EGDF Recent Activities

After the formalities of the EGDF Annual General Meeting, David Adams offered thanks to Jill Allen-King and Rose Hewitt who had stood down from the board due to completing the maximum term permitted by EGDF’s Articles of Association.  They had been founder members and had contributed to the many achievements of EGDF over the years.

Andrew Lamb and Darinka Lecnik-Urbancl were re-appointed to the board, and Finn Hellman was also formally elected, having been co-opted previously.

The president indicated that there were vacancies on the board and interested members should contact the executive director about the duties and responsibilities of the position.

Judith Jones, EGDF Executive Director then highlighted some recent EGDF activities:

• EGDF represents both user groups and consumers. It has both guide dog organisations and guide dog handlers as members or supporters.  EGDF doesn’t produce guide dogs or assistance dogs.
• EGDF is involved in setting the European standard for assistance dogs and more detail would be shared later in the conference.

• As a European expert on assistance dogs, Judith Jones participates in high-level European Commission meetings.
• ANEC is the European consumer voice in standardisation. It makes sure the consumers’ voice is heard equally with that of the manufacturers’.  ANEC has asked EGDF to represent the consumer on accessibility issues, so EGDF protects the interests of blind people and assistance dog users every time a standard is written or revised.
• EGDF is a member of the European Coalition for Vision, which campaigns to prevent avoidable blindness.
• EGDF is participating in a European project to establish a European training programme for assistance dog professionals.
• EGDF is an adviser to the Heathrow Access Advisory Group (HAAG) and helped them to set up a standard for dog toilets airside in airports, to be included in new airport projects. It is hoped that other airports will follow this example.
• EGDF has a hotline via its website for access problems experienced by people with guide dogs travelling to and within Europe.
• EGDF is an active member of the European Disability Forum. They recently received €10,000 to set up a database of disability access refusals and EGDF’s database will be merged into this.
• EGDF works with Transport for London concerning guide dog refusals by taxi drivers, especially Uber.
• EGDF has been invited to participate in the International Guide Dog Federation’s (IGDF) access committee.
• EGDF is launching a new, fully-accessible website, which is now ready to go live.
• EGDF is effective with campaigning and active within social media. Board member Sean Dilley, a professional journalist, is proficient in delivering the EGDF message through short stories and videos. 

David Adams invited conference delegates to let him know about any access problems, as he will take them on.   He explained that the more we achieve, the more people turn to us.

He told the story of an airline which prevented two guide dogs from travelling on the same flight.  In contrast, Ryanair had allowed four guide dogs on one flight to come to this conference.  

“Ryanair today has allowed 4 guide dogs on one flight to come to this conference.  That’s a triumph, a landmark.”

David Adams