Where the king can only sometimes enter through barriers

(In fact, in Hungarian we even jokingly refer to the toilet as ‘the place even the king goes to on foot.)

A handicapped WC, a wheelchair accessible toilet, and sometimes – increasingly – a barrier-free toilet. This is what the signs say. How does a disabled toilet become a disabled, how should this be imagined? – my autistic mind jokes with me every time I see or hear this term, and it already lists the most absurd images, ticking off the generative artificial intelligences.
Actually, the correct name for these rooms is accessible toilets. In fact, there are places in the world where they are called available, emergency toilets.
Here in Hungary, this is usually where the changing room is located, and the same room is often offered for breastfeeding, as a baby-mother room.

Its inappropriate alternative uses: warehouse, small office, staff lounge, changing room… I’m doubly angry about these. Why double?
Who wants to store their belongings, have lunch, coffee and administration in a toilet when they have other options?
And likewise: who wants to go to the toilet in an office/changing room/dining room, after a long wait to unload the obstructing swivel chair, cardboard boxes, cleaning equipment, huge cleaning machine, anything else that could be an accident hazard…?
Even so, such grotesque situations occur countless times!

But even if everything is fine inside, there may be other obstacles to entry. These toilets are usually locked with a key, which means that you can’t just walk in, but have to call for outside help, either by ringing a bell, or by phone, or in person. The keeper of the keys is either available or not. Either he comes quickly, or you have to wait a long time, or he doesn’t come at all, and then you’re in big trouble.
If the person in charge turns up early, there is still the unpleasant possibility that the person is not properly informed and will act as a kind of inspector, deciding whether or not you are entitled to use the toilet, whether or not your personal assistant or guide dog can enter with you.

I have had unpleasant moments, even when using a support stick. The most interesting was when the staff member offered to open the accessible toilet for me, as all the others were in use – if I’m not ashamed, I don’t mind “it”. I joked about it, but I really wondered: would it be shameful, embarrassing to use the toilet in dignified, safe conditions? No, but too often it involves unpleasant interludes, awkward moments.
Sometimes, unfortunately, with explicit violations of rights: recently, my fellow members have suffered serious violations because of a lack of information, an inappropriate attitude.

Interesting fact:
Several organisations around the world offer keys, sometimes literally. The user has to prove his status to the company and, after paying an annual membership fee, he receives a special key that can be used to open all the toilets in the network, even in several countries. No need to look for money or cards, no need to wait for a man with a key, no need to be afraid of unpleasant situations or people.
In Paris and Japan, for example, anyone can use the barrier-free toilets, they are not locked and they are free of charge.
These solutions are not yet available in Hungary.

Fortunately, it’s not all dark and terrible, but it’s a major deterrent for me and an almost constant source of anxiety for those who can’t go to a ‘traditional’ toilet.
Even among my disabled acquaintances there are those who have a healthy point of view: if you don’t seem to have a problem, you have no business being there, shame on you! I mean: they would send me away too, who could use a strong reason for several reasons. And I’m already thinking: if I’m well, I won’t use it unless I really have to. I’ve internalised this nicely too – that is, it’s become part of my thinking, part of my behaviour – so that I feel guilty for not looking disabled or just being better than usual.

So then, who’s actually allowed to use the accessible toilet?

In an ideal society, a barrier-free toilet is available to anyone who feels that they can do their business safely in a specially designed room.

This means that, in addition to people with mobility impairments, for example, people who seem to be great at moving, but when it comes to sitting down or standing up, turning around in tight spaces, making movements – they are less able for whatever reason.

Or the visually impaired: these rooms have a roughly uniform interior design, making it easier to find what’s where and not hurting users when navigating. If you have a guide dog or other assistance dog, they can fit in here too. (Yes, they can go in, and should go in with the owner. These specially trained dogs are not muzzled, but wear a special harness.)

It can also be useful for pregnant women.

These rooms should have a larger bin, especially as they are usually also changing rooms. People with a stoma can empty and change the bag more easily here. The catheter can be emptied more conveniently and hygienically.
The larger bin also fits used adult incontinence products.

