Sherwood MP pledges to support guide dog campaign

Member of Parliament for Sherwood, Mark Spencer, has announced his support for a guide dog campaign tackling discrimination.

Recently attending a Parliament event organised by the charity Guide Dogs, the Sherwood MP hoped to raise awareness of individuals accompanied by dogs, some of whom are refused entry to public places.

Whilst at the event in Westminster Hall, Mark met a 12-month-old golden retriever cross guide dog called Eve and heard from a number of Sherwood residents, who voiced their concerns over the discrimination against those whose lives depend on canine support.

"I want to make it clear that, in almost all circumstances, it is against the law to refuse access to someone based on them having a guide dog," said Mark Spencer MP.

"To turn an individual away, whether its from a taxi, shop, bus, café, or whatever it may be, based purely on the fact that the individual has a guide dog is completely unacceptable, and something that I’m very concerned can still happen in this day and age.”

He said the #AccessAllAreas campaign will bring people together to take action on the issue of inclusivity towards guide dog owners and urged his constituents who have experienced discrimination to get into contact with him.

"I also want to say thank you to the charity Guide Dogs for hosting this event. It was really positive to get so many people together in one room to help raise awareness of this," he added.

The life-changing charity whose ambition is to see a future where every person with sight loss has the confidence and support they need, says up to three quarters of assistance dog owners have been turned away from public places because of their dog.

And despite the devastation caused by sight loss, 70 per cent of adults receive no support within the first 12 months of diagnosis and are more likely to encounter poor education, high unemployment, depression, loneliness and financial insecurity throughout their lifetime.

Supporting Mark Spencer in his pledge is Rainworth councillor, Tom Smith, who said he wrongly assumed before the campaign that this type of discrimination does not happen in England. Adding that he is "genuinely quite appalled" to hear this sort of thing does still happen.

"I’d urge anyone who has experienced discrimination based purely on having a guide dog to get in touch with Mark directly, so we can try and put a stop to it,” he added.

Mark Spencer can be contacted at: mark.spencer.mp@parliament.uk

If you would like to find out more about the campaign, please visit: www.guidedogs.org.uk/