On April 28, the world community celebrated "International Guide Dog Day." For persons with profound visual impairments, such dogs act not so much as pets, but as a means of rehabilitation, a tool for improving mobility and orientation in space.
The round table "Guide dog for a blind person in Ukraine - realities, myths, stereotypes" was devoted to these questions. The event was held on April 29 in partnership with the All-Ukrainian League of Organizations of People with Visual Disabilities "Modern View", the All-Ukrainian Public Association "National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine" and the YARMIZ Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Center. Representatives of the authorities, state institutions, People's Deputies of Ukraine, heads of public associations, veterans of the ATO/OOS who were visually impaired during military operations were invited to the event.
Olesya Perepechenko, the moderator of the event, executive director of the All-Ukrainian League of Organizations of Visually Impaired Persons, Olesya Perepechenko, outlined the general problems of the issue. In recent years, guide dogs specially trained abroad and in Ukraine have been appearing in Ukraine, including for combatants who have lost their sight. Unfortunately, the reality of the existence and enforcement of laws in Ukraine is an obstacle to these animals' performance of their official duties: such dogs are not included in the official list of means of rehabilitation, there are no algorithms for providing guide dogs for blind people, there are no mechanisms for the legalization of dogs trained under borders of the country, etc.
People's deputy of Ukraine Sofiya Fedyna expressed her interest in the topic, primarily as therapy for military personnel, and assured her readiness to lobby for changes to the existing legislation.
Valery Sushkevich, the Commissioner for People with Disabilities under the President of Ukraine, emphasized the problem of the lack of legislative mechanisms for reimbursement of financial costs borne by dog owners: "The funds that a person with a disability will receive are not enough to cover and care for a dog. Therefore, legislative changes are needed in terms of financial support as well."
ATO veteran Vitaly Golitsyn shared his own experience of keeping a guide dog trained abroad. "There are myths that any dog can be turned into a handler. It does not. Not only that there are breeds that are suitable for this and those that are not, the training of a guide dog can last up to 3 years. In addition, they do not take into account the fact that even if a person gets such a dog, the animal will not be able to solve all problems. For example, a guide dog will not be able to lead a person across the road on its own, it will not be possible to enter a store or public place with a dog."
The result of the event was the agreement of the participants to create a working group to prepare recommendations for legislative changes regarding guide dogs as an effective means of rehabilitation. For the "YARMIZ" readaptation and rehabilitation center, this is an opportunity to bring to the legislative body the current needs of veterans of the anti-terrorist operation and anti-terrorist operation, who suffered visual impairments during military operations in eastern Ukraine. According to the director of the Center Yevgenia Gubska, no sector can solve social problems alone, because the discussed problems affect not only the introduction of changes to legislation, but also the formation of a new culture of relationships in society, a culture of acceptance of people with disabilities. That is why we need partnerships of all levels of civil society, government, business, and international organizations. Only cross-sectoral interaction, coordination of actions, establishment of communication, constructive dialogue for the achievement of common goals will be a guarantee of constructive changes.