With International Guide Dog Day fast approaching, a new campaign promoting the legal rights of guide dog users has been launched in Newcastle.
Some owners still have trouble getting into places like restaurants.
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With International Guide Dog Day fast approaching, a new campaign promoting the legal rights of guide dog users has been launched in Newcastle.
Some owners still have trouble getting into places like restaurants.
It’s a good campaign to bring more awareness to the community, however it’s a shame the campaign wasn’t called “Assistance Dogs Welcome Here.” Guide Dogs are afterall, a type of Assistance Dog. There are many types of Assistance Dogs that come in all breeds and sizes. Promoting the image of a Labrador in a harness and explaining to business owners and the public that working dogs are allowed anywhere as long as they’re wearing a harness is simply confusing the issue, and in fact it makes life more difficult for Assistance Dog owners whose Assistance Dogs are not Labradors and don’t need to wear harnesses to work. It would have been nice to see this campaign be more inclusive to promote the fact that all Assistance Dogs are legally allowed into restaurants, cafes, businesses etc. Like I said, it’s a good initiative, but it could have been thought out a little better and implemented in a way that didn’t negatively affect people with disabilities other than vision impairement.