Unlike a number of other European countries, Malta’s anti-discrimination legislation allows the presence of guide dogs for the blind in public/private buildings or facilities.

The law specifically lays down: “A person shall be discriminating against another person on the grounds of disability if he treats or proposes to treat such other person less favourably than he treats or would treat others who do not have such a disability because of the fact that such other person is accompanied by or possesses any assistive means that is used by such other person or because of any matter related to that fact, whether or not it is the practice to treat in such less favourable manner any person who is accompanied by or is in possession of such assistive means.”

“Assistive means” is defined in the law as including “trained animals that may be required by a person with a disability specifically because of that disability”.

It, therefore, came as a considerable shock to Leone Sciberras, a blind person, when he was not allowed to go into a restaurant with his guide dog.

Mr Sciberras, who leads the Guide Dogs Association in Malta, has had his guide dog, Aval – which has been specially trained to guide his owner anywhere he needs to go – for eight years. However, on two occasions recently – both at eating places – Mr Sciberras and his dog found entry barred to them.

Fortunately, when the incident was drawn to the attention of the managing director of one of the restaurants in question there was an immediate retraction of the action taken. The restaurant issued an apology for what had happened, explaining that it had been a regrettable mistake.

Moreover, in a gesture of solidarity, the company promised to help the Guide Dogs Association in Malta to raise funds for the organisation to provide more trained dogs for the blind.

The restaurant management reacted generously as soon as the discrimination was drawn to their attention. Indeed, less than 24 hours after the incident, they issued an “important notice” explaining that this had been an unfortunate misunderstanding as a result of not having a clear policy on the issue and their staff not knowing how to deal with the situation. This would be rectified, the management promised.

Unfortunately, nothing has been reported with regard to any remedial action being taken by the other restaurant, at least so far.

There are two clear lessons to be learnt from these unhappy and inexcusable incidents. The first, as Mr Sciberras said, is that “every cloud has a silver lining”. In this case, the incident has hopefully served to make restaurant owners more aware of the law and ensure they are equipped to deal with such situations.

The second is that although such incidents in Malta are rather rare – there have been one or two cases involving Air Malta and Transport Malta in the past – there is clearly a greater need, especially for restaurants, to be made more aware of their obligations under the law through a regular information campaign, possibly by the influential Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.

The campaign would underline the fact that people with guide dogs cannot be discriminated against and that the blind and their dogs are allowed access to both public and private facilities.

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