Shout out to the ADA

I don't travel with my mom a lot, and whenever I do, I'm amazed at what she puts up with. First, this is my mom in action -- photo essay done by Utah photographer Davina Fear.

Kudos to the businesses who were accommodating in New York. The Gershwin Theater for Wicked, the Grayline bus tour, the Hilton Garden Inn, the Today Show and the NBC Studios.

For those who were rude or made no effort, I got really great at asking "what would you do for someone in a wheelchair?" It was instant association for the employee of the establishment -- an aha moment, if you will. My mom is in great shape, but she needs space in front of her for Cricket. Under the ADA, businesses have to accommodate a person with disabilities. They have to.

As for the Times Square ESPN store, one of the 30 Rockefeller Plaza security guards, and a few taxi cab drivers, not cool. Keep in mind that's discrimination. Yes, Antonio at ESPN, I understand you're Hispanic, I don't care if you don't like being called discriminatory, that's what your establishment is doing and you will let us in the store. (can you tell I became just a wee bit feisty. Just a wee bit. Hey don't hurt my momma!)

The award for least accommodating, however, goes to Jeff at Delta Airlines at the Salt Lake City Airport.

My mom called weeks in advance to reserve the front seat of the plane where there is space for a guide dog. We arrived there, and that row was an exit row -- thus a guide dog couldn't sit there. We politely asked him what accommodation would be made, as it was required by law.

He told us nothing would be done, he couldn't help us. I told him he had to. He started yelling. A stranger stepped in to help -- offering his first-class upgrade. Jeff yelled at him too, saying there were no upgrades available. Guess what, there were.

Eventually his supervisor stepped in and arranged for the row we were at to be open.

My mom wasn't asking for a first-class seat, she was asking to be accommodated, just like an overweight person asks for a seatbelt extender. There's no difference.

Apparently it's the new plane Delta has, but they must figure out what they are going to do to follow the law. Someone's got to speak up. The whole ordeal of being yelled at was humiliating and awful. We didn't let it ruin our trip, but that's because my mom is spunky. Other people would have been too shy to speak up.

Look, I know my mom doesn't "look" blind or "act" blind. Can we step away from the stereotype Stevie Wonder set though? Why does a person who is blind have to act a certain way?

I don't act a certain way because I have brown hair, and folks, it's the same thing.

We all have disabilities, whether seen or unseen. It took a lot of courage for my mom to get a guide dog and say to the world "yes, America, I'm blind."

Everyday she gets treated "differently" for it too. She has to defend her identity when people say "but you don't look blind?"

Sure, we joke about playing the "blind card" to get to the front row of the Today Show or bypassing the bathroom line at the Broadway shows. But if you gave my mom a choice -- I think she'd pick getting to see the stars at night or the pictures on the wall at the theater.

The whole ordeal made me want to pack up my desk, jump the law school bandwagon and become a disability rights attorney. I would do it all probono, because people don't always have money lying around to sue the people that mistreat them. Sadly, I feel that sometimes the only way to get things done is to use the justice system.

P.S. Working with Davina on the photos inspired my mom to start a blog about what she does everyday.