and the idea that I'm doing it early, and they might actually come get me and pull me into that room before everybody else. And now you got people that have attitudes and that kind of thing. So, yeah, there's a differences, especially when they moved, there are actual physical polling location. And the year before last year, I didn't vote because I was at Helen Keller National Center and the process to acquire the, you know, to sign up and everything was an inaccessible building and a location that was not accessible for me as a disabled dually disabled person. So I could never even sign up for the absentee ballot. So, and, you know, and you have to remember that probably some of that was part of the process and it just made it complicated for us. And here, a lot of us, we have a higher illiteracy rate in our, in our county in general. So that's a problem. And they did this year though, actually have people going door to door to make sure you got your ballot. That hasn't happened. I don't think I ever seen that since I can remember. So that's a nice tidy little thing to have happen, but, you know, I've heard from others that they did make random phone calls, which wouldn't do me any good because I wouldn't get them anyway. But, um, yeah, so.
[Doug]: Just to continue this part of the conversation about, you know, how different people have different considerations when voting, I'm going to just read a short section from a recent New York Times article, which reads, Sheryl Grossman voted in Maryland's primary this year by taping a blank mail in ballot to her door, alongside her list of choices. As she watched through the window of her home in Baltimore, two election officials filled out the ballot, texted her a photo and sealed the envelope. And, Sherly, just kind of skimming down here, Sheryl has Bloom syndrome, a genetic disorder that we consider immune system and causes cognitive disabilities. And because of the pandemic, she can't safely go to a polling place or allow anyone in her home. And because she can't read text with formatting like italics or borders, she can't complete a mail in ballot. And I found that really interesting because, you know, I think a lot of times when, at least for me, when I first heard about accessibility issues at the polls, my thought immediately goes to you know, ramps for wheelchairs and maybe certain devices for people who are blind or low vision, or maybe an interpreter at the poll. I would have, my mind would have never gone to something like that. So I think it's really interesting to kind of learn about the different ways in which different voters have different considerations when it comes to being able to cast their vote.
[Alice]: Oh, there's a little known usage even for non-disabled folks for the adapted voting machine, because it has multi-languages, it would be fantastic, but apparently it's not highly advertised as such for any foreign non English speaking people. And that would eliminate so much more inabilities to vote because it has the ability to digest and send out that information in multiple languages. But here again, well, if it's actually spoken, it wouldn't necessarily matter when they could read it. So that would be useful. That's just a tiny tidbit of something that that deputy machine can do that people don't think of.
[Doug]: You know, just like kind of to move to a slightly different part of this discussion, you know, beyond the accessibility component of it, there is the voting power of the disability community. So I think if you read different things, you'll find different numbers, but I found that an estimated 38 million eligible voters have disabilities. And then beyond that, that number becomes more like 67 million, if you include people in the household, which constitutes a very large percentage of the overall vote. However, I've often heard that it doesn't, there's also this statistic to go along with that, that in one poll that I saw, 61% of voters with disabilities had a negative opinion when asked if they felt like their elected officials were addressing issues that were specific to the disability community. So why do you think it is that there, it feels like there's, elected officials don't really address such a large voting demographic?
[Alice]: Because most of us never see them among other things, you know. Under the pandemic, it made it worse because normally if I were looking to hear about my elected officials, I would be at a senior center or some of the different disability awareness council. We usually had a meeting and had a forum for those folks to come and speak, you know, do their little spiels throughout that day. And we didn't have that function either. And so we don't really see them. They're certainly not coming to places where deaf folks would be hanging out, and depending on where you get your news, you're not going to, you could be shut out that way as well, because, you know, we actually had to have somebody take the White House to court to just talk on TV and have an interpreter available. So, I mean, you know, that whole communication backlog becomes a problem period. And, even in the meetings that I attend, I use adapted equipment as well as adapted headsets and different things just to handle the meetings and forums that I do go to. And it's not always done even in the ones that are sponsored by our police departments and our Elks clubs, where they have specific forums for seniors and people over 50, the idea that they would actually come have communication access doesn't happen. I usually bring my own.
[Doug]: Do you feel like personally, you know, personally from your perspective, Alice, do you feel like, whether it be presidential candidates or other candidates for other seats, speak to issues on, that are important to the disability community and is more specifically important to you?
