The biggest struggles by far are the guilt regarding my guide dog Gretchen, not being able to work. We also do not go out and socialize, take a weekend road trip‘s or have family and friends over. Our house is set up for really big social gatherings with family and friends and lots of space and no one has been here since the end of February. I don’t have to clean as much sense no guests are coming in but I really enjoy hosting and even having overnight guests and none of that has occurred during Covid. Please stay safe, healthy and happy! Love, Beverly
Hi Beverly, thank you for sharing. I completely agree, the guilt of not being able to work our guide dogs like they are used to is really awful! Sending you lots of love from Santa Rosa CA. Take care, Marissa ❤️
Jordan mahony The blind world Gretchen is currently at home with me and my husband and if you would like to see a sneak peek of her, tomorrow, Saturday I will upload a bit about Gretchen at home. Guide dogs in general are not out mingling with the crowds because we are still struggling with the pandemic here in the US. We must wear masks in public and stay at least 6 feet away from everyone else and we just don’t mingle in stores or restaurants or out on the sidewalk . We don’t go visit places where there are more than six or eight people so Gretchen is losing her sociability skills. She might not be the only one. I think I have lost a bit of my people skills as well but I hope that we all can regain any training we both have lost. Take care my Irish friend!
Hi there. I discovered your channel from seeing your interview on the Live Accessible channel. My wife and I are both visually impaired and we can totally sympathize with the majority of your struggles as we encounter a lot of the same issues ourselves due to the current situation. Definitely in person shopping is a challenge. When stores have a designated entrance and exit when they normally didn't otherwise, or if there is a set number of people allowed inside a store, it can be difficult to tell whether or not we can go into that store as we can't always see how many people are inside already. Even if there's a lineup outside, that's not always clear either. The markings on the floors of the stores to promote physical distancing and where to stand when lining up to check out are also very challenging for visually impaired individuals as you both mentioned in the video. This is especially difficult when there is a single line for all the registers and no employee there to help guide the flow of traffic. It puts a ton of pressure on us to know when and where we need to go when we're at the front of the line. In regards to Instacart, I hope that you are letting Instacart know when your delivery person gives you the wrong product. There is an option on Instacart to have a "similar" item selected for you if your requested item is out of stock (or the shopper can't find it...) and unfortunately this is the default option, but there is also an option you can set to allow for No Substitutions. If you set this option and your shopper picks something else for you instead, you can contact Instacart to get a refund for that item. You are already paying a premium for using their service, and while it is a convenience for most people, for people with visual impairments who cannot drive and are wise enough to avoid public transportation right now, it's more of a necessity. Even if you don't set that no substitutions option in Instacart, it might still be worth contacting them to try and get a refund. Just something to keep in mind for the future. Anyways, nice video and I look forward to sharing your channel with my wife and exploring more of your content in the near future. Stay safe and keep up the great work.
Hello Cyrus, welcome to our channel! ☺️ we are glad to hear you are enjoying the videos so far. If there is anything you or your wife ever want to know about us, leave us a comment. 💕 Take care, Marissa & Alex
Well for me it’s been around my fellow blind people and autistic people because I don’t do well when I’m quarantine and plus I’ve struggled with suicide and depression so that’s what makes it really tough for me at the moment
I have been struggling with doing any physical activity. Especially with the bad air quality from the fires. I don't even want to take my dog for a walk since he couldn't really wear a mask. Our studio is tiny so it's hard to exercise inside. Hopefully moving to a bigger home soon!
Hi Melinda, thank you for sharing! Yeah, the air quality has been pretty awful! We haven’t been able to walk Jim either. Hopefully everything settles down soon.
The biggest struggles by far are the guilt regarding my guide dog Gretchen, not being able to work. We also do not go out and socialize, take a weekend road trip‘s or have family and friends over. Our house is set up for really big social gatherings with family and friends and lots of space and no one has been here since the end of February. I don’t have to clean as much sense no guests are coming in but I really enjoy hosting and even having overnight guests and none of that has occurred during Covid. Please stay safe, healthy and happy! Love, Beverly
Hi Beverly,
thank you for sharing. I completely agree, the guilt of not being able to work our guide dogs like they are used to is really awful! Sending you lots of love from Santa Rosa CA.
Take care,
Marissa ❤️
If you mind me asking my friend if Gretchen is not working then where is she
Jordan mahony The blind world Gretchen is currently at home with me and my husband and if you would like to see a sneak peek of her, tomorrow, Saturday I will upload a bit about Gretchen at home. Guide dogs in general are not out mingling with the crowds because we are still struggling with the pandemic here in the US. We must wear masks in public and stay at least 6 feet away from everyone else and we just don’t mingle in stores or restaurants or out on the sidewalk . We don’t go visit places where there are more than six or eight people so Gretchen is losing her sociability skills. She might not be the only one. I think I have lost a bit of my people skills as well but I hope that we all can regain any training we both have lost. Take care my Irish friend!
Hi there. I discovered your channel from seeing your interview on the Live Accessible channel. My wife and I are both visually impaired and we can totally sympathize with the majority of your struggles as we encounter a lot of the same issues ourselves due to the current situation. Definitely in person shopping is a challenge. When stores have a designated entrance and exit when they normally didn't otherwise, or if there is a set number of people allowed inside a store, it can be difficult to tell whether or not we can go into that store as we can't always see how many people are inside already. Even if there's a lineup outside, that's not always clear either. The markings on the floors of the stores to promote physical distancing and where to stand when lining up to check out are also very challenging for visually impaired individuals as you both mentioned in the video. This is especially difficult when there is a single line for all the registers and no employee there to help guide the flow of traffic. It puts a ton of pressure on us to know when and where we need to go when we're at the front of the line.
In regards to Instacart, I hope that you are letting Instacart know when your delivery person gives you the wrong product. There is an option on Instacart to have a "similar" item selected for you if your requested item is out of stock (or the shopper can't find it...) and unfortunately this is the default option, but there is also an option you can set to allow for No Substitutions. If you set this option and your shopper picks something else for you instead, you can contact Instacart to get a refund for that item. You are already paying a premium for using their service, and while it is a convenience for most people, for people with visual impairments who cannot drive and are wise enough to avoid public transportation right now, it's more of a necessity. Even if you don't set that no substitutions option in Instacart, it might still be worth contacting them to try and get a refund. Just something to keep in mind for the future.
Anyways, nice video and I look forward to sharing your channel with my wife and exploring more of your content in the near future. Stay safe and keep up the great work.
Hello Cyrus,
welcome to our channel! ☺️
we are glad to hear you are enjoying the videos so far. If there is anything you or your wife ever want to know about us, leave us a comment. 💕
Take care,
Marissa & Alex
Well for me it’s been around my fellow blind people and autistic people because I don’t do well when I’m quarantine and plus I’ve struggled with suicide and depression so that’s what makes it really tough for me at the moment
I’m so sorry you have been struggling. Hopefully everything gets better soon. 🤗
And yourself I too am a social creature I like being out a lot I don’t like being inside a lot I’m an outdoor person and I hate winter
Hi there, thank you for sharing.
Hope you have a lovely day. ☺️
I have been struggling with doing any physical activity. Especially with the bad air quality from the fires. I don't even want to take my dog for a walk since he couldn't really wear a mask. Our studio is tiny so it's hard to exercise inside. Hopefully moving to a bigger home soon!
Hi Melinda, thank you for sharing! Yeah, the air quality has been pretty awful!
We haven’t been able to walk Jim either.
Hopefully everything settles down soon.