Blind man attaches camera to guide dog to film abuse he gets on a daily basis

Amit Patel is unable to see much of the discrimination he faces – but his guide dog has helped him become aware of the extent of it.
The 37-year-old former A&E doctor, who lost his sight five years ago to keratoconus, fitted a GoPro camera to his dog Kika’s back to film some of the abuse he suffers on a daily basis while simply trying to get around London.
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Travellers were filmed not getting up from their seats as he and Kika stood in train carriages; staff were recorded seeing him and ignoring his cries for assistance; and people were even caught hitting him and Kika with their umbrellas and bags.
Every day he uploads the footage to his computer, and his able-sighted wife Seema helps him to review it all. Many times she will notice something he didn’t know about at the time – like a woman putting her bags on an empty seat instead of letting Amit sit down.
Watch some of the footage here:

People barging past Amit in the station

Kika is one of only 5% of guide dogs that are trained to take their owners on escalators, but she can still get very upset when other users hit her or barge past her.
‘It all started when people barged me out of the way [on the escalator],’ he said. ‘They have loads of space to get past, but they seem to think it is fun to barge into a blind person.
‘Kika always sits to my left hand side so we often block the escalator, and people will hit her with bags and umbrellas to get her to move out of the way.
‘The worst part is the tutting and negative comments behind me. People are so rude and arrogant and assume they can do whatever they want.’
Amit even described being ordered to apologise for ‘holding people up’ on the escalator.
‘One lady even said I should apologise to the people behind her for holding them up. I asked her if I should apologise for being blind and she said “yes”.’
He added that Kika gets scared when people hit her on the escalators – and so does he.
‘It really scares Kika sometimes. I can feel how upset she gets, and when I get upset she senses it as well – and she won’t go on the escalators for a few days.’

Passengers not giving up their seats for Amit and Kika

Amit travels almost every day on Southeastern trains to London Bridge, and then on the London Underground.
While travelling, people will often ignore him and not give up their seats. One woman even kept her shopping bags on the empty seat next to her, and wouldn’t budge.