Is there somewhere to inject the insulin or other injectable medication? Yes, there should be a room for this in the accessible toilet. (However, they do not have a hazardous waste container, so the user has to take the needle etc. with them and put it in a suitable place in a suitable container.)

You could use it if you have a problem that you can’t wait for the occasional long line, such as IBD, Crohn’s, urge incontinence, or if you “just” had a problem with your sandwich.

Accessible toilets would also be a good idea, if:

You’re sensory over-sensitive, so you can’t stand the constant door slamming, the hand dryer screaming… or you have some other condition that makes using the communal toilet a nightmare instead of a relief.

You are likely to be unwell or require assistance: this toilet has an alarm. (Difficulties: the alarm does not work or the staff do not know what the beep is, where it is coming from and what to do.)

You have an immune condition that makes it not good to be around too many people: these toilets are less used and they are usually more careful to clean. And in case of a problem, you can disinfect it yourself more easily.

Traditional small, narrow cabins are not big enough, you can’t move freely in them (whether because of your size, you have a mobility problem or you don’t like the “walls” touching you)

You have a temporary condition that requires: using two crutches or braces, an injury that is invisible to others and prevents you from moving (even a surgical scar that is healing, a broken rib), or a balance problem…

If you are with a baby or pushchair and there is no dedicated toilet available.

Last but not least, one very important thing: if you need a personal assistant!
It doesn’t matter what your mobility status is, what your relationship is with the person, or what gender they are. Nor is it an argument that “but they didn’t need a helper before”. There are ups and downs: one day you help, the next day you get help. In order for a personal helper to help you, they have to be there with you, inside. Neither one of you has to justify the other’s presence or intention to enter.

To top it off, the really super rooms have adult-sized (fold-down) surfaces for changing nappies and even showers and hazardous waste bins. And in the ultra-supers, there’s a patient-moving lift.

Because of what I and my fellow members of the People First Association have experienced, I have only one place in the whole country where I regularly and willingly use the accessible toilets. This place is the I Love Pécs Café in Pécs, where I often go for a good chat, a refreshing or warming drink, and I have even had the opportunity to have an online conference call here. Here you know what’s for who, no awkward communication, no weird looks, no cleaning things to get around and it’s only closed when it’s busy. Then I can wait in comfort.

Anyway, if there is no stroller space or a properly designed cubicle, I hurt myself, the stimuli make me feel terrible – in fact, I often start by cleaning, but that’s a user-side problem. And I even pay for it.

I’d be much happier if I could expand my “feel-free to come here” list! I hope that with this writing we are getting closer to that goal.

❗️Let us know your experiences with accessible toilets in a comment!

Written by Hilda Kerekes

This Why? is a bit more for Hungarian speakers, as we are discussing Hungarian terms of disability. But it can also be exciting to follow the changes in Hungary as a foreigner. Is it just Hungarian or is it a general phenomenon? We look forward to your comments below.

I could ask the question “what shall I call you”, if I want to quote our great poet Petőfi.

First, a little about the naming conventions we currently use.
There are two terms we use for disability in Hungary today: perhaps the most accepted is person living with disability. Why? Because it expresses that I have a disability – in my case a visual impairment – that is not part of my personality, but that I live with.
The other most commonly used term is a disabled person, which is used in legislation, literature and official places.
I fully agree with those experts who take the view that the two terms most commonly used today should be used in conjunction with the words “person”.

Previously, the word disabled was used quite naturally. Opinions are very divided on whether this is offensive or not. What is certain is that nowadays the word is used by many people as a abusive word, and has unfortunately become a kind of slang.

In general, the term injured is often used, but I think it is appropriate when used in conjunction with the type of disability, such as mobility impaired, visually impaired, hearing impaired. In itself, ‘injured’ can strengthens a damaged consciousness. Or it may not indicate an existing disability, but a temporary injury following an accident. In this way, a bruise or cut is also an injury.

