GUIDE DOGS AUSTRALIA CAMPAIGN AIMS TO EDUCATE COMMUNITY ON REFUSAL IMPLICATIONS

Guide Dogs are an important service for people with low vision or blindness, however this hasn’t stopped Guide Dog handlers from being denied access to public venues or forms of transport.

In response to this, Guide Dogs Australia has launched its Rethink Refusal campaign.

The aim of the campaign is to educate businesses, industries and the community on how a Guide Dog refusal (which is illegal) can have further implications for the immediate safety of a person with low vision or blindness.

In the past year, over a third of Guide Dog handlers across Australia have reported being denied access to a public venue or form of transport because of their Guide Dog.

Alarmingly, the same proportion reported a discriminatory refusal left them feeling unsafe or in danger during their time as a Guide Dog handler.

This is according to a new survey by Guide Dogs Australia released for International Guide Dog Day last month.

Taxis or rideshares were responsible for two thirds of these instances where handlers reported their safety was compromised, followed by cafes, restaurants and bars, and retail outlets.

Around half of handler respondents said they had been left stranded in an unfamiliar or wrong location, with a similar proportion reporting being verbally mistreated during the refusal incident.

Sydney-based handler Liz – who has been a handler for seven years – had experienced refusals in public regularly and had previously been left feeling unsafe due to a highly traumatic and dangerous refusal situation.

She said during a recent attempt to use a rideshare she had been put into danger by a driver who did not want her guide dog in his vehicle.

“In an attempt to avoid taking me, but still maintaining his access to the app he told me he had arrived,” Liz said.

“After following the drivers instructions, I tried to get into two cars nearby, both ended up being a strangers car.

“The driver who turned out to be two blocks away, eventually cancelled.

“It is shocking that he sent a vulnerable person who he knew was blind towards the cars of strangers, as well as never trying to find me and ultimately not picking me up at all.”

Liz said she wanted to raise awareness that she was not taking Poppi (her current guide dog) with her as a pet.

“She is highly trained and working with me as my eyes,” she said.

“Poppi is the reason I get to participate in daily life activities, experience independance and enjoy a sense of freedom.”

The survey reported that female handlers were more likely, than male handlers, to have said they’ve experienced a refusal in the last year.

Males and females were equally as likely to have been put in danger as a result of a refusal over the course of their time as handlers, with rideshares and taxis the leading cause for both.

However, 76 per cent of female handlers reported feeling unsafe and scared after the incident, versus 29 per cent of males.

In all states and territories across Australia, a guide dog in harness with their handler is legally allowed to enter all public places, including public transport and taxi/rideshares, with it being an offence to deny or charge a fee for the entry of a guide dog.

Guide Dogs NSW/ACT Orientation and Mobility Specialist Ryan Jones said, that while the public generally do the right thing, the survey showed that this was not always the case.

“We’re asking the community to rethink the implications of telling a Guide Dog handler, ‘no’,” he said.

“No one should have their safety compromised or be put in a dangerous situation because they can’t catch a ride late at night, enter a venue, café or restaurant or stay at their chosen accommodation.

“Who else would you leave in the dark?” he asked.

Mr Jones said the survey revealed that refusals can leave a lasting impact on a handler’s daily routine, with them finding denied or questioned overwhelmingly frustrating.

Two fifths of handlers said they had changed their travel habits because of an unsafe incident, while a quarter stopped going out as much or at all after an incident.

“They also told us that being left in an unsafe or dangerous situation, makes them feel anxious or scared in the aftermath,” Mr Jones said.

“This is the exact opposite of the freedom and independence a Guide Dog is meant to bring into someone’s life.”