The Ministry of Education intends to establish training centers for guide dog trainers in Federal Institutes across all regions of the country. The project began last year in the institutes in Santa Catarina and Espírito Santo. Now, at least five more centers are being set up in federal institutes.
The news is significant considering that there are 7.3 million people with visual impairments in the Brazilian population, according to the 2013 National Health Survey by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Of these, 1.2 million have severe limitations, and 95% lack access to rehabilitation services.
So far, 16 trained dogs are in operation, in addition to another 71 in the socialization phase, which will still undergo the training process offered by the Federal Institute of Camboriú (IFC) and the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (Ifes).
Expansion
Now the federal institutes in Sergipe (São Cristóvão), Amazonas (Manaus), Ceará (Limoeiro do Norte), Goiano (Urutaí), and Southern Minas Gerais (Muzambinho) are undergoing the process of establishing units. Each of these campuses will have accommodation, kennels, a maternity ward, a veterinary clinic, and a training track.
The Alegre campus of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo opened the first class of the subsequent technical course in guide dog training and instruction in August 2015, lasting two years. The student learns to train guide dogs and develops the ability to facilitate the process of pairing with visually impaired individuals. The next class is scheduled for 2017.
In 2015, the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (Ifes), Alegre campus, was the second to establish a unit. Five other centers are in the process of being set up. All regions of the country will be served, according to the National Council of Federal Network Institutions of Professional, Scientific, and Technological Education (Conif).
The rector of IFC, Sônia Regina de Souza Fernandes, highlighted the importance of the guide dog trainer and instructor centers for inclusion and the dissemination of assistive technology.
“When we train excellent technicians qualified for animal training, we are primarily contributing to the increase in the number of guide dogs in operation in the country and helping to improve the quality of life for people with visual impairments,” she stated.
Registration
To acquire an animal trained by the federal institutes, one must be registered in the National Register of Candidates for the Use of Guide Dogs of the Special Secretariat for Human Rights (SDH), linked to the Ministry of Justice and Citizenship. The registration is exclusively for people with visual impairments (blindness or low vision).
The registered person is included in a list of eligible candidates for acquisition in the selection processes conducted by the centers, through announcements whose publication can be followed on the Ministry of Justice and Citizenship’s page.
Source: Portal Brasil, with information from the Ministry of Education