The starting point however, is the use of now socially unacceptable terms such as stupid, crazy, cripple or idiot. Indeed, in the 19th century, these were common everyday and technical terms!
Stupid was the word for dumb, and then the word was applied to the mentally handicapped, but not in a pejorative sense, simply as a term. The same goes for idiot, used for people who didn’t understand social rules because they had a lower level of intelligence. And cripple was a general term for the physically handicapped.
The first institution for the mentally handicapped opened its doors in 1875 in Hungary in  Rákospalota under the name of “The First Hungarian Institute for the Education and Care of the Stupid”.
And in the early 1800s, a “public madhouse” was founded, which, according to the custom of the time, excluded disabled people from society and locked them up in institutions.
Another noteworthy term from József Roboz is the “weakly able”, which he mentions as a title in the first textbook he wrote on the concept of differentiated education.

Disease or condition? The question is a very good one, because I think disability is a condition that is either congenital or acquired later, i.e. it has been around for a certain period of time. In fact, it is usually the result of a disease, which is why I think the word ‘condition’ is more appropriate for disability.

There are also many different names for the types of disability. Each type of disability can be divided into several subgroups in order to distinguish the degree of disability. But it’s very much up to the individual person with a disability to decide which one they feel is their own, or which one is offensive to them. For example, I belong to the blind subgroup of the visually impaired, but I prefer to be called visually impaired. It’s worth remembering that we don’t need to know how much a visually impaired person can or cannot see, or how disabled a disabled person is, whether they are in a wheelchair or use a cane. It is therefore easiest to use the generic terms for a particular group of disabilities, to avoid awkward situations.

Why are names important? The most important thing is to always be respectful and to always respect the human dignity of the person concerned when referring to people with disabilities. Not just in their presence.

And back to the basic question, why do we have to keep changing the terms?
The main reason I think is, that society is constantly picking up on the technical terms originally used for people with disabilities. And they start to use it in hurtful, pejorative terms – mostly by able-bodied people to each other. It’s especially common for young people to call each other ‘disabled’ if someone doesn’t understand something the first time, or simply to insult or belittle. The same change has happened to our words ‘stupid’, ‘lame’, ‘cripple’, ‘crazy’, etc.
And people with disabilities themselves, and the profession dealing with them, now have to come up with particularly complex, unremarkable and strange ways of putting a name to what was and is a simple, understandable name.
Isn’t that crazy too?? Instead of fleeing forward, we should be educating society in kindergarten, school, family and everywhere. So that they stop throwing around words about people with disabilities, their condition, when they want to insult someone.

Written by Evelin Almádi and Veronika Pataki, also based on Panna Kaszás’ university thesis

In this WHY?, we make a small exception, since we are not writing about people with disabilities.
Or is it? Decide for yourselves by the time you get to the end.

You know that accessibility is important for a very wide target group, including the elderly. Thus, we share our lot and share a common goal in many things. This article is therefore about the elderly.

We often hear at bus stops, on buses, trains, on any means of transport: “why do the elderly push so hard when they take off?”, “why do they travel during rush hour, they don’t get there at other times?”.
Let’s think about this a little bit through with a story of my own, following the few days of my 85-year-old lively mother with hip replacement.

Let’s first look at that particular “push”, i.e. why do older people try to get on vehicles first? You wouldn’t think so, but there is a very practical, well-thought-out reason.
As soon as they board, they must sit down immediately – so you don’t sit in the front seats, but to move back in the bus! The bus drivers don’t wait, even if they could, they start immediately, at high throttle, and if the old man hasn’t managed to sit down yet, it will be a big fall. Understandably, at 85, they are no longer blessed with lightning-fast reflexes and rock-hard muscles. And the fall at this age can even be fatal.
The same when getting off the bus. You don’t have to be angry if they get out the front door – where you want to get on – because there’s no time or opportunity getting to the next door with great difficulty. Bus drivers are still ignoring them.
…………there are countries where it does, such as London, which is much busier than Pécs. Now what can I say to that? 🙁

Come the hated “witch-tank”. (Unfortunately, in Hungary this is the common name for the shopping bag on wheels, which is usually used by elderly aunts.) The very name is insulting. Honestly, if it weren’t for this hostile, contemptuous vibe about this handy rolling bag, I’d buy one too. And that’s what I’d be shopping with, not dragging my shoulders with all sorts of amorphous bags.

