Taking the Lead | Be Thankful for Your Toes

On this episode we catch back up with client Stuart McGregor and talk with him about his involvement with Leader Dog and his journey with blindness. 

What is Taking the Lead ?

Leader Dogs for the Blind empowers people who are blind or visually impaired with the tools for safe and independent daily travel. Our goal is to educate, advocate, and share real life experiences of those with blindness. Come learn, laugh, and grow with us.

Taking The Lead Podcast_050624_Stuart Part 2
Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hoeppner with my co-host, Leslie Hoskins and Timothy Kunow. So you guys both know I bought my house at the end of last August, so this is like my first spring summer Mm-Hmm. And my house. And, uh, so we're doing so much yard work.
I'm like, now realizing like being a homeowner is a lot of yard work. Mm-Hmm. Um, in this like. Time, but it's, it's, I mean, it's fun to see it afterwards. The, the inflection timothy there. It's fun. We've been moving rocks and stuff, so like moving rocks from one point to the other and then doing mulch and that sort of stuff.
And we, I pulled out seven bushes, so, you know, I'm trying to make my home look nice. It's not easy, but it's worth it. It's like
Leslie: it's really rewarding to see the end product.
Timothy: Does it hurt the next day?
Christina: You know it, [00:01:00] when we moved the rocks, I did the lifting of the rocks. We, it was like tag team. We'd rake the rocks into a.
Thing and I poured 'em into the wheelbarrow and you know, moved him. Um, but yeah, I did hurt after that. You
Timothy: know what that means, don't you? What? You're getting old.
Leslie: I am. Oh my God. She caught herself this morning. We were chatting and she was talking about somebody being her age, and then she quickly said, I mean, our age,
Christina: I'm trying,
Leslie: I'm trying to be about it.
Christina: I am, well, I'm now realizing like there are people that are younger than me. So much. Oh my God, Timothy, how,
Leslie: how do you, you cope with these, like what are some strategies that you use to do like the lawn mowing and the picking weeds and like kind of all of those outdoor maintenance things?
Timothy: Well, I used to do it, I used to take care of all that until I had my lawnmower accident and uh, I'm missing part of my top toe.
Leslie: Oh my goodness.
Timothy: Yeah, it was it, it was not it. It [00:02:00] was very painful. But uh uh, I go out and weed eat. I try to do something that I, while my wife is mowing, I bought her a brand new lawnmower a couple years ago, a rider. So she does all the mowing. But I'll get out there with the weed eater or a blower or something.
I try to do something whenever she's mowing. I'm out there with her. Yeah. I just don't sit in the house 'cause I feel guilty. So, uh, I do as much as I can. I will be able to trim up some branches off with a, uh, with a, uh, cutter or whatever. And, uh, I mean, I try to do as much as I can without destroying the yard.
So listen,
Leslie: those are the same things we do at my household. I do the mowing and my husband does the weed whacking and the blowing and all those things too. You guys, I am not allowed to mow the lawn. Oh my God. I love it.
Christina: God. 'cause I do too. But Johnny is so obsessed with mowing the lawn. He has to have his perfect line.
Oh, you know what? I gave up on that. I'm like, Ooh, swirl over here. Lemme go on this tree. Well, that's how I am. I wanna listen to something. I'm like, you do it so you can real. But he, no, he's like, my [00:03:00] lines are perfect. I dunno.
Timothy: So it's like a baseball field?
Christina: Yeah, basically. Okay. And like someone commented on that one time and now he's all like, oh my gosh, my lines, I have to.
Get my lines perfect. I'm
Leslie: don't
Christina: come look at mine. I like get
Leslie: joy and just driving wherever I see needs to be mow. Oh yeah. We
Christina: have a push mower 'cause Yeah,
Leslie: we don't have that big of a yard. Yeah. At the moment. But I also put in a podcast and then I love mowing the lawn too. 'cause then that means he's responsible for the children.
Right. 'cause I'm really focused mowing the lawn. So he's gotta get track of those two little bodies running around.
Timothy: What a good way to get a tan.
Leslie: Yeah. Right. It's a
Timothy: get the. Vitamin D going in you from the sun and
Leslie: yeah, I'm telling you, it's uh, it's a good time. But all the rest, the picking the weeds is my least favorite and like all the landscaping, but I've somehow convinced my kids that it's fun.
So I do go a lot of help with that right now. So I'm gonna hold onto that as long as I can. You could
Timothy: bribe 'em with ice cream later on.
Leslie: Yeah. Oh yeah. I'm all about bribing 'em. Anything. Yeah. Well, I'm glad that [00:04:00] you survived. I had no idea that you had lost it. So sorry. Time. I see a,
Timothy: I wanna take my shoe off and show it.