[Alice]: Um, not necessarily. I mean, we know economics and jobs and that kind of thing, but we also know that for instance, the minute the pandemic hit, those service personnel that were vital to us were the first things that we're eliminating. You know, a lot of us have multiple disabilities and some of our attendance and personal care folks and all of those were equally affected, and that left us even more isolated than we were in the first place dangerously. So now you've got that level of in excess and their healthcare could be affected as well, and not counting the whole mental health effect of the pandemic, the anxiety, the different versions of whatever you're told and that kind of thing. And not having anybody to assist very often is maybe off the, it made it very, everything was unreachable to some degree. And for me, somebody that also, you know, like here again, our interpreters were equally affected and SSPs, and are what access we have has been virtual, which has been helpful, but, you know, like helping to set up your shopping and different things that we would need, but a lot of other needs were not met. They didn't think about the, those in senior homes and assisted living places and places for challenged adults they're living in group homes and all those kinds of things. Most of them aren't getting reached by pretty much anybody, you know, and if you have just the staff that worked those facilities, there's only so much they can do, they got them, they have their hands full just keeping you guys alive and doing the daily. So, yeah, we're excluded.
[Doug]: You had mentioned healthcare. You know, in a lot of what I read, when looking at what issues are most important to a lot of people in the disability community, certainly healthcare came up at pretty high up or at the top of the list in a lot of things that I read. Can you maybe discuss more about that? Whether it be, you know, from what, you know, in general, or maybe more specifically from your experience?
[Alice]: Healthcare as a program or a healthcare as an access to healthcare program systemically? Currently our president wants to kill it all together, depending on how you listen to it. And so that's really bad because there are a lot of serious implications of things that can be dropped that we don't need. They changed for instance, even for elections and other kinds of identification for other kinds of programs. I spent like a year and a half ago when he first started moving to a more stringent ID process, the poor, the handicap, the disabled, those that, you know, are in marginal employment. They're the first ones that are going to be stuck, trying to find official ID. And if they don't drive, that means, you know, you could be going a good deal of distance just to get those things done. I got in a whole lot of trouble because apparently so my official ID didn't have my middle initial and, you know, so that meant traveling. I did the motor vehicle place, and it is a bigger version. There's a local one, there's a regional one, and there's a state one day and I've been all over the place. And, you know, that meant different kinds of transportation, different kinds of communication needs. And in very often, you'd sit there and hope they'd send somebody that would actually tend to your needs. And that's a whole nother story, but I did eventually get it done. But that whole, that concept of idea alone made the process very complicated for people to get it. But if you didn't have your university certificate as one of your bigger ones, now I have the passport. Then the one that looks kind of like a credit card, as well as the little passport, that's the book, the whole nine yards. I did everything I could possibly do to make sure I was covered. But some people couldn't.
[Doug]: A question from the audience here from Judith, she asks, Alice, how much activism has there been to bring the disability community together as a voting block? The way other minority groups are to view them as a more powerful force?
[Alice]: Where I live in my county or anything, none. We, yeah, that's very limited. I learned most of my knowledge through Helen Keller National Center, because we took a lot of classes this summer while I was still home. Snd through groups that I am affiliated with, but, and we, we try to collaborate and share knowledge as well as councils that I serve on. But most people aren't, I don't even have access to all those things. So there's a whole gamut of non-information in general. Some of us don't even have enough trouble figuring out what we don't have in the facilities we live in. And if there's short handed in that, so you now have barriers to any kind of extra communication. Once they locked down places, you didn't even have visitors, so you didn't have that part.
[Doug]: You know, I'm curious on another, another thing that I saw in reading for today's episode. Something that I noted, I guess one of the topics that I saw a lot about was the politics of disability-related policies. So something that I'd read and knew a little about from before had to do with the fact that initially disability related political topics were bipartisan. You know, if you go back to the ADA being, I believe initially introduced by a Republican Senator and signed under the George Bush administration. Now in a statistically in a lot of things that I looked up, it seems to be a pretty partisan issue with it being much more frequently addressed, again, maybe not enough in either, but in the democratic party versus the Republican party. I guess I don't really have a question about that as much as, like, what are, do you have any specific feelings or thoughts around why it's become such a partisan issue and not something that seems to go beyond party lines like it seemingly once did?