You wouldn’t think of this either, but the rolling bag has a very important function. It is also a support, a stable stick for the elderly person.
On the one hand, they really couldn’t stand flour and potatoes in a hand-held or shoulder-hanging bag. On the other hand, they take it with them many, many times, as safety. Because of this bus driver style(lessness), this is a reliable support when they need to get up well before the bus stop. On the street, support comes in handy even in case of a swaying or dizziness. The stable and practical rolling bag also serves as an excellent support when climbing stairs.

That’s the secret.

And now a few words about how to help an elderly person correctly?
– The basic rule here is to ask if they need help, e.g. when boarding or getting off the bus, or if they are standing out of breath in the middle of the pavement.

– Let the elderly get on the bus first, now you know why.

– Don’t sit down on one of the front seats, leave them free for those who really need to get to safety as soon as possible. Walk back in the bus and find yourself a seat.

– Do not immerse yourself in your phone sitting on the bus, saying, then everyone will solve their own problem, the main thing is that you are sitting. You can stand a few stops, at 85 years old you can’t do that anymore.

– Please don’t roll your eyes, don’t make faces, and especially don’t speak up, as mentioned at the beginning of this article. The old man feels, sees, hears this. Not only does he have to face the fact that he can no longer do many things in old age, he is deeply offended for it. Tragic social attitude.

Always think: you will also be old and you will get back what you give now!

Written by Veronika Pataki

“I’ll catch a bus and I’m there” – but it’s almost never that easy. Especially if you bring your own chair or are a stroller driver.

So:
you catch a bus. You check the timetable, buy your ticket, go to the bus stop and hop on. If there’s a seat, you sit down, if not, you stand. Sometimes you’ll stand on my spot, which is fine if I don’t need it. You signal, you get off. On a crowded bus, of course, it’s all a bit more difficult.

I figure out where I want to go. I have to look for a stop I can get to with my wheelchair. I check the website/app to see when there’s an accessible bus on that line and hope that there really is one. Not always.

Oops: even when I ask the service provider in advance to send me an accessible bus at such-and-such a time, mistakes can happen: despite all the phone calls, e-mails and confirmations, the right vehicle does not arrive. Then all my plans fail. 

But now there is a good bus stop, the right kind of a bus just arrived, we are ready to go! The bus driver gets out, pushes down the ramp for me, helps me roll up if I need it. I maneuver myself to my place, put on the brakes, buckle myself in or the bus driver will help me. Ramp up, driver behind the wheel. When I get off, same thing in reverse. 

Nice plan, except there’s the ’oops’ factor: 

Oops! The bus is full and you’re in my spot. Then, if possible, the other passengers should move over. If not, or if the number of wheelchairs on that bus is already full, I’m stuck while others can still get on – and squeeze into my designated place as third. 
This can become an extreme adventure in the heat, rain and cold, because my body works differently! 

Oops! The bus driver is not well informed and refuses to let me on because he says my electric wheelchair is a scooter and you are not allowed to get on with a scooter. They might be not aware of my limitations and causing physical injury because they don’t know that I can’t feel, move my legs or hands or have difficulty moving them. 

Oops! My fellow passenger is not paying attention and they cause me injury or damage to my wheelchair. The wheelchair that allows me to get around. Which is not easy or cheap to fix. When was the last time you got stuck between four walls because someone stepped on your foot? 

There are many standing places and seats on a bus, but spots for wheelchairs, if any, are limited to one, rarely two. I can’t move back or in, stand and hold on, while for able-bodied people it’s much easier and it’s easier to move suitcases, trolleys, saplings from the place reserved for me than to put me on the hat rack! 

Much the same applies to prams, the pram is also the safe seat for the small passenger, with its own brakes and seat belt, and staff who, although get on easier, sometimes they need help too! 

Then there are the walker users (a kind of rolling walking frame, with brakes, seat, sometimes a basket), who can’t suddenly put the walker in their pockets or travel standing up and holding on to the handrails. Sometimes they also strap themselves into the wheelchair spot if they have no better option. 