Leslie: Oh
Christina: my God. This show. I don't think I wanna see that show. No, you don't wanna go get a pedicure. Anything
Timothy: together. So I should get a discount. I should get 10% discount. 'cause I've missing part the top of my to,
Christina: oh my goodness. I can't. Okay. Well this is a Monday morning. This will wake you, right?
Leslie: Gosh. Who knew?
Who knew? Okay. Oh, we're
Christina: recording on a Monday. This is why you're on Thursday. So Thursday morning for everyone listening. Yeah. To get started.
Leslie: Be thankful for your toes, I guess is the message. Oh, okay. Well that took a turn. I wasn't expecting, so you asked I did that. You know what? That's on me. That's on me.
I'll take it. Um, but we've gotta get going because we have so much to cover. We are checking back in for part two with a guest and we're super pumped about it. Yes, I
Christina: can't wait. I'm so excited that we have Stuart McGregor back with us and a little bit about him. If you don't remember. He's working in education and is now an accessibility [00:05:00] advocate, currently working for Accessibility Standards Canada as a policy analyst, creating standards to make the world more accessible for everyone, and he's a three time Paralympian in Boston Marathon Champion, but.
I know he just recently got inducted to a Hall of Fame, so I'll let him tell us when we get into the podcast in a little bit.
Timothy: Stewart, welcome back to the podcast. We're excited you're here. We've already talked about your o and m experience with Leader Dog. What was your next chapter that you had with Leader Dog?
I.
Stuart: Well, thank you very, very much for having me back. It's such a privilege to be here. Um, I can see that you guys have done your homework on me. Been under wraps, but thank you. You know, it is such a joy to be working with Leader Dog just on the volunteer level, but, um, I feel like, uh, just Leader Dog is doing such great, great things and I just love being a part of it.
So thank you for having me. Part of these, uh, different committees and teams, um. I guess I can talk a little bit about some of the teams that I'm [00:06:00] working with right now with Leader Dog.
Leslie: Absolutely. Yeah.
Stuart: Uh, the first is the Voices of Client Advisory Team. Um, so the goal of this team is just to strive to make the client experience at Leader Dog more positive and beneficial as possible.
And, you know. That's a difficult thing to do because it's so incredible already. It really is. Um, I had the privilege of going to Leader Dog for the o and m training and the Guide Dog training, and both times that I went to Leader Dog, it, it was like magic. It was just such an incredible place, such a warm, welcoming environment.
Um, I learned so much, but more than that I was just treated with just the utmost respect and, um, just kind caring people across the board. Uh, but the goal of this committee really is just to make this experience as wonderful as possible and for the clients to gain as much outta the [00:07:00] experience as possible.
So, um, I've. I had the privilege in being in education and in accessibility for, for many, many years. And so I'm just leading or helping lend my voice to, uh, make suggestions and work with some of the planners and organizers to help, um, add to the program if necessary, or just add a voice where, when questions come in.
So that's, uh, that's really positive. Uh, a second group that I'm working with is the Client speaker Committee, and, um, I believe with Timothy we're working on this. Um, so with that, we, we just, we are there to spread the word, uh, to different shareholders and stakeholders and people across America and Canada and, and internationally, I suppose, and just the great work that Leader Dog is doing and try to, um, encourage, um, those that are needing the service to, to come to Leader Dog.
So. Of course, with my experience [00:08:00] being just so wonderful, it's, it's an absolute joy to spread the word on behalf of Leader Dog,
Christina: and we are so thankful for both of you going out and speaking on our behalf. I know Timothy travels quite a bit as well, um, doing some of these speaking arrangements and then,
Leslie: yeah.
I. I think one of the, that's one of the most important things that we ask of kind of like all clients too, is just like sharing your experience and like you said, uh, Stuart, it being so wonderful and who better to hear it from than somebody who's gone through it. So you two, both being on that, on that client speaker committee and group and being willing to travel and share your experience.
Experience has been fantastic and we thank anybody who is always willing to do that. And I do wanna say too quickly about, you did a great explanation of the voc Cat team, uh, the voices of the client advisory team. It is so important that we get client feedback and client um. Input on all these different topics, like Melissa Weiss has said, our president and CEO, you know, she's constantly [00:09:00] saying, who's not at the table, right?
Like, who's not being represented here? Who do we need to hear from before making any decision? And obviously our number one is clients. And so this team is so important. We bring different topics to them. You know, we're always asking team members about. Anything that they wanna know more about or more feedback from.
