Latest news with #AlanEdwards
Perth Now
07-05-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Guide dog users get down to business on their rights
Workers are being urged to paw-se and think when they see a guide dog enter their business, as a campaign aims to highlight the rights of vision-impaired people. Two-month-old labradors hit NSW parliament to launch a resource to help make low-vision and blind people more aware of their rights. The launch of Guide Dogs NSW/ACT's Self-Advocacy Toolkit on Wednesday follows another campaign pressing Sydney businesses to build better environments for people with vision issues. The free online toolkit is designed to help low-vision and blind people understand and communicate their rights when presented with issues in a business. Alan Edwards, who has low vision, said he wished he had access to something similar when he began using a guide dog. "Access issues are very rarely a flat refusal - they're really just confusion," he said. "Often, a staff member may not understand a guide dog is an assistance animal and that they can have access. "So it's often just communication issues between a restaurant or business and someone living with blindness and low vision." The kit covers legal rights under both state and federal laws, including what venues can and can't do regarding assistance animals. Buy-in from firms to the earlier Access Means Business campaign had been really good, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT's Gemma Farquhar said. But she implored society to continue thinking about how to help people with vision problems. "It's just something that you need to keep front of mind," she told AAP. "It's easy to set and forget, but it's really around the ongoing education, incremental changes." Away from the ruff-and-tumble of their respective chambers, NSW politicians of all breeds met the soon-to-be guide dogs at Parliament House on Wednesday. Top dog - Speaker Greg Piper - hosted the four-legged-friends, along with members from both sides of the aisle, in his private garden along with advocates from across the sector.
Time Out
06-05-2025
- Business
- Time Out
Shocking fact: Sydney venues still turn away guide dogs – this new initiative is here to help
It's a sad fact that – despite society's empathy and our love of Labradors – people with low vision or blindness are often turned away from venues for having a guide dog in toe. Shocking, right? (NSW law states that everywhere needs to allow guide dogs, including hospo venues.) These gaps in support often lead people to retreat from social interactions in public. Guide Dogs NSW/ACT is hosting an event at NSW Parliament House this week to celebrate the success of their new Access Means Business initiative (which provides hospitality businesses with resources to make Sydney's venues more inclusive to people with low vision or blindness) and to launch the Self-Advocacy Toolkit (a practical resource created to support people with low vision or blindness to advocate for their rights). This brand-new Toolkit will provide straightforward, accessible information about the legal right to enter hospitality venues in NSW with a guide dog, along with clear steps to take if access is refused. Alan Edwards, a 'Lived Experience Presenter' says that when he started getting out and about with a guide dog, it was life-changing, but also surprising. 'I was delighted at how much easier it was for me to be involved in life. I was also confronted by some people unfairly and illegally restricting access. 'It was and remains challenging to stand up to this. This Toolkit gives people practical tools to confidently advocate for themselves and for inclusive practices. I hope that through toolkits like this, access will be seen as not just 'a legal right', but the right thing to do.' The Toolkit outlines key laws, the responsibilities of both Guide Dog Handlers and businesses, and includes contact details for reporting discrimination and lodging complaints. This resource is so important because it will help give people with low vision or blindness the confidence and knowledge to speak up and to help the wider community (venues and beyond) understand how to support inclusion. This year, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT partnered with the City of Sydney to deliver Access Means Business, working with restaurants, cafés and bars across inner Sydney to build awareness and foster more inclusive environments for people with low vision or blindness. The event on May 7 will bring together NSW Parliamentarians, business owners, community members with lived experiences, and representatives from Guide Dogs NSW/ACT to reflect on the campaign's achievements and share their vision for future progress.