We, wheelies: wheelchair users, walker users, pram drivers, ask you to take care when we come along and help us to get on and off the bus as easily, safely and quickly as possible, to take our seats – so that there are no more “oops”-es!

Written by Hilda Kerekes

And let’s add, they get off last. Moreover, not only wheelchair users, but also the elderly, families with children and people with reduced mobility have the opportunity to get into the plane about 10-15 minutes in front of everyone. Annoying, not understandable? Let’s look at the WHY?: 

Air transportation, contrary to the information of the companies, has never been, and to this day it is not accessible, for the ones in need. The space constraints, which are typical of a passenger plane, significantly limit any full accessibility, but since the companies’ profits would be significantly affected by the creation of possible extra spaces, they were not even interested in it.  

Traveling in a wheelchair is a multi-level challenge. When you get into the plane, you lose control of your most important aid, you don’t know how it’s going to be handled, what’s going to go wrong with it, will it arrive at the next stop at all?! Airlines have only limited liability for checked medical equipment, with the maximum compensation set at the same amount as for other baggage. The price of a complex wheelchair can be up to several million HUF, but if it is lost or damaged, the compensation is only possible up to a maximum of HUF 600,000, of course, this is also only after playing several heavyweight arm-wrestle matches.

How does a boarding happen if you use your own wheelchair? It is not up to the airlines to help with this, airports employ specialized companies to assist passengers in need. Thus, the standard of service varies from airport to airport. Budapest Airport has particularly good reviews in this regard. 

You can’t travel on the plane in your own wheelchair. When boarding, a wheelchair specially adapted to the size of the plane is brought and the passenger must be transferred to it or lifted with assistance. If he or she needs to be lifted, the passenger is fastened with several straps to the chair, similar to Hannibal Lechter from the movie The Silence of the Lambs, in fact, only the muzzle is missing from the whole picture.  

Why are we getting in the first place? Not primarily to protect ourselves from the embarrassment of various awkward postures. But most importantly, the helpers have to pull the special chair that just fits in the corridor of the plane, just as they pushed it in, out of the plane, which is not possible with hundreds of people standing behind them in a narrow space where they, too, can barely fit. Well that’s it!

There are also cases when you travel somewhere with several connections, and due to the tight time at the transfer, you can’t reach the gate at least a quarter of an hour before boarding. In this case, the passenger in a wheelchair is the last to board.  

And when you get off, it plays backwards. The wheelchair passenger is the last to leave the plane, often after long minutes and sometimes up to three-quarters of an hour after everyone else. Unfortunately, the post-Covid labor shortage is also noticeable at airports, so there is not enough staff to serve the suddenly increased number of passengers and you have to wait. 

In summary, you can fly and should fly with disabilities, and anyone who was once struck by the smell of kerosene will travel as long as they can, but we must always be prepared, know the process, as well as our rights if anything happens during the trip. 

Thanks to our highly experienced association member Zoltán Borsodi for the description!

Trolley or wheelchair? Most people think it doesn’t matter, because both are used by people who cannot walk. As a result, the choice of words is inconstant, causing a huge confusion in experts and in the people who use such equipment.

Considering, a trolley is something that needs to be pushed. It is a medical equipment, which cannot be used alone. The person sitting in one needs to be pushed by someone, this way handling certain situations is much easier and faster for the nurse. They are mostly seen in health care institutions, especially in american hospital series, where everyone is being pushed around in these, even if they are able to walk. You could also see trollies at airports, my mother was put in one as well, when she tried to communicate in hungarian in Switzerland. They asked her to sit in a trolley and pushed her to the correct gate, it was much more simple.

A wheelchair however, presumes activity, dare I say, it allows our main goal, independent living. They are used anywhere by the disabled in favor of their transport and access: when working, hiking, doing sports, taking a bus, going to the cinema, anywhere…. It is certainly smaller than a trolley. They could be moved by hand, motorized device can be put in front of it, or it could also be electronic, which however is a very heavy phenomena, approximately 100 kilos. There’s no need to push them by hand though, they have engines and they could be operated by various methods, even by our heads.