[Alice]: You have to look at our present leader who has kind of set those guidelines and made it fairly visible, brought back some of the more violent versions of our past and made racism even more, hi, how are you, it's it's okay, because he doesn't seem to stop it. A lot of those things changed the way people used to think, well, why don't we at least look like we're on the same page, you know? And when you attack your own party periodically and other officials, and basically say, you're going to pull their state funding because they don't follow what you want them to do. You kind of lead, you know, you just let the horse out the barn and it made for my, where I sit, it made it real clear. We didn't matter from quite some time ago. And so it depends on your leadership. It depends on who's still got backbone and not counting the division in the various political parties to getting things done. You just, basically, you made it, you made it more essential to not get anything done than you did to make something happen. So everything, no matter something teeny weeny, weeny is just a battleground all the time. And if part of your goal is to dismantle healthcare, well, we're already stuck. You know, there's nothing we can do about it, where we are losing as the owners, this pandemic goes, we lose a lot more, you know, not counting our homes the ways to save us from rent issues and all of those things where we're pretty much dead in the water, but that's some of that's orchestrated by inaction and kind of like, let's make one thing a priority and let everything else suffer period. So while they're fighting about who can, how you proceed with something, everything else falls apart.
[Doug]: I'm wondering, and again, they're there, I'm sure there's a lot of things that are going on that I'm not aware of. But you know, again, just you talked about in your local community, you didn't feel like there was a lot of activism that was bringing the local disability community together to be a more powerful voting block. Do you have any thoughts of, of what could be done to create more of a unified front there and to have a more powerful voice?
[Alice]: Inclusion. The beginning of inclusion. And it means everything from, you know, you went, this is a training topic, but we, when we eliminate the services that make people aware, we cut programs, we cut funding to, or change the ways that medical care, for instance, the abortion issue. We turned that into something where you're pretty well guaranteed, pending anyone of low income, can't actually take care of them and maintain their own body in that relationship. And you made it something that they've got to go out of state out of country for all kinds of things, whether it's your medicine or something else now you've totally divided. It's like you took the city and cut some, you know, made some squares and cut a couple of sections out. There's no way to put that puzzle back together. And if the county or the town you're in, doesn't make the concerted effort to kind of, okay, we'd better start rebuilding here and putting back into place. The things that we've eliminated. There's no, there's not much chance. Then you're going to have the same kind of anger and, you know, not necessarily violence based, but because we weren't the ones making the violence, but the confrontations are going to be there, especially in the medical area. And there's always going to be some kind of drama or trauma. That's not going to take the high road and it's going to be the only thing people see and they forget all of the other interconnected things that made that worse.
[Doug]: I'm going to just take a quick pause here for an interpreter switch. All right. All set. Great. Continuing here. And for those who are watching us right now, if you have any questions or thoughts about anything we're talking about, we'd certainly love to hear from you. Whether it be questions for Alice or your own personal thoughts on sharing any obstacles you perhaps had voting or any anecdotes you have about that, we're certainly happy to field those, but, continuing here. You know, we're, days away here from election day. And hopefully not that long after knowing who our next president will be though there are certainly some thoughts that that portion of things might get dragged out depending on what the numbers look like in a few days. But I guess just kind of thinking ahead here, what are you hoping for in the future around various policies or anything political that would change for the better for the disability community at large, specifically the deafblind community?
[Alice]: Well, we can start with hoping they don't defend the social security tax, because that would end up with lots of things related to social security and Medicare being defunded by 2023 and tons of disabled people, not just deafblind people are affected by that. It would be a disaster for us. And I mean, there's that, then there's just, if we're going to reformat, for instance, to policing and other things, where are they going to draw the party lines? Where are they going to divide the cities even more? We're already, they've already sectioned out for instance, in a lot of the poorer sections of town. Those are also a place where a lot of the clinics and the side, smaller offices, those are all gone. You know, a lot of the factory type work, a lot of the work that most of us would be capable of doing that's gone. Economically I have no idea what we're going to go and it certainly, ain't going to be fast enough to secure our, the integrity of our own country, you know, where we're not looking too good on that front. So that just, the economics of things and the way to get any assistance that you want. For instance, during the pandemic, they talked us into using a forbearance as a way to lower what you were at spending out for your homes if you were a homeowner, but they didn't tell you that when you did that three months down the road, they wanted that full amount of money plus interest immediately after that three months. So I did that and came to that realization. And now you've got a plan that's going to cut, I'm going to be paying almost twice my mortgage. Well, definitely twice my mortgage that I originally had just to get out of the forbearance thing that I signed into. And I won't be out of that until after February. So some of the things that people told us to do that we would not have, you know, had the expertise to understand those tiny little details, they were disastrous ideas in the first place, and you've got plenty of them.
