On Tuesday 7th May 2019, four guide dog owners, and Helen Sismore, Guide Dogs Community Engagement, Officer, conducted a blindfold walk with Stagecoach’s Cambridge Operations Manager, Gwen Jones, and four of their trainers.
Stagecoach provided a double-decker bus for us and we met at the railway station where we had a Q&A session before boarding the bus. We drove to Trumpington Road where we parked up and did a series of guiding activities.
Firstly Helen Sismore, Guide Dogs Community Engagement Officer for East Anglia, who is sighted, guided the Stagecoach team, who were blindfolded, onto the bus. This was followed up by our non-sighted team guiding the (still blindfolded) trainers.
Then the Stagecoach trainers took off their blindfolds to to guide us, or another (blindfolded) member of their team, before taking a walk up and down the road using white sticks. This, I think, they found quite daunting.
Finally we played a little bit of a trick on them, where we all got on the bus sitting in silence, and made them put their blindfolds on and try to find a seat without anybody saying anything. This is something which we have to do daily, with members of public failing to answer us.
We also made them wear blindfolds on the journey back to the railway station, which I think really disorientated them, quite a bit. Again, they experienced what we experience, when we’ve no idea where we’re going, although we often learn routes by twists and turns of the bus and how many speed bumps we go over.
After more questions and answers, the Stagecoach team said they had found it “A real eye-opener, quite scary.” They promised to pass on the information, which we provided them, to future new recruits. Hopefully we can continue to work with them with further meetings.
Jackie Cook
Cambridge Guide Dog Forum Co-ordinator
Cambridge Area Bus Users Executive Committee Member
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