![\"Senator](\"https:\/\/news.furman.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Kenia-and-Senator.v1.jpg\")
Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Kenia Flores ’20 in the senator’s Capitol Hill office.<\/p><\/div>\n
Flores had her first taste of Washington as a high school senior, when she traveled with the National Federation of the Blind for the organization\u2019s annual advocacy seminar. She\u2019s been drawn to Capitol Hill ever since.<\/p>\n
While she doesn\u2019t think her future will focus exclusively on disability policy, \u201cit definitely influences how I view other policy areas,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely given me a unique lens to see things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flores has been blind since birth and laughs as she reflects on what she just said.<\/p>\n
Her adviser, David Fleming, associate professor of politics and international affairs, said others notice her blindness first, but it\u2019s never their final impression.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s fearless,\u201d Fleming said. \u201cI think she\u2019s exposed a lot of us, including me, to a lot of the possibilities and issues that people with disabilities face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flores, who is double majoring in politics and international affairs and history, plans to work for a few years after graduation before applying to law school.<\/p>\n
Flores had her first extended stay in the capital the spring semester of her sophomore year as part of Furman\u2019s Washington Experience. She interned then with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which administers and enforces anti-discrimination laws in the workplace.<\/p>\n
She returned to North Carolina after that semester to intern in Tillis\u2019 district office \u2014 and fell in love with the work. Flores said state offices focus on case work, assisting constituents with everything from Social Security issues to expedited passports, while the D.C. office focuses on policy.<\/p>\n
But she spent much of her time taking calls from constituents.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it\u2019s hard,\u201d Flores admitted. \u201cPeople will yell at you.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she believes every person has a right to be heard \u2014 those who voted for Tillis and those who didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really want people to still believe in the democratic process,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Edwards, regional director of constituent advocacy in the Charlotte office, called her \u201cphenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really relied on her last year,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n
When she learned Flores was applying for a second internship, she told the D.C. office, \u201cWe have to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flores, who focused on education and immigration, attended hearings and briefings and worked with legislative correspondents to develop memos on legislative proposals.<\/p>\n
And she took advocacy opportunities as they came. For instance, she introduced a social media specialist in Tillis\u2019 office to \u201calt text,\u201d the written descriptions that can be included with online images.<\/p>\n
The staffer didn\u2019t know about the option but shared it with a GOP social media group. Now other Senate offices are planning to use alt text in their social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want it to be accessible for me and for other people,\u201d Flores said. \u201cIt\u2019s small details like that that really matter to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
She finished her work for Tillis in early August. But she\u2019s only begun her story in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely affirmed that D.C. is the place for me,\u201d said Flores.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kenia Flores \u201920 got the feeling every time she walked into work at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. \u201cIt\u2019s a feeling of awe and passion and inspiration,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":8342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,32,13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-politics-and-international-affairs","category-top-four-news-4th-story","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}