Over the past six weeks I have been traveling and two situations made me think of this subject. When doing my photography out side the USA, I do not bring Harley my service dog. Mainly for safety reasons for him but I still have to find other ways to cope. One of the hardest parts of traveling for me is getting situated before take off. Most airlines when talking to the front desk are more than helpful. Even though I feel my own shame for boarding with the physically disabled I know through a bad experience I can have an episode and have to leave the plane before take off. My mind gets overwhelmed when having people pushing behind me in line during the reg boarding process. During my last trip I received zero help from the airline. They were making me sit in a wheel chair to board with the disabled. When traveling I have to be aware of cultural differences and adapt the best I can even if that is taking prescription medication like ativan. This time I was able to self advocate talking to a manager explaining not all disability's are visually seen.
My next encounter was a business owner very aggressively coming up to me saying he only acknowledges seeing guide dogs as real service dogs. Living in California where there is some form of regulation of ADA rules I have become spoiled not encountering such ignorance. Again this is where there is a cultural difference when traveling. Lucky for me there was plenty of other better business around to choose.
What I have learned is pick you battles, there will be times as my grandmother would say, you may have to eat crow. If there is not other options especially the airline you may have to resort to medication. The restaurant will just not have my business and see a not so wonderful review.
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