[Doug]: Do you think there, you know, just that, that just makes me think of education around, you know, whether we were talking about how to, you know, how to make sure that you're able to vote or anything political related. Do you have any, do you have any personal resources that you go to that you find to be reliable resources to educate yourself around topics that pertain to, you know, anything that has to do with an election or policies that are most important during that election?
[Alice]: Oh, I do only because a lot, I sit on a lot of boards in the first place, for instance, I'm on the transportation advisory board. So I know all the kinds of kits that are likely to come our way and that kind of thing. I'm on the disability awareness council. So I'm fully aware of usually of the different kinds of things in my county, and it can be done I'm on the area agency board, so that I get at least privy to some of it. Because if I went to our county website, I don't have the same access that I would have hoped there would be. So I'm in the right places. I, you know, I do my research, I get a lot, I've learned a lot over the summer through Helen Keller National Center, going back to agencies. So I mean, you you've got to do it, but, and there are some of us that can't, they, we truly can't, you know, by the whole process of changing how we're doing education and making everything zoom oriented families that don't have internet, or doing lots of bizarre things to be able to acquire. They weren't prepared and they didn't know how to do it. And, you know, there are programs that have come out that will make sure that they have, you know, the schools let them borrow things long-term, kids had been using for instance, like Burger King and McDonald's and all kinds of places that has free wifi and, you know, doing that. Some, you know, you've seen a lot of kindness being done where people have assisted, but there's going to have to step it up just to bring people halfway to par because the haves, the have nots and the exclusion is so deep and it's, they've made it specific so that, you know, we don't cover all of those little nooks and crannies that we created by manipulating how housing is done, how, where businesses go. All of those things are going to have to be looked at in a different way, not counting those people that come have formed backgrounds and immigration related, all that drama.
[Doug]: You had mentioned a couple of times now, some of your education being at Helen Keller National Center. Can you talk a little bit more about what that's entailed or what that looks like?
[Alice]: Anything, or just what I've been doing this summer?
[Doug]: I guess, maybe more pertaining to this summer.
[Alice]: I did take some advocacy training this summer. I've been involved in sharing support groups I've been involved in related to like, just dealing with COVID and being a support group amongst ourselves to try and answer all of the kinds of questions. Like how do I get the doctor's office now that I can't do this? And how do I, how do I manage to make communication happen when I don't have an SSP or an interpreter? We talked about how we use our own technology. There's also, there was actually a support group related to that as well. And it helped us with our technology. There were ones that helped us with trying to learn how to get, make sure we weren't food, you know, food wise, how you learn, how to shop online, how do all those different kinds of things did you have to consider medical things. What if you had lots of appointments that were out of town, some in some cases out of state and I do too, how are you going to logistically manage to do all of those things? And so you had to have a device, whether it was the audiology department on the mental health person on campus, mobility instructors, lots of stuff. So there's a lot that was available to me that I'm thoroughly grateful for, besides just having a place, not to stay on your head, you know, but being able to talk to each other is much more important.
[Doug]: I'm coming back to this, and I know we kind of touched on this earlier, but maybe I'll ask it a little bit more directly, but for you personally, whatever you'd like to share on this, going into knowing that we're days away again from, from election day, obviously many people have already voted, but nonetheless, what topics or issues are most important to you personally, that you feel like sharing?
