Educating Future Generations: The Challenge of Featuring Guide Dogs in School Textbooks
2025. 11. 28
News
Currently, there are 768 guide dog users across Japan. While the "Act on Assistance Dogs for Physically Disabled Persons" guarantees access rights for assistance dog users, challenges remain. According to the "National Survey on Guide Dog Acceptance," conducted with users from eight of Japan’s 11 guide dog organisations, 47.9% of users experienced access refusals last year.
At the Japan Guide Dog Association (JGDA), we are committed to creating a society where everyone, including guide dog users, can live comfortably without facing access refusals. Among our various initiatives, educating children—the future builders of society—is a key focus. For many children, guide dogs may be something they have heard of but never encountered personally. This is why it is essential to create opportunities for children to learn about guide dogs in schools.
To promote understanding of guide dogs and vision impairments, JGDA has been actively engaging in educational activities. These include managing a children’s video website, conducting school visits, and delivering online sessions to approximately 14,000 children nationwide.
Guide Dog Video Website for Children: [Nichimou Junior]
https://www.moudouken.net/nichimou-jr/
We provide several 10-minute videos designed to spark children’s interest and encourage them to learn independently. These videos cover topics such as guide dogs, vision impairments, and the daily lives of guide dog users.
Since 2021, we have also been advocating for the inclusion of guide dogs in school textbooks. We have organised explanatory sessions for textbook publishers, and over the past four years, 39 publishing companies, two organisations, and 334 individuals have participated in these sessions.
These efforts have already led to five successful cases of guide dogs being featured in textbooks. For example, welfare textbooks now include basic information about guide dogs, and science textbooks highlight guide dog trainers as professionals working with animals. Through these sessions, we have learned that personal stories from guide dog users and new insights discovered by editors leave a lasting impression. For instance, when users shared challenges with touch panels and other modern technologies, editors expressed surprise, saying, "I never realised something so convenient could be so inconvenient for others." These sessions have become more than just a platform for sharing information—they inspire editors to feel a sense of responsibility to include guide dogs in their textbooks.
With the increasing use of digital teaching materials in Japan, there is potential to provide even more comprehensive information compared to traditional printed textbooks. By building strong relationships with editors, we aim to ensure that even a single photo of a guide dog can make its way into textbooks.
Children’s Book: "The Complete Guide to Guide Dogs"
In addition to textbooks, resources for children to learn about guide dogs independently are also growing. One example is the children’s book series "The Complete Guide to Guide Dogs" (published by Poplar Publishing), which JGDA supervised. This series is designed to be both educational and engaging, making it suitable for summer research projects or independent study. It encourages children to think about how to create a society where visionly impaired individuals can live comfortably.
The series is also used as a resource to spark interest among textbook editors. Recognising the varying needs of different publishers and subjects, we are working to make our explanatory sessions available on-demand, providing editors with easy access to information and consultation opportunities.
We will continue our efforts to feature guide dogs in as many textbooks as possible, fostering a society where future generations can build a more inclusive and accessible world for everyone.
“The Encyclopedia of Guide Dogs” 3-Volume Set (POPLAR PUBLISHING CO., 2025)
This series includes essential information about the roles and training of guide dogs, the daily lives of guide dogs and their users, and Q&A sections about guide dogs and vision impairments.