Keeping us safe in the concrete jungle, one street at a time.

Big cities can be scary places. Traffic from all directions, crowded shops, a barrage of noise and bright lights, and pavement furniture seemingly designed to trip up the unwary. And that’s before you add in the buskers and street vendors all competing for your attention.

It’s bad enough trying to navigate our increasingly challenging urban environments if you’re able-bodied or mentally robust. But for people with visual or hearing impairments, mobility issues or sensory challenges, the concrete jungle can be a nightmare.

In the UK, for example, a Guide Dogs UK survey found that 97 percent of people with a vision impairment have problems with street clutter. Pavement parking and shared surfaces are also a significant challenge. In the US, researchers found that city dwellers are 21 percent more likely to have anxiety disorders and 39 percent more likely to have mood disorders. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and generalized anxiety disorder were also higher among those living in urban areas.

As we mark UN World Cities Day, it’s worth reflecting on the amazing work done by our accredited members around the world, who put so much time and effort into training assistance dogs teams to feel confident and safe on our urban streets and sidewalks.

ADI program Blind Low Vision New Zealand, for example, has taken this to a whole new level by building an entire replica cityscape with fake road crossings, trains, planes, escalators,  elevators and shops where assistance dogs and their partners are trained to negotiate everyday obstacles.

The privately-funded NZ$5 million facility is only the second of its kind in the world, and comes complete with a whole array of urban noises such as traffic, pedestrian crossing signals and loud music - as well as distracting smells from litter bins and fast food restaurants. They are even planning on introducing cats so the dogs can get used to ignoring them as they work.

Also in the UK, Guide Dogs UK’s Streets Ahead campaign focuses on making city streets and outdoor public places more accessible for people living with a visual impairment. The campaign aims to tackle shared surfaces (such as shared car, bus, cycle and pedestrian routes), pavement parking and street clutter. Unauthorized advertising boards are also a major challenge: as one guide dog user commented, “The main road through my town centre has so many A-boards in it that it feels as though you are running a 3,000 metre hurdle race rather than walking through a town centre.”

Urban noise is also an issue, especially for people with hearing impairments who rely on their hearing dog to help them navigate an increasingly loud and confusing spectrum of music, traffic, human and other sounds. I came across a young woman called Jess, a hard-of-hearing student at the University of Washington in Seattle who writes movingly of her challenges navigating a busy urban campus. “I need to walk several blocks through high traffic areas to my classes, to the dining hall, and to social activities. I need assistance navigating the city streets near the dorm and classroom buildings. I have a service dog that is trained to help people who are deaf and hard of hearing navigate traffic and warn them of danger from behind and/or oncoming traffic.”

The city can also be a nightmare for parents of children with autism or other sensory challenges. Routine shopping trips, days out or visits to the park can be fraught with problems - especially in crowded, traffic-choked urban environments. A properly trained autism assistance dog can not only calm youngsters down but actively prevent them from running into a road or other danger.

I recently learned about the exciting work being done by Rosie Warda and her team at the DogMap initiative, based in Germany. DogMap allows users to mark dog-friendly locations including shops, restaurants, museums, hotels and a host of other public spaces and rate them with a traffic light system. That’s good - but DogMap is the only such app which shows where only assistance dogs are allowed - making it a boon for assistance dog teams in many countries. So far, it’s attracted nearly half a million entries worldwide!

With predictions that by 2050 more than 70 percent of the global population will live in urban areas, it’s clear that there will be increasing demands placed on ADI member programs. It’s up to planners, legislators and local authorities to ensure assistance dogs and their partners have the space and time to live safely, comfortably and confidently in the city.

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Chris Diefenthaler is the Executive Director for Assistance Dogs International (ADI), who works with the international and regional boards to oversee the daily operations, provide information to the public about the high standards developed by ADI and helps direct potential assistance dog consumers to the appropriate member organization that can meet their needs.

From my experience of twenty-five years managing a variety of nonprofit organizations including as an executive director of an assistance dog organization, I have a strong understanding of the issues and challenges facing assistance dog organizations. I really enjoy providing support to our members by organizing educational conferences/seminars, providing networking opportunities and sharing best practices and information to continually improve our member’s programs and services. I have a black lab, Tori, that has a wonderful sweet temperament and an ornery orange tabby cat, Scout. I enjoy outdoor activities with my husband, playing tennis, biking and walking at our local parks.  

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