La Rochelle with his dog guide, this visual impairment is “back to normal” Life of Richard Maryvonne, visually impaired since the age of 17, has changed since she adopted a dog guide
Florida leads the way with an assured leg. It features stunning black scarf dotted with pink and red flowers, which blends perfectly with its sand coat. A strong harness is strapped around his chest. Maryvonne Richard deals with presentations: “This is Florida, my dog with safety vest ​​Labrador guide.”The adoption Rochelaise is visually impaired. She came with her dog on Thursday in the Oratory room in La Rochelle, in the framework of the day dedicated to the visually impaired, jointly organized by the Valentin-Haüy association Charente-Maritime (AVH17) and the association of blind dogs West guides (AGCO). Maryvonne is here to share his experience and describe how his life has been transformed since the arrival of Florida in 2012. The interest – sometimes called Jacket or “my beauty” – wags its tail at the sight of the other guides fours in the room. “She’s usually quiet, but then there are friends!”
One in a million
Smiling forties place with modesty stages of disability. The diagnosis fell on him it was thirty years ago, as a curse: “You are reaching the genetic Stargardt disease, an irreversible degeneration of the retina,” she recites today. The geneticist told me there was a chance in a million, she blows. I still keep in memory the image that grabbed me at that moment that a pair of gloved hands that tore the license that I will never pass. “” Florida has such a beautiful mug that people stop to talk. They are benevolent ”
Within three months, his vision collapses.”I went from 10/10 in both eyes to a tenth. I am now less than one twentieth (a person is considered impaired vision below 3/10 in one eye, Ed). I see a somewhat distant horizon, permanently. “But Maryvonne preferred to point to a clearing in the sky suddenly darkened. She lived entering the institute for blind Les Haunts Thébaudières, in Veto (Loire-At antique), at 17, as an opportunity. “Coming from a large family living in the country, with workers parents with reflective overall, I went bit. There, I could develop myself going to the cinema and theater. ”
She starts new job training, become familiar Braille, and then answers the school gate a secretarial position at the Defense Ministry in Paris.”Colleagues were great. I never felt apart. “His office is suitable, with a” talking computer “and a” magnifying glass attached to the computer screen. ”
“It was adopted immediately”
In 2003, the mother of two girls, Maryvonne moved with her husband to La Rochelle, in the service of military disability pensions, always for the ministry, the Aubrey barracks. It was pure chance that it comes into contact in 2011 with dogs. “I visited the headquarters of AGCO in Angers to try electronic canes. This does not please me at all! ”
His frustration did not last of these puppies come to meet him. Between two “tickling”, we learn that she can adopt one. “I thought I was not right, that it was reserved for the blind.”
Just graduated, Florida Labrador arrived a year later the family home. “It was mutually agreed immediately. It is spontaneous, emotional, kind and sensitive. The first year together was amazing. ”
“She has a beautiful mug”
His daily takes colors: Maryvonne not apprehend its outputs and finds from the early city breaks, an incredible ride comfort: “I am positioned at its rear legs, hands on the handle. I am every movement, everything is fluid. And when crossing a road, she puts her front paws on the sidewalk and watches my feet. This touched me at first. ”
The road is more dangerous. A look that Maryvonne not “see”, but she feels. “Florida has such a beautiful mug that people stop to talk. They are benevolent. With her, I feel back to normal. Cane, it can put people off. ”
Toney-Charente better equipped than La Rochelle

Before moving to the seat of the first elected official to Toney-Charente, Eric Outhit worked as assistant to planning for accessibility to the disabled.”This policy was followed by successive municipal teams for many years. “The result is convincing in the city center. A visually impaired has available Braille for referral on the elevator buttons, reflective strips on parking posts, or even tactile strips kinds of plastic spheres resting on the ground, marked with white canes.
“We wanted to focus on accessibility. Myself in a wheelchair, I have a different perspective on these needs, “says the mayor. Last year, the Salvador Aliened-street has been completely redesigned, taking into account accessibility.
Marked path to La Rochelle
A far more substantial work awaits the elect of La Rochelle. Via a questionnaire sent to people with disabilities in 2011, the municipality has identified 40 kilometers of streets with little or inadequate. “We have already started to remove troublesome obstacles for them – in the Rue Reaumur, among others – as poorly positioned panels,” says does one within the municipality.
A marked route of 50 meters for the visually impaired is under consideration. It will link the House of mobility (place de Verdun) at the beginning of the Gargoulleau Street, and should be under construction “before the summer”. It will resume the principle of one already installed instead of the Red Mote: a small concrete rail that guides the cane visually impaired or blind. “With our eyes valid, we do not always realize the need of development.”