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Taiwan Guide Dog Association holds awareness event

The Taiwan Guide Dog Association (TGDA) got on the bus in Taipei City yesterday for an awareness-raising event.

Two guide dogs, Journey and Diane, rode the number 52 bus operated by Shin Shin Bus Company with association members in tow showing bus riders the correct way to interact with guide dogs and their owners.

"Guide dogs are still so rare in Taiwan that people do not know the proper way to act around them," said the association's publicist Joyce Feng (馮倩華).

"Guide dogs are highly-trained animals. People need not fear that they will attack or otherwise behave inappropriately," Feng said. "But they are working dogs, so please do not distract them or pet them without the permission of the owner."

There are only 20 guide dogs in service in the country, but there are more than 50,000 blind people, according to the association.

Even though a guide dog is not right for every blind person, that number is still way too low, Feng said.

"Because we don't have our own breeding and training programs, all of the guide dogs in this country have to be imported,"Feng said. "The number of guide dogs in this country should be closer to 500."

Twenty-two-year-old Chiu Wen-shen (邱文昇) gets around with the help of Journey, a black labrador retriever that was trained in the US for more than a year. People who pet or photograph Journey without his permission are a daily nuisance, Chiu said.

"In addition to distracting Journey, it's an invasion of my privacy," Chiu said. "I usually don't mind letting people pet Journey, but please ask first."

Even though it has been more than three years since the Legislative Yuan enacted amendments to the Protection Act for the Handicapped and Disabled (身心障礙者法保護法) guaranteeing access to guide dogs on all modes of transportation as well as access to public and private establishments, Chiu said he is still occasionally turned away from buses or restaurants because of his guide dog.

"Sometimes, the bus driver will not even give me the time to explain that Journey is a guide dog. They drive off as soon as they see him," Chiu said.

Chiu said that he was turned away by a bus driver as recently as earlier this month.

The law is on his side, and Chiu has the relevant parts of the act printed right on the back of his proof of disability card. But that does not stop some restaurants from finding excuses not to let him in with his guide dog.

"They'll say `we're so sorry, but we have kids here who are afraid of dogs,'" Chiu said.

Despite the occasional rejection, Chiu said having Journey to help him has changed his life for the better.
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