My heart broke the day Trump was elected. It was disheartening that people would support a man that made fun of a journalist with a disability. If our own President can make a mockery of a person with a disability, it makes me scared of the future. During the next four years, we must live and work with the cards that we were dealt but we must stand up for the rights and voices of women, immigrants, and especially for people with disabilities. America is already great and we must continue moving forward and progressing the opportunities for people with disabilities.

I’ve been an advocate for people with disabilities in Hawaii for over ten years. I’m the board president of Hawaii Fi-Do Service Dogs, a nonprofit organization that trains service dogs for people with disabilities other than blindness.