A decade of collaboration between assistance dog charities
This week (June 23-29) is Deafblind Awareness Week, marking one decade of partnership between Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and Guide Dogs.
Over the past 10 years, the two assistance dog charities have worked together, training 25 assistance dog partnerships for people who suffer from combined hearing and sight loss.
Lee Stanway from Guide Dogs said: “By working with our colleagues at Hearing Dogs over the last 10 years, we have been able to reach people not just with sight loss but other sensory impairments and give the freedom, confidence and independence they deserve.”
Recent research conducted by Sense suggests that there are 356,000 people living with dual sensory loss in the UK. Deafblind Awareness Week aims to improve awareness and understanding of the daily challenges people face.
Angie Platten, head of partnership services from Hearing Dogs for Deaf People said: “Hearing dogs are trained to respond to important sounds and danger signals, and help to alleviate the isolation and loneliness that deafness so often brings.
“We work together with Guide Dogs to make a life-changing difference to people with a dual sensory loss, and we hope to create many more of these partnerships in the future.”
Ten years ago, Angela Hassall was trained with Roddy, and became the first person in the UK to have a dual-trained guide dog. Roddy is now retired and lives with Angela’s daughter Sarah, and Angela has a new dual-trained Labrador/retriever cross called Mel.
Angela said: “Without the two dogs I’ve had, I don’t think I could have carried on. I became very lonely before I got Roddy, but both dogs have given me great joy. Roddy was a brilliant dog who was very friendly and got me talking to people. Mel is very cheeky and a real character, we go everywhere together. I’m very grateful to everyone involved in training these wonderful dogs.”
Image courtesy of Guide Dogs.
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