[nagdu] No Jews Allowed

[Tracy Carcione]

Jeanette, your perspective makes sense to me.
Tracy

> What I was trying to say (and perhaps failed at) was that an analogy of
> Jewish oppression versus discrimination based on guide dog ownership is
> invalid and poor. While someone may be a great ally to blind folk and
> people
> with service animals, this article is in poor taste.
> I say this as a Jew *and* a guide dog handler.
> We cannot compare the experiences of people persecuted because of religion
> to our own experiences as handlers. The reason we are denied service is
> ENTIRELY different than the reason Jews (or LGBT folk or people of color
> or
> poor folk and on and on and so on and so forth) are/were denied access to
> service and public space.
> But this is a stickler for discussing privilege, discrimination and
> oppression; we are not comparative to other groups yet the *feelings* we
> have are very very similar. So how do we talk about what it's like to have
> an access challenge as handlers that is both validating and sensacle? i
> don't have a good answer. I know that I've been talking with my therapist
> on
> how to handle the day-to-day struggles of access challenges and ignorant
> public and compare it to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) without a
> post-trauma period.
> That's what I'm trying to talk about.
> Jeanette