The event is part of Guide Dogs Week 2012, which is Guide Dogs’ annual awareness and fundraising week, and runs from 6 to 14 October.
It can be a daily challenge for blind and partially sighted people to go out independently and undertake all the activities that fully sighted people take for granted. The public at large can help in very simple ways by ensuring that walkways are kept clear. Cutting back overhanging trees and bushes, pushing back bins and not parking on the pavement can make a huge difference.
Sue Richardson, Manager of the Atherton Guide Dog Training School says, “At Guide Dogs we are committed to ensuring that all blind and partially sighted people can enjoy the same freedom of movement as everybody else. But the reality is that they have to overcome extraordinary challenges everyday to get out and about in the way that most of us take for granted. By undertaking this blindfold walk, Mr Burnham will get an opportunity to experience some of these difficulties and at the same time bringing awareness to the ways in which Guide Dogs help visually impaired people become more mobile.”
The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is a British charitable organisation founded in 1934. Guide Dogs provides independence and freedom to thousands of blind and partially sighted people across the UK through the provision of guide dogs, mobility and other rehabilitation services. It also campaigns passionately for the rights of those with visual impairments. Guide Dogs is working towards a society in which blind and partially sighted people enjoy the same freedom of movement as everyone else.
