‘You aren’t blind’: visually-impaired woman with guide dog in China denied park entry and insulted by security guard causes online backlash
- A blind woman and her guide dog in China were refused entrance to a park by a security guard who accused her of faking her disability
- After the woman complained and the story blew up on mainland social media, she received an apology and the guard was fired
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Chinese social media has erupted in anger after a blind woman and her guide dog were refused entry to a park by a security guard who accused her of pretending to be disabled.
The incident between the Beijing woman, surnamed Chen, and the security guard was caught on camera and posted on mainland social media, The Paper reported.
However, it was not mentioned in the report where the park was located.
In the video, Chen and her guide dog are standing at the park entrance and talking with a security guard who is waving and making gestures at her.
Chen said that she proved her legally blind status by showing her disability certificate and special clothing on her guide dog but said the security guard refused to believe her and would not allow her to enter the park.
“You aren’t blind,” Chen said the guard told her.
“When he told me that I was pretending to be blind, I didn’t say anything as I haven’t heard such an insult before,” Chen said in an interview with The Paper.
The scene between the security guard and Chen caught the attention of other people in the park who attempted to support Chen but were unable to change the guard’s mind.
Chen said that it was not the first time she had been refused entrance to the park. However, she said on the previous occasion the guard had been less rude.
“If I let you pass the entrance, I couldn’t get my salary this month,” Chen said the previous guard had claimed when denying her entry.
Chen said the most recent occasion had been the last straw for her.
“He humiliated me. Why would normal people pretend to be blind?” she said.
Chen said she did not want to continue to argue with the guard and left but later reported the incident to a government public service hotline.
She said she received a response from an unnamed executive officer from the park who said there was no rule prohibiting the entry of guide dogs, and the guard had been fired as a result of the incident.
The story has sparked widespread criticism on mainland social media.
One person said: “The policy seems very cold.”
Another person said: “The security guard followed the rules but he took the blame alone.”
The Chinese government has attempted in recent years to improve the lack of facilities for disabled people. Earlier this year, local authorities in Cangzhou city in Hebei province in northern China said they will invest more than 2.9 million yuan (US$420,000) to create barrier-free facilities for 839 severely disabled households in the region.
In the past two years, it has already spent more than 5 million yuan on 1,539 disabled families, according to the Cangzhou Newspaper.
