Hi Kara.
Fair enough and I appreciate the appology. I should have some access news
about another game on friday which came from a discussion with an Indi
developer however he himself has asked me to not jump the gun since he wants
to give me some more information.
I do take your point about negativity and access, so in light of that I'll
share a recent experience I had which was extremely! positive.
One thing I have noticed is that certain Muslims have a real issue with
Guide dogs on religious grounds. While this is by no means universal, indeed
most Muslims I encounter have no problem at all, (heck the shop where I
regularly buy milk and other necessities a couple of times a week is owned
by a Muslim chap), whe it comes up it can cause quite a lot of trouble with
plane access. My mum for example during a visit to London was told in a shop
in London to leave. When she tried to point out that access for guide dogs
was part of British Law and showed her certificate, the shop keeperr was
adamant that this did not matter, that it was part of his religion to not
allow dogs, that dogs were dirty. He was not offensive or threatening, but
he was nevertheless absolutely adamant that my mum was not permitted in his
shop, ---- a general supermarkit. Then she had a similar experience with a
taxi driver.
since this is by no means universal and since I know for certain there are
Muslim guide dog owners, (indeed there might well be some on this list), I
decided to investigate the situation and phoned the British counsel on
Sharia islamic Law.
The counsel were absolutely fantastic to deal with. It turns out (and any
Muslims on list feel free to correct me), that while there is indeed a rule
in the Koran about dogs being unclean, there is at the same time an
allowance made for dogs as working animals. Thus sheep dogs, guard dogs or
indeed guide dogs are quite okay under Muslim religious law, ---- indeed the
man I spoke to at the counsel accused those Muslims who'd been hostile to
access with a guide dog of ignorance of Islamic doctrin, as well as being in
the wrong from a muslim perspective for going against British law.
They then put me in touch with one of their top experts in Islamic law, who
wrote me a note sighting the correct bits of the Koran with his own
cridentials as an Islamic scholer that I can show if the situation comes up
again, and stated if I told other guide dog users he and the counsel would
be willing to write similar information, ---- indeed I suggested to the
Guide Dogs association that something of the sort be included in the usual
small card about the legal permission of guide dogs which I, and other guide
dog owners in Britain usually carry around.
This I was really pleased about, indeed as I said I was most impressed with
the Sharia counsel's attitude, particularly since I did wonder, with this
being a matter of religious doctrin just how far I'd get with this.
So, there is one example of a recent positive occasion of access
advocacy, ---- just to prove that not everything is so grim :D.
Of course, it all comes down to people and how reasonable people are
prepared to be.
Beware the Grue!
DArk.
---
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