[Alice]: Healthcare, housing, how to keep your house if you still own it and not end up losing it under these situations. Jobs, because a lot of us have been out of our jobs long enough that especially if we didn't have, you know, serious secure ones and we weren't able to work from home, a lot of us are seriously unemployed. The number of say, for instance, blind vendors that work with those folks, they haven't been able to go, you know, state buildings are closed, this, that, and the other thing. So a lot of those folks are just as hard up as we are. And, you know, so you've got those considerations that are paramount, you know, my house, or should I say my mortgage dependently went, got sold to another company. And when that company took over, the rates were higher. So that, you know, there's always something and you're talking about just plain basic things that we have to worry about how we're going to do it as this epidemic continues to wander along. And, it's going to be complicated, even the things that are coming out. Like I did get back to the gym. Thank goodness. I love it. But there's a lot more, I found that there's the way that I used to walk there for instance. Totally unsafe. So a lot of logistics of how to get to where I need to go, whether it was a store or, you know, like I could shop online what they wouldn't deliver. So I'd still have to physically go there. So now you're talking about how are you going to drag a hundred dollars worth of food back and stuff. We have no taxi service, by the way, it's gone. It left somewhere between the summer and it is totally gone. And the whole taxi building thing is absolutely. They literally tore it down just now. So it's adding, so we have no taxi service in my town and the way that they're doing paratransit it, say the bus can hold 10 people. You're not going anywhere with more than four maybe. And that kind of thing. So it's complicated using the regular public transportation turned into a nightmare. I've been on a running argument with them about communication access for deaf people since the pandemic hit. So there's a lot just how did to do the normal things that everybody else does and people avoid you like to play or pretend you're not talking. And sometimes it's easier not to talk and just use whatever communication devices, and cards and whatnot that you have. It's exhausting and tiring and frustrating. And, you know, it's sad in general,
[Doug]: You know, talking about to a little bit of what you were just talking about in there and what we were discussing before, as far as there being, um, certain considerations for the disability community, that a lot of people who aren't a part of that community are directly connected to, it might not be aware of. Do you think it's important for other people to be aware of say the disability community's around voting and certain policies that are important to them? And if so, why is it important for other people to know about that? So I'm just more speaking to the, like having a way, those who maybe aren't familiar with accessibility issues for certain people at the polls or certain things having to do with, certain topics concerning certain people around health care. Why even if it doesn't affect you personally, why do you think it might be important for people to have a greater awareness of those issues? Even if it's not something that's going to be directly affecting them?
[Alice]: Okay. If you're talking, just getting into the poll, for instance, I point blank asked them about, since I can't use the talking machine, what if I, if I had an SSP or an someone to sign with, would they be able to go in with me? They said, yes, there's, they actually have a special waiver type form that they would sign. So if that could happen, that probably also means you still potentially have a Democrat and a Republican there too, but theoretically it could be done. They, you know, on-site but, here again, you've got access issues of getting into the place if you've never been there before. Like the first time I went to the new polling place, I was lucky. I had a friend who had been there before and at least kind of knew where it was supposed to be. And then it was, I'm kind of in the vicinity now, what, because it was somewhere near my Millville public library, which, you know, there's a whole lot of stuff over there. And once you got to the parking lot, okay. Now what do I do? Because no, I never even knew the building next to it existed. So, you know, that way, so I was lucky. There were people actually standing outside and, but for instance, medically in displaying, walking in the building under COVID, and using para-transit to get there, I had surgery over the summer and, I was fortunate that I was COVID tested because they wouldn't let me have the surgery without it. And they were supposed to provide an interpreter for that process. And it was on a Sunday. And of course, public transportation runs different on Sundays. And so that's a whole nother belly whack of stuff. And I had a friend that was going to come with me. He couldn't even get an Uber from his town to come into town to help me. So once I knew there was no interpreter, it would became a process of they said the place where they were doing the COVID test, it turns out it was actually really a tent, but visually I'm not going to see a tent, it could be a mountain for all I care, it wouldn't have mattered. I get to the, I finally get to the hospital and I knew how to get in because I'd been there before and they, you weren't supposed to by the way. So I get in and the security folks came to directly and I told them where I was going. And they took me back outside and you stand in this line and you, then you watched how many times they came out and pulled