The preparation of special legislation in recognition of the importance that a properly trained companion dog has for the blind and people with disabilities is requested by the Cypriot Organization of the Blind and for the purpose of ensuring the enjoyment of their human rights.
In a related announcement, the Organization states that the granting of guide dogs to the blind will ensure to these people the unhindered, safe, unhindered and independent entry to a specific building or open space or any service in accordance with the General Comment "accessibility" of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as equal treatment" of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
He notes that it operated for almost ten years as a training service and provision of guide dogs for the blind, where at least eight dogs were trained by the Cyprus Police for a corresponding number of visually impaired people. However, due to the situation that prevailed in our country at the time, the operation of the service was terminated at the beginning of the 1990s.
"The guide dog is an irreplaceable companion and friend, a supporter of the rights-based approach to disability and one of the most reliable methods and ways of mobility and accompaniment and in general serving the blind and other people with disabilities. It contributes to the maintenance of work and employment, decent economic status and position in the community, participation in socio-cultural activities, making friendly contacts and combating their isolation and exclusion."
The service of the blind and people with disabilities by guide/companion dogs, it is added, is done after serious, long-term and scientific training both of each person separately as well as of the dog itself, in order to become a permanently reliable companion in terms of his movements, trips by taxi and bus, train, ship and plane, where, based on European Regulations, the countries of the European Union are obliged to accept them.
There is, however, no European Regulation that regulates the mobility of blind people within their own country, such as moving to workplaces, education, leisure, sports and anywhere else they wish, reports the Blind Organization.
He notes that training a guide dog for the blind takes up to 2 years and costs €15,000-€20,000, while co-training with the handler takes 5-6 weeks.
The World Organization for the Blind also reports that several countries have already adopted legislative and administrative regulations guaranteeing the right of blind and disabled people to be accompanied by a specially trained guide dog and to enter safely in all public places. Any restriction and/or violation of this right is considered discrimination and is subject to penalties for all offenders, it is noted.
