Beijing to ok taking guide dog on public transportation
CRI, December 11, 2013
Municipal authorities in Beijing are considering a new law which allow the blind population in the capital to take their guide dogs on public transportation. [File photo]
Chinese audiences will remember the scene during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Paralympics Games when Ping Yali, China's first paralympic champion, was guiding into the event's happenings by her seeing-eye dog, Lucky, to complete the penultimate torch relay.
At the time, Beijing authorities issued a regulation about the use and management of guide-dogs during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Ping and Lucky were welcomed openly by public transportation operators and hotels around the city during the Games.
"I thought that, since there was a temporary residence, can permanent residence be far away? The spring of guide dogs is coming."
However, the regulation turned out to be temporary. As soon as the sporting event concluded, Beijing reverted to its old ways. Beijing's hotels and public transportation closed their doors to seeing-eye dogs, disappointing the capital's visually impaired once again.
The last time Lucky was allowed to freely ride public transportation with Ping Yali in 2008 is forever fixed in the athlete's memory. The canine was not only allowed to access places freely.
Ping Yali posted a message on Sina Weibo, the China's Twitter-like social media platform, that she was barred from taking her guide-dog onto the subway at Tiantongyuan station. This was the 11th time in six years she was blocked from accessing Beijing's public transportation system with her guide-dog since she first got Lucky in 2007.
"I'm sorry. The guide dogs can't take subway now."
The city's actions and unfair policy sparked outrage online.
Now, according to the draft version of the "Beijing Animal Epidemic Prevention Ordinance, the visually-impaired and their seeing-eye dogs will no longer be refused from boarding public transportation.
In the section 44 of chapter 5 of the draft, after the original ruling of "Livestock and livestock products [that] are used in operations are forbidden to [be taken] on [public transportation], including trams, buses, and rail vehicles." The draft adds that a "well-trained and qualified guide-dogs and other assistant or working dogs are not restricted by this rule."
Chen Yan is a blind tuner. She has a disability permit, while her guide-dog, Jenny, has the proper paperwork registering her as a seeing-eye dog and confirming her immunizations are up to date. However, the city still blocks Jenny, and thus Chen Yan, from accessing public transportation.
"We are eager to be able to be guided by our seeing eyes so that we can smoothly travel. I've heard that a new law on the issue will be implemented in Beijing.
Guide-dogs will be permitted to board public transportation. This is really great news for the blind people who have guide-dogs."
Actually, there are less than 10 blind people who have their own seeing-eye dogs in Beijing due to the high costs of training the animals.
Guide-dogs, or seeing-eye dogs, are assistance dogs trained to lead blind and visually impaired people around obstacles.
According to international practice, Golden Retrievers, Labradors and German Shepherds are most likely to be chosen by guide-dog facilities. Guide-dogs come with a variety of benefits and help their keepers in many ways. They give a blind person more confidence, friendship and security. Despite regulations or rules that deny access to animals in restaurants and other public places, in many countries, guide-dogs and other types of assistance dogs are protected by law, and therefore may accompany their handlers to most places that are open to the public.
How can a dog become a guide or an assistant? Ping Yali says, the most basic quality is that there is no attack record in its seven generations.
"It never hurts people. There is no record of the guide dog attacking."
For those who are afraid of dogs, when you meet a guide-dog assisting a blind person on the street in the future, just relax and feel safe as you pass by.