And so it's, it's just such an important group and thank you so much for being a part of those two, but I will let you keep going because you have more that you're involved with, with our organization.
Stuart: Well, um, yes. The last two or, uh, committees I suppose that I'm working with, um, is the leader Dog Ethics Committee.
Mm-Hmm. So I'm working with, um. Obviously with, with ethics of Leader Dog in general, and some, you know, we're working with a little bit more of po like regarding policy, client's Bill of Rights and, and things like that. So, um. I just began this committee and I'm, uh, one of the only clients I believe on this, [00:10:00] on this committee.
And so, um, that is just up and running now. So I'm excited to sort of sink my teeth into that and lend some, some of my expertise and lived experience to, to that committee. And I think lastly, um, one of the exciting things coming up with Leader Dog is called the listening session. I'm not sure if that's the final title on it, but that's what we're working on and basically this is an organi or a committee that will hopefully help people who are perhaps struggling with coming to terms with their blindness or visual impairments.
And we're trying to talk to certain people about what are the challenges and what are the reasons that you are not gaining the. Help that you need or the services that you need. So it's a bit of a learning process for us and also, um, a means for us to share what we do in our experience in order to connect people together and connect an organization to people that [00:11:00] may need some help or need to, need to need help getting started with their vision loss needs.
Leslie: Yeah, I think. Those listening sessions are hopefully gonna be really informative on our end. That's kind of part of that unmet need survey. So if you listen to a previous podcast with Christie Cher, she really kind of dove into that survey that we're doing. Um, and this is kind of a piece of that. And Stuart, it's been incredibly helpful to try to navigate what the best even format is to do this and how to do this, and what questions to ask and who to be asking.
Um, there's so, so much to learn, I think. And so that's fantastic. Stuart, you are. You are doing a lot for Leader Dog. We cannot thank you enough for being involved in so many things, and I think you're a great example of also sharing about how much Leader Dog just has going on. You know, we have 11 different committees that all are constantly working on different topics and categories and things to try to improve our organization and make it the best that it can be.
I know the ethics committee is one of our newer ones, but so [00:12:00] important, um, to make sure that we're doing the best that we can and. And know all the facts and get all the information and make sure that we're doing what we can. So, uh, your expertise is greatly appreciated.
Stuart: You know, I've had the privilege of hearing your story a couple of times now, Timothy, and it's through stories like, like yours, you know, uh, your story, your background of vision loss, and, uh, your background as kind of a former athlete and active person, um, struggling with vision loss and, and just what that meant to you.
As, as a person, as a family man, as a husband, um, that really resonated with me. And, and, you know, getting voices out there that are similar I think are so important. Um, and that is what the encouragement that is needed half of the time just for people to get involved and to come to terms with their disability and their ability and just for saying, look, this is, I have a visual impairment.
I need to do something about it. And there's ways to be independent despite. [00:13:00] Having this difficulty. So your story really meant a lot to me.
Timothy: Well, I, the more I go out, I find out there's people. My story's the same as everybody else's. It's just, we all gotta realize we go through these cycles and it's just, we don't have, it's not unique to me.
It's unique to us. And when I go out and talk, I tell everybody, thank you for doing what you've done for me. But there's other people out there and, uh, just like me and, uh. It's impactful because I know there's somebody sitting today that's going through depression or somebody who's trying to seek help and they have no place to go.
And that's why we need to advocate and try to find these people and get them the help that they need. So the sooner we do that, the better it is. And Leader Dog is great organization for doing that. Now I've, you come back and you got a guide dog. What is your guide dog's name and tell us a little about 'em.
Stuart: So I, I came back for a guide dog, and, and it was, it was quite the experience. I was very excited. Um, after going through the o and m process and, and gaining my [00:14:00] skills for at least a year, I came back to Leader Dog with, with the excitement of, of gaining a, a guide dog. It's a beautiful black lab named radar.
And, uh, it was just such a joy to work with them. Um, that being said, it was, it was, it was a joy, yet it was. Difficult At the same time, um, radar was a very hardworking dog. He was incredibly motivated. He was incredibly strong and, uh, he just had this workmanlike mentality about him. And I think, you know, the Leader Dog organization does such a good job of researching their clients.
Um. So they, I think they, they looked at me and, and just from my last podcast knew that, you know, I, we shared about my athletic background and, and marathon running and whatnot. So they paired me up with a pretty strong active dog, which was awesome, and I loved it. And he just had this, uh, this workmanlike mentality, as I said.
