Day at the Capitol

What a stressful day! We had to go to the capitol in Denver and meet with representatives about certain blind issues and a bill we want to have passed. B/c of budget cuts we wanted to make sure funding for our programs wasn't dropped. The main funding program was a blind phone service so we can get newspapers and magazines read to us. We also wanted to make sure we could get copyrighted access so the blind people can read copyrighted materials and have equal access. The bill HB-1152 is important b/c it raised fines for discrimination and harm occurring to guide dogs, etc. Right now the fines are so low they aren't acting as much of a deterrent to keep these kinds of things from happening.

So anyways I had such a hard time in this HUGE maze of a marble building. Sound bounces off of marble and made it impossible for me to localize sound. I had to hang onto a fellow student which is a no no. There was an exception made for me b/c I could not hear enough to follow the group. It's all a giant maze and sound is everywhere. I swear that building is like 80% marble pillars and then tiny walkways. I was not sighted the whole time b/c it was way to much for me to handle. I would say I was definitely overtaxed. It's so discouraging and I wonder if I will ever be able to overcome the hearing issue with my blindness.