International Guide Dog Day is celebrated annually on the last Wednesday of April. Since guide dogs are essential for blind people, Alisher Usmanov’s Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation and Garage Museum of Contemporary Art are happy to announce the presentation of their mutual project Guide Dog Friendly within the ongoing program of support of visitors with sight limitations.
Patron of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art since 2015, Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation has always supported the Museum’s educational activity, and its inclusive programs in particular. Inclusion is one of Garage’s top priorities and therefore the presentation of a project aimed at developing an accessible and friendly environment for blind people and their guide dogs is an intrinsic part of the Museum’s partnership with the Foundation.
Guide Dog Friendly is the first Russian project set to embrace and increase the number of organizations that welcome any visitors and clients, including blind people with guide dogs. During the presentation, experts from the training center “Dogs as Assistants for Disabled People” will concentrate on the issues of providing an unhindered access to any venues of social infrastructure for blind people accompanied by guide dogs.
The presentation will take place at Garage on April 24, and will be followed by specially designed guided tours adapted for blind and sight-limited people.
“Social and cultural adaptation for people with sight limitations is one the key directions of the 'Special View' program. Our main goal is the development and extension of an accessible environment for blind people in and outside of Moscow, so we are hopeful that the Guide Dog Friendly project will engage as many organizations as possible”, says Ksenya Dmitrieva, Director of the “Special View” program run by Alisher Usmanov’s Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation.
All participants of the project will receive a special sticker-sign marking their institution’s genuine commitment and willingness to welcome blind visitors.
Elena Orochko, Director of the “Dogs as Assistants for Disabled People” training center says: “We have been training guide dogs and providing them for blind people across Russia for free for more than fifteen years. However, throughout our lengthy experience, we have learnt that training a dog and delivering it to an individual is not enough—developing a correct attitude to blind people accompanied by guide dogs within society is as important. It’s great that Garage Museum of Contemporary Art has become one of the first venues that always welcomes visitors with guide dogs”.