Although there are regulations in Polish and international law that guarantee unrestricted mobility with an assistance dog, the visually impaired often must fight for this right.

A client of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) was to travel by bus from Lublin to Warsaw in 2014. She chose a private coach transport provider and the driver denied her entry on the bus, saying that company policy does not allow the transportation of animals.

A court decided in March 2016 that the company must apologize and donate 5,000 PLN (roughly 1,200 EUR) to social causes. The verdict was not legally binding. According to the court, the bus driver’s behavior was an appalling act of discrimination.

"The court’s decision is a clear sign that it is unacceptable to breach the legal right to enter public facilities, including means of transport by those who are accompanied by assistance dogs," said Dorota Pudzianowska, a lawyer at the HFHR.

Discrimination in restaurants

This is not the first court case monitored by the HFHR regarding discrimination of persons with assistance dogs. In January 2016, a court of first instance heard a case of visually impaired people who were denied entry to a restaurant because they were assisted by service dogs.

The staff of the restaurant told them that it was impossible for them to eat inside and offered a table on the patio. But at that moment it started to rain heavily and the temperature dropped rapidly. The customers wanted to stay inside.

They informed the staff about their right of unrestricted mobility and presented their certificates, but they were still not allowed to enter. After refusing to eat outside, they were asked to leave the restaurant. According to the customers, the staff claimed that the dogs could bite children who were in the restaurant.

According to the court's decision, the customers were denied entry due to a lack of tables, not because of the presence of their assistance dogs or their disability, and there was therefore no discrimination.

Law vs. practice

Persons with sight disability assisted by dogs have been discriminated against in Poland many times. Because of this, a couple of years ago the law was amended. At present, the law on vocational and social rehabilitation and employment of the disabled guarantees entry with dogs to most public facilities such as courts, cinemas, theaters, restaurants, institutions and means of public transport.

Additionally, any kind of discrimination on grounds of disability is prohibited by Article 5 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention that demands independent and inclusive participation in social life also stresses the right of the disabled to the use of reasonable accommodation.

Nevertheless, the problem of discrimination of the visually impaired has not been solved. The president of the foundation Vis Maior, which supports people with visual impairment, said in an interview for the news channel TVN24 that they still deal with many instances of the visually impaired having been denied entry to public facilities while accompanied by an assistance dog. This happens even in cases that there are activities for the visually impaired organized in the same building.

More on the situation of people with visual impairment in Poland can be read in the publication The Hidden Majority in Poland, available for download here.