But unfortunately, um, [00:15:00] you know, he, he tried to work out some of the issues that he had. He had a couple of issues where, uh. His, his workmanlike mentality took over a little too much, and he was a little bit, um, he w he worked quickly and he was very, um, yeah, he, he was just so motivated to do the right thing, but in at the same time, he was just distracted and, and that was a difficult process.
So we had to work like crazy and we really tried hard both at Leader Dog and at home. And. It was just deemed that radar, unfortunately, um, he needed to be career changed. So, and it was a really, really tough blow. Um, you know, I, I was, it was something that I'd worked at and I was so excited for. And, you know, I'm a dog person.
I've had dogs my whole life, and I just, uh, was under the assumption, or, or maybe. Uh, I don't know about the [00:16:00] assumption, but I, I just, I just assumed it would go perfectly well. Mm-Hmm. And it was, uh, a really challenging time. Um, you know, I'm not necessarily, um, an overly emotional person, but it, it was tough.
It was really tough after it didn't work out. You know, we just, we made the decision as, as a group at Leader Dog. We, we had several conversations and we, we put a lot of work into making the effort for it to work. And unfortunately. Radar chose not to be a guide dog. So it was a, it was a really difficult time.
Leslie: Absolutely. And I wanna thank you, Stuart, for sharing this because. Like you mentioned, right? You kind of thought it would just go perfectly because that's, that is what we hear the majority of the time is how fantastic the match is and everything goes well. And I know you were kind of nervous to share if you should share or didn't wanna share because you didn't wanna, um, put Leader Dog in negative light.
But this is the reality of the situation. And so I'm so thankful that you are willing to share your experience and your story with radar because it is really. [00:17:00] Hard and it there, it's not always a happy ending. Sometimes there's dog switches in class sometimes, you know, career change. Um, but before people even leave home and they go home without a dog or in your case, right?
You had radar, tried everything together, you went home, you continued to work, you got the support from the team, and it ultimately, it just wasn't gonna work. And we want you to have a dog that's going to benefit your life and not in a negative way at all, right? Otherwise that. Defeats the purpose of having a guide dog.
And so I'm sorry that that happened and that it didn't work out with radar, but I'm happy to hear, I know you are on the wait list and kind of just waiting for that next match. Can you tell us a little bit about, you know, how, how did, I know you said disappointment, right? Like that, it was totally upsetting, but what helped you kind of get through that and what made you decide that, you know what, I still wanna continue with this journey.
I wanna try again.
Stuart: I think first of all, the fact that I gain such [00:18:00] positive and strong o and m skills at Leader Dogs. So I definitely have the training that I need to, to be mo Mobile, um, in my hometown of Ottawa. Um, you know, I'm, I'm quite confident with my white cane. Um, I can get around. Um, I think that's the main thing.
It's not like I'm, I'm left stuck. Um, at the same time, you know, just with limited vision and with declining vision. I just can kind of see what's, what's coming ahead of me here, you know, with, with my vision continuing to deteriorate. Um, you know, I just was so looking forward to the journey together with my guide dog as my vision continues to kind of go downhill to be able to create this partnership and work together and, and kind of get through it now, saying that, you know, I'm a realist at the same time, and I understand that dogs can be dogs and, and.
Sometimes these things happen. Like they're not, they're not robots, they're not computers, right? They're, they're, [00:19:00] they're their own, they're an animal. So these things will happen. And I've heard of that happening to, to several other people in different organizations and so on. Um, but what I do know, I've also talked to so many people at Leader Dog, and their experience is incredible.
You know, they've, they've gone home with their leader dog. You know, someone like Timothy and they just have this unbelievable relationship with their leader dog. And um, and things are just going so positively. And I know that's the majority of the, the majority by far of what happens. And I know that I'm the exception, which is, you know, unfortunate for me.
But, um, it's not to say that I won't come back. You know, I think, um, you know, one thing that I learned about Leader Dog in my first experience going there for our own m training was. And it really stuck with me was, I remember one of the clients asked in one of the class sessions, you know, what about this other Guide dog organization?
I've heard that they do this Well, I've heard that they [00:20:00] might be better at this, and so on. And what really sold me on Leader Dog is that moment, one of the, whoever, whoever it was that responded, said, yep, that that Guide Dog organization is excellent. They do this, this, and this very, very well. They have a good reputation.
Um. They have a good rapport with their clients and so on and so on. They were absolutely complimentary to this other organization who in a sense, they, they're, I don't know if you'd call them competitors.
Leslie: Yeah. A little bit. Yeah, for sure. You
Stuart: know, because I know, I, I know people do have choices on where to go, but the fact that Leader Dog was so secure in what they, in what they do, and from my experience, from from top to bottom, from the client service staff to the kitchen staff to the.
