The Guide Dogs story

 

Losing your sight – the feelings

When you’re told you are losing your sight, the emotional impact is usually immediate and overwhelming. Shock gives way to anxiety and is often followed by depression. Places which used to seem normal and friendly, like stations and shopping malls, become unfriendly and hard to get around.

 

It may seem easier to stay indoors, going out only when someone can go with you. That’s the option currently taken by 180,000 blind and partially-sighted people in the UK who never leave home alone.

 

If your child is born blind or becomes blind, the news can be even more devastating. It’s not just the life of the child that’s affected – the whole family feels the repercussions.

 

Moving on

We work with people to help them get their confidence back and learn the skills they need to get on the road again.

 

When people approach us for a guide dog, our specialist staff work with them to find out what sort of lives they lead so we can train dogs to meet their specific requirements - like Roger, the boat builder whose dog Vogue has to be agile enough to guide him on and off boats all day, or Carl, who lost his sight and was paralysed in a rugby accident but now has just enough movement in his legs to enable his dog Logan to guide him slowly and steadily around his home town of Birmingham.

 

Of course a dog won’t be everyone’s choice of mobility aid and we tailor our services to what individuals need.

 

Fighting for rights

We are concerned about the freedom of movement of all blind and partially-sighted people, so we campaign to make the streets safer. We raise awareness and educate people so that they stop refusing guide dog owners’ access to shops, restaurants and taxis. (Despite being against the law, this is still frustratingly common). And we fund research aimed at enabling partially-sighted people to make the best use of any remaining vision they may have. Only 4% of people who are registered blind can actually see nothing at all. Any residual vision can be very useful in helping them get around.

 

On the road again

Mhairi Thurston from Dundee got her first guide dog, Wanda, in 2003. She says: “I don’t think people realise quite what a dreadful journey it is from being sighted to being blind or partially-sighted; it’s been really hard. But now I feel so positive. I will lose all my sight eventually and I don’t fear it at all. It used to be the worst thing in the world. But now I feel happy and healthy and have bigger things to worry about. I feel I belong to society again.”

 

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·        We deliver over 700 new guide dog partnerships each year.

·        We provide people with a guide dog for life – they could have up to eight dogs in their lifetime.

·        We breed over 1,000 guide dog pups each year.

·        Each year we help about 400 children learn how to get round independently.

·        Each year we assist over 700 blind and partially-sighted people with access issues.

·        23 organisations are supporting our campaign to stop dangerous shared surface streets.

·        25 organisations are supporting our campaign for audio announcements in buses and trains.

Date Published: 29/04/09