Guide dog
Contents:
Lawsuit taken to court.
Friday, 9 May 2008 the lawsuit against Carrefour for not allowing me and my guide dog enter the supermarket was received by a district court in Warsaw. Against the judiciary I will be represented by The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. I wish the handicapped including the blind with their guide dogs were not discriminated in Poland. They should have the right to freely move and decide about themselves in such a dimension like fully fit people. Therefore, they should be supported to use various conveniences eliminating or reducing limitations connected with their disability. I am pleased that my feeling of dignity and the need of taking me into consideration by the society found understanding in the Helsinki Foundation which defends human rights. I hope that the issue in court will help the handicapped people in treating them in a better way and taking us into account as people having different human needs including respect, independence as well as full civil rights.
Jolanta Kramarz
Introduction.
Pies przewodnikWe got involved in informing you about the way a guide dog functions as well as its reaction to the blind who uses such help. We want to talk about working dogs, so that blind people could find understanding in the society and also a seeing person, by a proper reaction could ease the blind co-operation with their guide dog. In August 2007 on "Panorama" (Programme 2 of Polish Television) Jolanta Kramarz drew attention to a dog's job and difficulties with which it can encounter.
Fot. Anna Szymańska.
One of the passengers urged on muzzling the dog. He asked who would pay, if the dog bit someone: the blind, or maybe the dog. Therefore, in a short time with the editor Ms. Katarzyna Kowalska we saw, that blind people with their dogs don't have a simple life.
March 17th, 2008 Katarzyna Gajewska and Jolanta Kramarz took part in a meeting with the Director of the Security Office and Critical Management. The representatives of the regulatory body, the housing communities and the residents' association also participated in this meeting. We informed about the work of a guide dog, the possibilities of providing help by the authority, the blind with their dogs, white canes, and also partly seeing people. What we were saying met with large interest. We were asked why such information is not transmitted by media, which could reach to a wider range of recipients. The pretext of the conversation was the lack of the police's reaction, asked for intervention, when a blind person was accosted by an intoxicated resident on a district area.
On March 20th the trainer Mr. Jerzy Przewięda from Piła and Ms. Jolanta Kramarz with her Labrador Red, appeared on live in a programme "Dzień dobry TVN" (Good morning TVN) talking about a dogs' selection, the way of their functioning, and also about the procedure of applying for a dog. Along with the editor Marcin Prokop we explained to the viewers what the difference between a GPS and a guide dog is..
We are following the fates of the Social and Occupational Rehabilitation Bill project for handicapped people. It will concern of regulations regarding the position of the guide dog in public services. In this respect we are condemned to success. We know that the project found favor with Members of the Parliament.
We participate in a discussion list - "the guide dog\ therefore we are up to date with the problems and joys of the blind and their dogs. It pleases us that so many blind people using the help of dogs, want to influence a change of the "cur" image and legislation regarding guide dogs.
We showed to TVN Facts viewers and twice to TVN24 viewers how shops' personnel react on a blind person, who wants to do the shopping. We were able to present this thanks to Jolanta's Kramarz help, who with a hidden camera and along with her dog entered shopping centers in Warsaw. We were pleased, that the contact with media arose such interest among journalists as: Monika Olejnik, (Dot over "And" - feature programme) and Regional Televisions of TVN24. Discussions flared up on TVN24 forums about the possibilities of a guide dog, and also about the purpose of allowing it in such places as a mall. Thanks to the appearance in media we managed to get in touch with the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection of Poland. We wanted to hand him the film shown on TVN24 and materials regarding the interpretation of sanitary-epidemiological regulations obtained from Tesco.
Jolanta Kramarz invited the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection - Dr. Janusz Kochanowski for a meeting, which took place on April 22nd. Our foundation was represented by: Dr. Tomasz Włodek, Magdalena Czajkowska and Jolanta Kramarz. Beata Kolek, from the Labrador Foundationwas also invited. Along with her came two women from that Foundation and also two other women from the Czeneka Foundation.
The Commissioner proved that he was looking favorably on our matters, because generally he likes dogs and even has a ten-year-old dog Frania with which he walks to work. The employees of the Commissioner's Office know Frania by sight.
We established on the meeting the following:
1. We will try to take part in the subcommittee debates, where the Social and Occupational Rehabilitation Bill for handicapped people will be investigated. Probably thanks to support of RPO all the participants of meeting will be invited to the Sejm for the subcommittee debates,
2. On June 15th are the open days at the Commissioner in which we can take part by informing about the dog's role in supporting handicapped people,
3. The Commissioner will contact us with journalists who can deal with promoting dogs,
4. zWe offered our participation in the committee investigating handicapped people's matters, received by the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection.
The Labrador Foundation, which also took part in the meeting with the Commissioner, joined the e-mail discussion list led by Rafał Harłampowicz. The members of the "Labrador" board, wanting to keep their good image, became our discussion partners. They listen what we say, they explained their position.
It is the third year that Jolanta Kramarz is taking part in the committee investigating conclusions about granting the guide dog by the Main Board of Polish Association of the Blind.
