{"id":1014,"date":"2019-03-21T12:05:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T16:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2019-03-27T12:53:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T16:53:16","slug":"an-extraordinary-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/spring-2019\/an-extraordinary-team\/","title":{"rendered":"An Extraordinary Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aria Mia Loberti \u201920 is a triple major, honors student, world traveler, activist, yoga teacher, United Nations youth delegate, aspiring philosophy professor, and Harry Potter fan. This inspiring young woman also happens to be visually impaired. Her guide dog, Ingrid, is her exceptional teammate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the first day of her junior year, Aria Mia Loberti \u201920 learned just how far her guide dog, Ingrid, would go to keep her safe. The pair left their dorm room in Burnside Hall\u2014Ingrid in her harness on Loberti\u2019s left\u2014and approached Lower College Road. Loberti, who was born legally blind, didn\u2019t hear the approaching car, whose driver was texting and careening toward them. But Ingrid knew what to do. The petite black Lab made a sharp and sudden right, body-bumping Loberti back to the safety of the curb.<\/p>\n

Ingrid, who will turn 4 in September, is one in a million, quite literally. Only a tiny percentage of dogs have the temperament and intelligence to become guide dogs. Ingrid is the best of the best, learning commands that 99 percent of her peers would fail. Ingrid began her training with California-based Guide Dogs for the Blind in her first month of life, and was schooled intensively for 20 months before being matched with Loberti.<\/p>\n

Loberti, who has a passion for philosophy and rhetoric, gave a TEDx911±¬ΑΟ talk last spring on the importance of speaking up and being a good ally. “We should never stay silent in the face of our own or others’ oppression,” she asserts. She envisions and works tirelessly for a future in which disability is not seen as weakness, stereotype, or a fault of the body, but instead as a positive and enriching part of cultural diversity.<\/p>\n

\u2014Ann Martini<\/em><\/p>\n