There is a separate category for the madcap people, who practice sports actively, so they have a special sports wheelchair. With these they can even play rugby, basketball or ride bikes – at a very high level.

 All in all: a trolley presumes passivity. If you use this expression instead of a wheelchair, it is hurtful for the disabled who don’t live passively at all.

Wheelchairs are necessities for an active life, when due to disabilities you cannot run around on both legs, but you still live your life just like anyone else.

Written by Veronika Pataki

Did you know that the sign languages used by people with hearing loss in England, Germany or Hungary are all different? In other words, deaf people in Japan, Hungary, Finnland, or the US use different signs. In addition, there is an international sign language, called Gestuno language, although, just like Esperanto, it is slow to spread. Moreover, sign languages also have dialects: in Hungary only, we distinguish a total of 7 dialects. There are language families, with different word order and grammar. And most surprisingly, there is sign language slang!

At first glance, all of this makes just about as much sense as having der/die/das in German: people simply chose to complicate their lives. But, in fact, these national sign languages have developed naturally, just like spoken languages and we have no explanation for this Babylonian Chaos.

A common basis for all sign languages is expressing an event through movement, somebody’s characteristic movement, or shape (e.g.: stir, boat, cradle, rock, be born, give birth). You also probably didn’t know that expressions used in sign languages are simplified, for example, a sentence such as ‘Tomorrow I will go to the shops and buy bread and milk.’ would sound something like this: ‘Tomorrow will go shop buy bread milk.’

Let’s not forget though that sign languages have some important rules too: you must be accurate in showing the sign, and gestures, facial expressions as well as posture are important parts of communication.

For better communication, people often articulate silently while signing. But even this needs to be done with care, the speaker needs to articulate more slowly than usual, without over-articulating, and can only use it to accompany signing.

And one more thing to remember: we sign, we do not gesticulate!

Written by Veronika Pataki, professionally supervised by Krisztina Koltai

The so called „quiet hours”, better known as Autism Hours is a movement, to provide autism-friendly shopping experience and promotes the acceptance of autistics. There are also more and more autism-friendly events arranged, like concerts, theater performances, movie screenings. Some of the main appeals are dimmed lights, toned down music and audible warnings (if there are any) in order to reduce sensory input, what is quite desirable for the target audience: autistics, their loved ones, their caretakers.

Many autistics have sensory processing differences: our senses have to take in everything, what is visible, audible, touchable, or can be tasted, smelt, without a filter – we are on a concert of senses with the maximum volume on, each and every day. Moreover, there are also a bunch of unexpected events: someome touches you, comes very close to you, seeking or even forcing eyecontact while talking to you, the annoying music is interrupted with messages to the customers or the employees. A baby starts to cry, than another… some terrifyingly loud phones, bells are ringing beside the beeps of scanners, cash registers. At the self-checkout, someone did something incorrectly, so this machine also goes off with beeps, lights, etc…

Did you ever shop like an autistic? Have a try, here is a great visual thanks to the YouTube user „streamofawareness”: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcS2VUoe12M    

Horrible quality, isn`t it? The hurricane of sounds, the brittled image… All of this is on purpose: it is a very good simulation of what an autistic person has to endure now and then, for example when shopping. To do the usually easy-peasy grocery round with an overloaded nervous system is actually a very hard job, so we often decide to interrupt our shopping/partaking in an event and we flee on our own or with assistance…

For similar reasons, a walk in a zoo, going to a concert, to watch a movie or to wait in different institutions can give a hard time for us. There are other obstacles autistics and their assistance have to overcome in this noisy, confusing non-autistic world: our behaviours, reactions differ from the usual, the typical and at the same time many misconceptions about autism are out there – this is often generating fear, because of this we, our chaperon might get insulted, even assaulted.

Autism Hours make these events, experiences enjoyable or at least less uncomfortable to autistics, and promotes autism acceptance. We won`t get gawked on when we avoid eyecontact or are wearing hearing protection, tinted glasses, or might behave autipycally, for instance when we are rocking, making sounds, flap our hands. With the help of a properly trained staff, even an overload or a meltdown can be easier to deal with: they can call our chaperon or they can walk us to a safe place.

