I am lucky enough to be an independent person, I can do the things most people consider mundane or basic every day with out the need for help. I’m so thankful every day that I can do things at whim and do tasks alone. 

But I’m no stranger to disability, or service dogs. I’ve had hearing loss my whole life, and hearing aids for the majority of it and while I cannot understand the struggles of people with service dogs, I can relate to the struggle of missing things or not being able to live life just like “normal” people. 

The hearing loss in my family is genetic, TV’s in my house always have the captions on and my grandmother has lights set up to the doorbell and phones. My great-grandmother (or GG as I know her) had a hearing dog named Mitzy who was an incredible worker and companion. 

The daycare I went to as a kid was run out of the woman's house and her daughter Kristin has service dogs. Even at a young age Kristin taught us about her dogs and why she needed them, as well as how to respect and deal with a service animal.

While I've never had one, service dogs are still personal to me and because of that I want to do whatever I can to make sure kids can get the dogs they need.