Guide Dog mobility instructors, so the o and m instructors right up to the CEO. Everyone's treated, we with such class and being so warm and caring and you just believe in what they do because of the people [00:21:00] that work there. Um, I think, I think when you're at the top of something, you don't need to brag about it.
And, and I, I can see that with Leader Dog. They're just so good that they don't, they don't need to, you know, bring anybody else down to lift themselves up. They're just that good. So that's, that's what I learned right away. And that's something that I've sort of taken as an athlete. Like, if you are that good, you don't need to brag about yourself.
And that's, that's how I feel Leader Dog is. They're at the top. So, you know, I just, that's, that's why I'm coming back. They are that good.
Christina: Thank you, Sue. Uh, I think that is what you're sharing is so important to share because it does happen. It's, it does happen to other people, and you are not alone. You wouldn't, you aren't the first and you aren't the last.
Um, like you said, you know, majority of people does work out, but it does happen and. The fact that you have faith in Leader Dog to come back and do that, I think, um, [00:22:00] we're very thankful for that. And there are so many other organizations out there too that we want everyone to have the best fit for them.
If we're not the best fit, there's gonna be somebody else that's a better fit. So, um, thank you for. Sharing that again. Um, but I did really wanna ask real quick, um, you just got into the Hall of Fame. I, we saw, uh, can you tell us a, a little bit about that?
Leslie: Well, you're being, let me wait. You're being inducted.
Inducted right into the hall, the Athletics Ontario Hall of Fame in Toronto this fall. Is that correct?
Stuart: September. That's right. Yeah. Um, very unexpected outta the blue. Um, I received notification, I. A couple of months ago that, that I had been, um, my name was put forward, uh, for this athletics Ontario Hall of Fame for athletics.
So that's for track and field in our province. And, um, and it went through, I was inducted or I was selected, and I'm gonna [00:23:00] be receiving the induction ceremony or going to the induction ceremony in September of 2024. So I look forward to that. It's a, it's a huge honor just reflecting. My time as an athlete and, um, I suppose my, my career, my career as a coach going forward as well.
So it's, uh, it's really exciting. Yes. Well, you should be, congratulations. Yeah. I
Christina: mean, we have a hall of famer on our podcast. I know. Look at us.
Leslie: I
Timothy: know.
Christina: And a
Timothy: paralympians. This, this right here proves that you know, people with. Blindness or visual impairment can still do. And he has taken his life and he is, oh my gosh, I, I'm blown away what you do, Stuart.
And you should be congratulated for that. Good job. I really appreciate that. Thank you very, very much. Absolutely.
Leslie: That is so cool. I feel like you've had so many little humble brags and you say him, so like, oh, it's okay. Like no big deal. And Christine and I are both like, what? Are you kidding me? Like this is insane.
Like these are not normal tasks. That people [00:24:00] complete.
Christina: We, so we are great at being hype women. We're good at it.
Stuart: Yes, they're, well, one thing I do look forward to one time is coming down for your protein.
Christina: Yes.
Stuart: 5K. So I'd love to come run that. Um, I'd love to come run that sometime. You're used to the cold.
Christina: That's why you, and don't worry, I.
Stuart: I'm not gonna put
Christina: you in Johnny and I's race. No, because Stuart's gonna, both of you. Stuart's gonna be like laughing you. Yeah, he's gonna be like, and 20 minutes later there, there's Christina.
Stuart: Johnny will come in second,
Christina: as he always does.
Stuart: Oh my gosh.
Christina: Sorry, I just had to bring it up real
Leslie: quick.
Keep coming. That's too funny. Well, thank you Stuart. I can't believe we've already reached the end of the second podcast, part two with you. And I know we didn't even touch on all of the things that you ha been a part of and done and accomplish so far. Um, but I, again, we wanna thank you for sharing all that you have done and your journey with Leader Dog.
It's so important to, to share these stories and [00:25:00] we hope. Fully we'll have a part three, uh, at some point when you do get matched again with a guide dog and hope it's a great success. So thank you for everything that you continue to do for our organization.
Stuart: My pleasure. Nice talking with everybody.
Leslie: And thank you so much to our listeners for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast.
I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy Kon and Christina Hepner. We hope you enjoyed learning part two about Stewart and all of the things that he has accomplished and experienced, uh, and shared with us today. Please join us next time as we continue to dive
Christina: into the world of blindness. And if you'd like to learn more about applying to our free services at Leader Dog, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at [phone].
And don't forget, you can reach us at taking the [e-mail] with any questions or ideas. If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever podcasts Stream.