Education
Guide Dogs Victoria is committed to educating the community about vision impairment and the rights of people who are blind or vision impaired - as well as raising awareness of the vital role Guide Dogs play in their companions lives.
We have developed a number of resources which will assist you to understand more about the role of Guide Dogs Victoria. Resources are also available especially for teachers.
Tongues wag at Guide Dog tale
By Cassie Maher
Guide Dogs are looked upon with great affection and admiration among most Victorians.
But Canterbury's Gordon Duxbury says that was not always the case.
Duxbury, 81, was instrumental in establishing the Guide Dog movement in Victoria in 1957, including the world-class Guide Dog training and mobility centre for the blind in Kew.
Duxbury, who received an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) in 2004 for services to Guide Dogs Victoria, Apex and Rotary International, has published a book on the history of Guide Dogs Victoria.
"I had enlisted the aid of quite a few people who were older than me and, of course, now I'm the sole survivor," the former president of Melbourne Apex said.
"It was important that the history was recorded because all the other people who started it with me are no longer with us."
Surprisingly, Duxbury said the committee of "powerful movers and shakers of Melbourne" encountered some resistance to their cause to give mobility and independence to vision-impaired and blind people.
"There was a lot of entrenched views about blindness at that time," Duxbury said.
"Some of the institutions were not at that stage convinced of the advantages of Guide Dogs. Quite a few blind people were institutionalised, whereas we were all about getting them out amongst the community and in the workplace."
Duxbury said the three-year process of compiling the book was an interesting and rewarding experience.
"I'm very happy with it," he said.
To order a copy of this publication, contact us on 03 9854 4444
