Thank you Graeme for that introduction, and good morning everyone.

I am very pleased to be here. Guide dogs play a vital role in the lives of people who are blind or vision impaired, which is why it is so important to end discrimination against guide dog users.

Patricia had a degenerative disability, and lived in Department Of Housing accommodation. She has used a wheelchair for the last few years. It was a beautiful sunny day outside, but we talked in her kitchen while my friends from church worked in her garden. She told me she didn't leave the house much, and had only gone out a couple of times this year- it was September.