Changing the lives of adults

Our new centres will enable us to provide tailored support to more people and their families who desperately need help adjusting to living with sight loss. The new facilities will enable more training, such as learning practical skills and tips to make everyday activities easier to manage, utilising technology, and using a white cane to navigate around, providing people with the confidence to get out and about.

And, as our centres bring together both our life skills services and our canine services, we'll be able to create more vital guide dog partnerships and My Sighted Guide partnerships, where a person with sight loss is matched with a volunteer who helps them get out and re-engage in their local community. We'll also be able to expand our companion dogs services, to provide a canine friend into the lives of adults living with sight loss to reduce isolation, loneliness and increase confidence. 

Building more partnerships and transforming lives

Currently, we are supporting over 4,950 people in the UK who have had their lives positively changed through the partnership with a guide dog. A truly life-changing partnership that lasts up to eight years. Not only do our iconic dogs provide mobility and independence to people with sight loss, but they also give them the confidence to pursue their ambitions and live the lives they choose.

Our new centres will include flexible indoor and outdoor spaces and the facilities to implement our improved guide dog training method called Standardised Training for Excellent Partnerships (STEP). This will enable us to train our guide dogs more quickly and increases success rates for guide dogs and their owners. This means more people will benefit from a life-changing guide dog partnership.

Bhavini and Colin

Bhavini began losing her sight after developing retinitis pigmentosa aged 17, which was devastating. She cancelled her plans to go to university and didn’t want anyone to know what was happening to her. 

A rehabilitation officer encouraged Bhavini to sign up for evening classes at college, and she moved to east London after she got married. Learning to live in a bigger city was a big adjustment, so she started using a long cane to help her get around. But a new job requiring regular travel across central London on public transport convinced Bhavini to apply for a guide dog as she was nervous travelling alone. When she was partnered with Colin in 2018, Bhavini developed the confidence to travel independently without relying on others. 

She says: “My partnership with Colin is absolutely brilliant. He’s given me so much independence, and we don’t go anywhere without each other.

“Before having Colin, simple things like booking a hairdresser appointment were so difficult as I would have to wait for my husband to take me, and we would have to bring our young children. Now, Colin and I can just get on the bus, go to the shopping centre and find the hairdressers completely stress-free.”
 
“I also used to panic about picking my children up from school. Trying to navigate many obstacles on the street and, with other children leaving the local schools, was hard work. Now it feels like a weight has been lifted. I can pick up my daughter without the stress. I can get my coat, slip on Colin’s harness and just go.”

Get in touch to help people like Bhavini on 0800 953 0113 or email major.relationships@guidedogs.org.uk

Forming invaluable friendships within the community

Guide Dogs train volunteers to become sighted guides, then match them in their local area to people with sight loss, so they can help individuals take part in their community.

The service is tailored to an individual's needs, from a short-term match to gain confidence on a specific route, to developing a rapport with the volunteer and enabling the person with sight loss to get to activities or events that they enjoy.

This invaluable service builds trust and helps people with sight loss reconnect with their local community. Our new centres will enable us to grow and train our My Sighted Guide volunteer base, matching more people and helping reduce isolation and loneliness for those living with sight loss.

Suzanne, who is registered as severely sight impaired, heard about My Sighted Guide when she first moved to Exeter and decided it was a great idea as she didn’t know anyone in the area.

Suzanne was matched to volunteer Jan through a Guide Dogs staff member, and they hit it off straight away thanks to their common interests. They would go to the cinema, to cafes and go walking to the shops. Suzanne said, “We used to go out every week, and it helped me familiarise myself with the local area and get to know where things were. Jan was really good at describing things to me so I could get a sense of what was around me.”  

Suzanne has since been matched with guide dog Alice, but she credits the help she received from Jan in helping her get to know the local area and build the confidence to get out and about. The pair remain good friends and still meet up regularly.