other people in past me to test them and ignored the fact that I was standing there, period. So now I have my iPad and I have apps in there. So I literally wrote, this is me. This is my appointment time. I'm supposed to be tested now. And it's black background, white letters can't miss me. So I positioned myself as close to where I thought everybody was coming out just to be seen. That's crazy. You know? And of course, then there's all that confusion about what they're going to do with you once you walk in, because she's like really, when did that new discovery, because, and you have you talked to them to plan all of that in the first place. So you're talking tiny, every little thing, getting into the building, getting out of the building, parking. It turns out when I had my procedure, I went in one place, but the actual surgery was in another building. Now you've got to figure out how are you going to tell the driver that you got switched? So that ring hires me, making sure I hit security or somebody else to call them. And, and it's, it's a monstrous thing. And just because hospitals say that if you're deaf, you can do XYZ. Don't believe the process because it doesn't always work. And you gotta remember that the interpreters don't necessarily have the PPE equipment to be there either. You know, because the interpreter that I had fortunately had the shield kind of mask, she had the one that everybody's wearing but she also have the shield. So for me to use the shield, because I had at least some access to her face to know what possibly came out of her mouth and whatnot, she still signed, but you know, that just teeny tiny, real communication is utterly ridiculous on any planet. Medical doctor going to, getting it, like, God forbid you lose your wallet and you have to get replacement ID. Going to the bank was horrible. Because what are you doing with a disabled person that has to go through the drive-through? What are you going to do with them? You know, and I mean, I survived it with communication cards and an iPad and all that knowing full well, they could talk through that little microphone thing. Didn't do a darn thing for me and they didn't get it for awhile. Um, and hope nobody ran you over because you took up all their time and, and stuff. They didn't think at all about what they were doing to people that don't drive that couldn't physically get into the banks when they were closed and they had to do that. And, and that applies to a whole lot of other situations. So those concerns, yeah, it'd be nice if you'd have thought through, okay, we're closing down this state. Why don't we make caregivers? You know, well you call it essential and they didn't. And because they weren't essential, they were the first things. I had a personal attendant, personal assistant. That was the first thing left because they couldn't come in the house, you know, and people that use them for daily living real daily living, like getting out of bed and getting dressed and going to the bathroom and all of that, what happens to them? So yeah, there's a lot of tiny details. Nobody thought of,
[Doug]: You know, something that's very evident from a lot of the anecdotes that you shared and certainly, you know, personally getting to speak with you a bunch is that you're really, you are very great at advocating for yourself. You know, something that I came across, maybe for those who don't quite have that skill, or it's not something as well worked for them. I came across some basic voter rights that I thought were really straightforward, but important to share. And the ones that I came across read as follows one first and foremost, the polling place must be accessible to you. And I know, Alice, you were already sharing the difference between the idea of something supposed to be one way, but the reality of if it really doing that or not. And certainly there are a lot of accounts of polling places that have various accessibility features that aren't working properly. And aren't adhering to that, but certainly that is a must and certainly something that's part of, you know, the ADA and things that have been implemented since then. Um, and you know, another thing is that you also, you can take your time and not to feel hurried. I know a lot of times when there's extra considerations it can, and maybe there's a long line. It can feel like, come on, get this over with, but you're entitled to as much time as you need to be able to cast your vote. And another thing is, you know, so something that's certainly necessary for certain people and, is that you can bring someone with you to help assist you in whatever way that might be. And that's part of your voting rights. And for anyone who feels like their rights are being infringed upon, one number I came across and I believe there's local numbers as well, but one kind of general number I came across was 8-6-6-O-U-R-V-O-T-E, whatever numbers those translate to, I don't have my phone by me right now, but that's the election protection hotline for Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. And if there's any issues that you have at the, at your polling place, and you feel like your rights may be infringed upon, you can always call that number to discuss that and make sure that you are, your voter rights are protected. So I think that's, something that, I think it was important to share in the context of just having the right tools at your disposal to advocate for yourself. If you feel like there's, if your voter rights are being infringed upon. So, you know, Alice would kind of like, moving into kind of the final stages of our discussion today. I'm wondering if there's anything that we haven't yet touched on or anything that you'd like to, to expand upon, anything that comes to mind there?
