Importância do cão-guia para deficientes visuais através de relatos obtidos no Centro de Treinamento de Cão-Guia do Instituto Magnus no Estado de São Paulo.

Abstract

The guide dog represents a form of assistive therapy used to readapt the visually impaired. It consists of training and use of animals as a guide enabling independence, autonomy, freedom, trust and social inclusion. Thus, due to the relevance and scarcity of works related to the theme, the objective was to study the importance of guide dogs for the visually impaired through reports obtained at visits at the Magnus Institute Dog Training Center between the cities of Sorocaba and Jump from Pirapora - São Paulo. In Brazil, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, there are half a million visually impaired people and, according to non-governmental organizations, there are approximately 200 dogs working in the area throughout Brazil. A visit to the Guide Dog Training Center was held on May 28, stressing that, through professionals, composed of a veterinarian, a collaborator and a visually impaired, it is possible, through several reports of them, to understand the history of the insertion of the guide dog in Brazil and to understand the physical structures necessary for the training of the animals. The Center has been operating since the year 2015, however, an official and definitive headquarters was inaugurated only on September 28, 2018; at the moment, six guide dogs were delivered. At the beginning of the visit was reported by the collaborator of the Institute that the dogs arrived at the establishment still puppies. During the visit, at the reception, a space practice was carried out, aiming to understand the visually impaired; in a dark corridor with blindfold and obstacles placed on the floor and ceiling, was applied to practice, arousing the group's empathy to understand how the handicapped confronts the obstacles of day to day without the aid of his guide dog. During the interview with the veterinarian and the visually impaired the great importance of the socializing family in the evolution of the project was observed. However, other factors, among them, little demand, despite disclosures, shortage of qualified instructors and veterinarian for the feasibility of the project, few guide dogs are trained to the mobility and social inclusion function of the visually impaired. At the end of the visit, it is possible to analyze facts that depend very much on the professional veterinarian, and it was concluded that it is important to look socially and humanized for the cause, to move to understand what are obstacles in the routine of the disabled, to understand the seriousness and responsibility of the project to the next, and, above all, to be a facilitator of technical-scientific information and national laws, in order to guarantee the rights of the visually impaired. The dog is more than a factor of mobility, it is a factor of social inclusion.