People who are visually impaired often have to rely on someone or something, such as a cane, to help them move around. But Flora Fung, who is blind, prefers a guide dog.
'A cane can help me go to places, but won't help me avoid unforeseeable dangers - like falling objects, or a hole in the ground,' says Fung, a part-time trainer for Dialogue in the Dark, an organisation that helps raise awareness about blind people and their needs in Hong Kong.
Once, Fung was hurt walking along a familiar street because someone had moved a bus-stop sign to another place. She walked into the sign and scratched her face. 'If I had a dog, it would have stopped me, or alerted me about the danger.'
Fung was born sighted and remembers seeing and touching a dog at the age of two. She was able to see normally until she was about 20, when she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. This genetic eye disease can lead to incurable blindness, but the deterioration of a sufferer's vision, until they are said to be legally blind, often varies.
'I could read using a special magnifier two years ago, but now I can't read anymore,' says Fung, who can see only flashes of light. Living alone, she needs to rely on a cane to travel around Hong Kong, but says that is not good enough.
Last November she experienced what it is like to have a guide dog. She attended a two-day guide-dog training course in Kanagawa, Japan, thanks to a local radio programme.
'I learnt to instruct the dog, feed it, clean it and walk it. The training was impressive and gave me the confidence to take care of a dog.'