An interesting side effect of Autism Hours is, that not only autistics are enjoying the concept and the opportunity of a silent event.

Want to know more about autism? Check out these links:

www.facebook.com/autisticnotweird/

http://autisticnotweird.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bk0GbW8xgvTgQlheNG5uw

https://www.autism.org.uk

www.autisticadvocacy.org

Thanks to our association member “Anthea Aspie” for the sensual description!

Did you know, that assistance dogs can diverse, they not only guide visually impaired people? They can also help for mobility-impaired in everyday life, indicate sound for hearing impaired, indicate epileptic or other seizures, but it exist personal assistant dog to help in independent living, and therapy dog who is involved in pedagogical or psychiatric rehabilitation. You need to know that not only the dogs, but also their owners have undergone a hard training and even taken an exam.

The owners of these intelligent dogs can enter anywhere with them lawfully. Yes, anywhere. Although some workers of institutions or even disabled people don’t know exactly the relevant legislation. Most of the false complains or even relegations come from catering units, shops, playgrounds or markets. In these cases they either don’t let the disabled person go in with his dog – but he can’t get by without him- or they make him put a muzzle on the dog. As the above list shows, this way the dog wouldn’t be able to help his owner.  How could he warn the owner about danger if it can’t bark? How could he bring it’s owner an important device if it can’t open it’s mouth? 

And it’s something like again that isn’t a potential, a possibility, it is a must to be provided. The Hungarian Equal Rights Authority takes these offenses as discrimination complaints and begins the administrative procedure against the institution, the operator. 

The law enumerates examples of places where people can bring their assistance dogs (e.g. public transport, shops, supermarkets, catering units, malls, markets, accommodations, playgrounds, public institutions, child institutions.) However, people with disabilities can also enter ALL THE OTHER PLACES with his guide dog which aren’t mentioned in the law. He DOESN’T HAVE TO PUT A MUZZLE on the dog, but he needs to show a distinctive sign on the dog and also the logo of the dog’s training organization. The assistance dog can only be banned from the area if it is endangering others physical safety. Although let’s just say it, this would be very rare in the case of a trained guide dog. 

It’s important to know that the assistance dog is working with it’s owner so however cute or pretty it is it cannot be petted and we shouldn’t take it as an insult if the owner doesn’t let it either.  If we did, we would distract the dog and endanger the safety of the disabled owner. The case is the same when it comes to giving food to the dog. It can only be fed by it’s owner, therefore don’t offer food don’t tempt him. 

Relevant Hungarian legislation:

A segítő kutyák gazdáinak jogait és kötelezettségeit a fogyatékos személyek jogairól és esélyegyenlőségük biztosításáról szóló 1998. évi XXVI. törvény. 

A segítő kutya kiképzésének, vizsgáztatásának és alkalmazhatóságának szabályairól szóló 27/2009. (XII. 3.) SZMM rendelet 

Written by Veronika Pataki. Thanks to Evelin Almádi for your additional thoughts!

Many people know about Braille writing, that it is a writing system consisting of point combinations, and it can be read by touch by visually impaired people. It was developed by Louis Braille, based on 6 points just like the dice.

But it is probably not known that there are separate Braille alphabets for German, English etc.. You probably didn’t know either, that we can display not just letters, but numbers and symbols used in maths, physics, and chemistry, IT signs, sheet music etc.

It is also interesting, that we distinguish full writing, where each braille letter is displayed, and brief writing, where we write the text in abbreviated form.

It is clear, that such a smart system is modern and relevant even in the XXI. century. Braille writing is not only a paper based system but Braille is also available on computers, smart phones, etc..  Braille display is still available if the phone or laptop is not there, or if the battery is flat.

It is also important, that the tactile writing system is the only possibility for blind or visually impaired people to experience INDEPENDENT reading, which is in no way equal to a text read by a speech synthesizer or by another person.

Source: https://jovokilatasai.mvgyosz.hu/

Written by Veronika Pataki