A few statistics*:
- 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired.
- 2 million people living with sight loss in the UK.
- 340,000 people are registered blind or partially sighted in the UK.
- Every day in the UK around 250 people start to lose their sight, equivalent to one person every six minutes.
- One in five people in the UK will live with sight loss in their lifetime.
- UK and International ongoing shortage of trained canine guide dogs.
Approximately 285 million people worldwide are vision impaired, with 39 million of them being totally blind. In the UK alone, there are an estimated 2 million people living with sight loss. With the growing ageing population, these numbers are expected to increase significantly.
In the UK, there are approximately 20,000 new registrations of individuals as being blind or partially sighted. This figure translates to an average of 57 new registrations per day. It's important to note that these figures represent only those who chose to register and hence will be an underestimate not including all individuals who are blind or partially sighted in the UK.
The ongoing shortage and high cost of trained canine guide dogs has presented a significant barrier to accessibility for vision impaired people in the UK and worldwide. In the UK, according to the Guide Dogs for the Blind official figures they created 387 new guide dog partnerships in 2022, with less expected in 2023, although hopefully then rising.
This has led to long waiting lists for Guide Dogs and other Assistance Dog services, particularly since the Covid 19 pandemic.
Additionally, people’s circumstances often preclude the use of a dog for assistance, including:
- dislike of dogs.
- allergies to dogs (self or family/friends/work colleagues)
- cost of maintenance (feeding, vets bills)
- avoidance of emotional turmoil when a dog passes away.
- insufficient skills to handle a dog appropriately and consistently.
- inappropriate environment for a dog.
- inability to satisfy general dog care, health, wellbeing and hygiene needs.
At present there are few viable alternatives to Guide or Assistance Dogs that support and deliver independence. Other than the use of canes for those with sight loss, be it long, short, guide or support cane, people with various disabilities are often largely dependent on human guides and support. Whilst this suits and works for some people, many seek, crave and deserve independence where it is possible. In the Guide and Assistance Dog world, it is widely acknowledged and accepted that the trained dog can provide that essential independence as well as providing so many additional benefits including general companionship and more seamless integration into the community. For Guide Dogs, it is widely acknowledged and accepted that the dog also provides a more fluent and efficient form of travel in comparison to the various canes that are on offer.
With all this in mind, and where a Canine Assistant is not possible or feasible, we believe our Robotic Assistance Dogs will fill this gap and meet the needs of many.
In the UK it costs over 55 thousand pounds for each guide dog over the course of its life, given the decreasing cost of advanced robotics our proposed Robotic Assistance Dog should be more than viable from a cost perspective.
* Sources
Guide Dogs - https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/about-us/finance-governance/reports-accounts-and-annual-reviews/