[Alice]: I worry that with all of the emphasis on just COVID and the disaster part and the part that's actually effective, jobs, mental health, we are going, we as disabled people and you guys are in monstrous, we're in a lot of do-do on that one. But the funny thing is, in some ways, disabled people had their, a better grip on it because we spend a lot more time being isolated. And you do so some of the isolation, although it still sucks, it hasn't, it still gets to you, uh, the idea that we don't have human contact still gets to us, but it's kind of different when your whole life is that way. Most of the time. Because I mean, in my town, there's nobody deafblind. Absolutely nobody at all. So I don't have, you know, I can't go out anywhere and know that I'm going to have communication access. So, but for like, if I had a best friend and I do, and I've actually gone out of town to visit, and that would be, those were my access times. And being involved with various disabled, deaf-related activities and sorry that, that away give me the ability to, um, to interact with each other remotely. If I didn't have our own clubs and different things that I'm involved in, at least I see them, when I have my communication facilitator or my playing games or whatever, it's, they're right there on that screen, you know who they are, we know who is on who's coming to play the game. Who's coming to do the happy hour, all kinds of fun things design for us because we can't go somewhere. I mean, I don't do it normally. I wouldn't go, you know, like I don't go clubbing and bar hopping and all that kind of jazz period. And you know, we can't do it because of social distancing and sign language. Yeah. There's no such thing as sign language for us, six feet over, you know, the dogs don't, you know, telling us, not like in line at stores and people being grumpy because our dogs aren't social distancing. That's not a part of the plan. You know, it don't work that way. Gyms, same thing. I mean, what they managed to do on a gym to make it useful was amazing, but a lot of, you know, getting our hair done, do you know how insanely it was? It was like being reborn to be able to go and get your hair cut because that, that alone raises your morale astronomically to be able to come to yourself from the, oh, now I feel like a human. So I mean, we need those things and they're still going to be hard to come by. And for us, there's still not enough of them, social things, or otherwise those are it's going to be worse because once we as unemployed, there's our unemployment levels get even worse, we're not going to be able to afford the kinds of other places. So we're going to need lots of other mechanisms to maintain our children. Keep them healthy, find ways for them to have socially acceptable relationships and guidance and stuff. Because what if there, what if God forbid the home they live in has abuse there. They need some. Now you need another outside entity that can be a resource for that family and stuff. I saw that they've, been talking a lot about tiny little cues that someone might use to let someone know while they're on social media, you know, discreetly, I am in trouble kind of thing. That's really awesome because there's no other, you know, it's awful. But that's not that nobody's talking about the super long orange long range plan for the mental health of this country and all, you know, we think we got shortages and teachers and other things are that they're going to be a shortage of those guys and professionals for that problem for a long time.
[Doug]: You know, Alice with our final question here of the day, Barbara asks, have you considered running for office? And that makes me think, should we start, should we get Alice 2024 going here? Should we, should we start early? What do you think?
[Alice]: No, I've never actually thought of that. I do. I am. I still continue to be a part of as many kinds of coalitions as I can, but no, I never actually thought of that one.
[Doug]: Well, you know, 2024 is going to be right around the corner. So if you need, if you can count me as one of your campaign volunteers, if you decide to run. All right. So just give me a heads up on that when you make a final decision about it.
[Alice]: Alrighty,
[Doug]: It has a nice ring to it, Alice 2024. I think that sounds that that's kind of catchy.
[Alice]: It'll be interesting. Lord knows what it's going to look like. I just want us to really plan rebuilding properly to make it less divisive, more inclusive to bring us back as a country, the way that we started, because we just drift in. It didn't take long. Apparently it was easy to do. We easily get distracted into not seeing the forest for the trees. And this is where we're at. It's gonna take a lot of work.
[Doug]: Well, Alice, you know, I think that's a, that's a great sentiment to end on today. And, you know, thank you for everyone who joined us today. Certainly, we encourage you all to make your voice heard and cast your vote in whichever way works best for you. Alice, thank you for joining us once again, and I hope you, return in the future to discuss any number of topics that it's, it's a real pleasure to discuss with you.
[Alice]: Okay.
[Doug]: Well, until then, um, everyone we'll be back next week, same time, same place with another episode of Feeling Through Live. And we hope you have a great weekend and week ahead. Bye everyone.
[Alice]: Bye.