Re: Are Blind People in the UK being Ignored
Okay to answer a few questions here.
firstly Yes, as Dardar said, the UK has plenty of equality laws, and legally a blind person can't be banned using mobility aides everywhere.
the problem however is that either the laws are not recognised by certain people/organisations, or a lot of people or organisations them very much in their own way.
for example, legally a blind person is allowed to take a guide dog anywhere, however I recall one resteraunt owner who anyone with a guide dog sit outside.
the problem I think comes from the fact whilst legal representation in the UK is fine (David Blunket has already been mentiond), visibility of blind people is still rather low, meaning that people who haven't encountered blind people before far more often assume blind people are less than competant.
I recall one university disability service once telling me straight out "disabled people are not the best judges of what they can and can't do."
On a practical level, this is because the UK has had a history of blind institutionalisation, from asylums (yes they were called that), in the 19th century, going up to coleges for the blind, to straight out institutionalised job training, ----- when my mum qualified she was literally told "typing, telephony, or physio therapy" and that was in the fifties.
That being said, soem services setup in the UK are very good, EG you can get disabled assistance on any UK Railway just by booking in advance, and someone will meet you and show you either to the next station or a taxi rank (handy for stations/journeys you don't know).
so short answer, legally the UK is probably on par with germany, the US and most countries in terms of equality, however socially and attitudinally the case might be different, there was a rather serious WHO study in 2017 which pointed out as much.
Of course, it also depends upon the person, self advocacy, the part of the country etc, though in general people in the UK tend to be less extravert than in other countries, which can make socialisation rather difficult since people don't want to talk to the weird blind person less.
In terms of hospitals and canes, I'm afraid that sounds like the sort of institution not knowing the law and playing god, and also complete ignorance.
my mum has worked as a physio for 40 years, used a cane for the first 15, and a dog for the last 25 or so, and indeed training the dogs to get around walking frames etc was a major part of her training.
Myself, I've spent a lot of time in hospitals, both when I was 7 (I lived hospital for literally four months after my haemorrhage), and these days.
Indeed, Mrs. Dark and I have had to go to hospital literally a few times a week, and next year will need to every day for six weeks.
I of course take reever, or at least she takes me. On the occasion Reever was ill, I took my cane, and wouldn't have been without it, indeed at that point since (it being the chemo therapy unit), I couldn't use the loo on the unit, I damn well needed my cane since I wouldn't have wanted to ask someone every time I needed the loo .
Indeed, given how complicated hospitals are not! Having a cane would strike me ass far more dangerous.
Unfortunately, again sounds to me very much like a case of an institution not knowing either the law, or about blind people, which is a rather sad consequence of the lack of visibility of blind people in the UK, something which the RNIB acitvely contribute to wit their twee adverts and almost exclusive focus upon elderly people.
as to Brexit, I don't think myself it will effect the status of blind people specifically, indeed at this stage, given all the negotiation, I suspect we'll end up with soem sor t of compromised solution which looks enough like brexit to satisfy one side, but retains links with the EU anyway, after all.
remember, the media are really good at scare mongering as has already been said. Personally, I hope we can get brexit done so the idiots in parliament can stop bickering and actually get to doing their job properly, and making decisions that matter, though of course that might be a tall order.
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