South African Guide-Dogs Association holds graduation ceremony

The encouragement of independence and mobility to the differently abled was the order of the day as the South African Guide-Dogs Association held a graduation ceremony at their premises in Paulshof.

Those who graduated included two autism support dog owners, three guide-dog owners and two brood bitches.

According to the association’s head of marketing, Pieter van Niekerk, the graduation day was to give independence and mobility to differently impaired people.

“Differently abled people are visually impaired, physically impaired and children with autism. So, we as an organisation and all our sponsors came together to change lives.”

He explained that the people who graduated need to embrace their independence since the sky is the limit. “Use your dogs and the independence through the college to the maximum you can, so that you can be the person you always wanted to be.”

Van Niekerk highlighted that the association was in need of donations and encouraged companies and individuals to visit their website for more information.

SA Guide-Dogs’ orientation mobility practitioner, Salome Ntsoelengoe said, “I have been a practitioner for 25 years and my job entails me going out to the community to teach visually impaired people how to be independent.”

She urged community members not to disregard visually impaired people as they are living a life just like everyone else. “We need to allow visually impaired people to live independently among us and we should acknowledge them.”

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