[nagdu] Palm wasn't the first Guide Dog for the Blind to be trapped by SkyTrain

Jewel S. herekittykat2 at gmail.com
Thu Oct 14 18:04:40 UTC 2010


The sensors definitely need to be up'd in sensitivity. I seem to
recall that the Metro doors in D.C. wouldn't close if there was
someone standing right in front of it. Why don't these SkyTrain's have
something like that? The Metro doors can be annoying, but they have
allowed for safety, too!

On 10/14/10, Ginger Kutsch <gingerKutsch at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Palm wasn't the first Guide Dog for the Blind to be trapped by
> SkyTrain
>  By Kim Pemberton 13 Oct 2010
> http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/puppylove/archiv
> e/2010/10/13/palm-wasn-t-the-first-guide-dog-for-the-blind-to-be-
> trapped-by-skytrain.aspx
> Two weeks ago a horrific accident happened at the Lougheed
> SkyTrain station in Burnaby when Iris Thompson, who is blind, was
> separated from her guide dog Palm, a five-year-old yellow
> Labrador, who was trapped by her leash outside the SkyTrain then
> dragged along the moving vehicle until she hit a metal pole and
> fell onto the tracks suffering serious injuries. SkyTrain
> officials told the media this was the first incident of its kind
> in the 24-year history of SkyTrain. But it turns out that  isn't
> quite correct.
>
> Another service dog for the blind, named Arden, was separated
> from his owner Bruce Gilmour,  and trapped outside a train at the
> Broadway SkyTrain station. Like Thompson Gilmour, who is blind,
> was left helplessly holding his dog's leash on the other side of
> the automatic sliding doors. Luckily for Arden,  a Golden
> Retriever, fellow passengers responded to Gilmour's request for
> help and somehow managed to pry the doors open in time before the
> train took off saving Arden from a similar fate to Palm or worse.
>
> "It was only because of members of the public my dog wasn't
> destroyed. It happened so fast. The dog walked in and stopped. I
> said hop up and it wouldn't go because it couldn't move anywhere.
> There were people on the train and the entrance was clogged with
> luggage. The door cycled closed and opened again then closed. He
> backed off on the platform and the leash is stuck in the doorway.
> The door didn't open again.
>
> "I was in shock. Frightened, telling people I needed help and by
> this point the luggage was moved out of the way and somehow the
> doors were opened," he said.
>
> Gilmour said he was so shaken about the incident, which happend
> in 2006,  he contacted TransLink officials requesting they
> investigate the incident to ensure all that could be done was
> done so this would never happen to another passenger. A
> representative from the California-based Guide Dogs For the
> Blind, where Arden came from, flew up for a meeting with Gilmour
> and TransLink officials. The group visited the station, and went
> through a number of scenarios on what could happen to someone
> with a disability. Gilmour pointed out at that meeting they
> discovered the SkyTrain door sensors wouldn't open if a blind
> person's white cane was stuck in the door, for instance.
>
> "One of our proposals was they increase the sensitivity of the
> door. I was concerned it was going to happen again," he said.
>
> Now that Gilmour's fears that another guide dog would be  injured
> on SkyTrain has happened, he questions how much has the
> technology been adapted for special interest commuter groups,
> such as people with disabilities? He also poses a very valid
> concern about what is  happening "for improving awareness and
> improvements for safety of disabled passengers with a service
> dog" and whether an automated transit system fully respond to
> passengers with disabilities?
>
> Gilmour, by the way, is a friend of Thompson who spoke with her
> earlier this week about her hope Palm will be able to return to
> an active guiding career.
>
> "I sense her frustration right now for she does not have an
> 'advocate.' Guide Dogs for the Blind, Palm and my dog's school,
> are in touch with Iris about how she is feeling and how Palm is
> doing and looking ahead in terms of getting Iris back with a
> working dog - ideally, Palm. However, her accident is two weeks
> old this Thursday and as of this date, SkyTrain has not contacted
> her about determining the facts as much as they can be, about
> what happened (and) improving awareness and improvements for the
> safety of disabled passengers with a service dog,"he said.
>
> My next post will be TransLink's response. An interview with the
> chair of the Access Users Transit Advisory Committee, Rob Sleath,
> who is blind himself and a dog guide user for the past 14 years.
>
>
>  The photos here are of Gilmour and his dog Arden, who
> unfortunately passed away a year after the incident from a tumor.
> Gilmour is now with guide dog Aurora, also a guide dog from Guide
> Dogs for the Blind.
>
>
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-- 
~Jewel
Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com




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