Close X
Monday, December 2, 2024
ADVT 
National

WATCH: Indian-Origin Blind Man Puts Camera On Dog To Film Discrimination In London

Darpan News Desk, 06 Jan, 2017 01:21 PM
    A 37-year-old Indian-origin blind man in the UK has fitted his guide dog with a camera in a bid to highlight the discrimination and abuse he faces daily while travelling around London.
     
    Amit Patel lost his eyesight five years ago to an eye disease known as keratoconus.
     
     
    He gets around London with the help of his guide dog, Kika, to whom Mr Patel recently attached a GoPro camera to film the discrimination he faces every day from fellow Londoners.
     
    "The city is a scary place. It's like someone put you in the middle of Trafalgar Square, turned you in a circle and said 'find your way home'," Mr Patel was quoted as saying by BBC.
     
     
    The footage captured by his canine guide has not always shown a city willing to help him.
     
    "The video came out of necessity. Kika was getting hit by peoples' bags and she was getting a lot of abuse. A woman stopped me one day and had a go at me for holding everyone up and said I should apologise, which was a real shock," he said.
     
    The former doctor found a solution - attach a GoPro to Kika's harness and film every journey.
     
    Mr Patel's wife, Seema, can then review the footage if it is felt there was something amiss about that day.
     
    When alterations were made to a London train station the camera came into its own.
     
    "I asked for help and no one came. The video shows lots of staff standing around me and this one guy looking over many times," Mr Patel said.
     
    "Eventually when the staff member actually came to me the first thing he said was 'sorry I didn't see you' and that really bugged me," he said.
     
    The footage was sent to Network Rail giving Mr Patel the "valuable evidence" needed to lodge a formal complaint about an incident he could not see.
     
    The video had an impact and Network Rail investigated before giving further training to its staff.
     
    Mr Patel learned he had keratoconus - a condition which changes the shape of the cornea - in the final year of medical school.
     
    Lenses to push the corneas back into shape stopped working and six cornea transplants were rejected by his body until he was told "no more".
    "There are taxi drivers who will see you and won't stop. You phone the company and they say they didn't see you, but you look at the footage and see them having looked at you and driving right past," he said.
     
    Other incidents, Mr Patel said highlight a lack of thought - especially on London's Underground.
     
    "People assume, because I have a guide dog, I can walk around them but they make us walk near the tracks or I can say to Kika 'find me a seat' and I'll put my hand down on one and someone will sit on it and refuse to get up," he said.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Red Light Texting Still A Problem In Canada, Says CAA

    Red Light Texting Still A Problem In Canada, Says CAA
    OTTAWA — Some 33 per cent of Canadians who participated in a recent poll conducted by the Canadian Automobile Association admit they have texted while stopped at a red light in the last month.

    Red Light Texting Still A Problem In Canada, Says CAA

    'Rainbow Lobster' Leads Social Media Contest For Craziest Crustacean

    'Rainbow Lobster' Leads Social Media Contest For Craziest Crustacean
    Social media users are casting their "likes" for photos of exotic lobsters in an online contest that has a multitude of multicoloured, oversized and extra-limbed critters clawing to be crowned the craziest crustacean.

    'Rainbow Lobster' Leads Social Media Contest For Craziest Crustacean

    Rich Coleman Says Tent Cities Need Faster Shut Down Responses To Prevent Growth

    Rich Coleman Says Tent Cities Need Faster Shut Down Responses To Prevent Growth
    VICTORIA — B.C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman says he learned valuable lessons from the government's handling of a homeless camp on the lawn at Victoria's courthouse, and one of those lessons is acting more quickly to provide housing for people who are looking for it. 

    Rich Coleman Says Tent Cities Need Faster Shut Down Responses To Prevent Growth

    'It Just Shocks Me:' Calgary Police Chief Wants Action On Opioid Crisis

    'It Just Shocks Me:' Calgary Police Chief Wants Action On Opioid Crisis
    Calgary's police chief says the Alberta government has to take more aggressive action on fentanyl if it wants to help addicts and families who are being destroyed.

    'It Just Shocks Me:' Calgary Police Chief Wants Action On Opioid Crisis

    Prescription Opioid Use Grew In B.C. Ahead Of Overdose Crisis: Study

    The number of people using prescription opioids long-term in British Columbia was growing at a "silent but steady" rate for years before the current overdose crisis erupted, a new study has found.

    Prescription Opioid Use Grew In B.C. Ahead Of Overdose Crisis: Study

    Global Affairs Confirms Girl Who Died On Flight To London Was Canadian

    OTTAWA — Global Affairs Canada is confirming that a 10-year-old girl who died Christmas Eve after falling ill aboard a transatlantic Air Canada flight was Canadian.

    Global Affairs Confirms Girl Who Died On Flight To London Was Canadian