"Denying disabled people access to their country except in return for payment"

“A solution to the matter has been found within the ministry, so Már Gunnarsson will not have to bear the cost of the dog,” according to a response from the Ministry of Food, in response to a case by Már Gunnarsson, an Icelandic student in England, an accomplished sportsman and musician, whose case involves his guide dog, Max.

Bringing the animal home to Iceland, a trained guide dog, Már said he has to pay 600,000 ISK per visit, which he addressed on his Facebook page yesterday. Max is defined as a government-owned aid but said he has nevertheless had to pay the amount for coming to Iceland on a summer vacation recently.

Not merely sad

The law on the Service and Knowledge Centre for Blind and Visually Impaired states, among other things, that guide dog users “do not bear the costs arising from the acquisition and training of such dogs or from the transportation of such dogs to and from each country.” In this legal provision, Gunnarsson referred to the Ministry of Food, which is in the process of making its decision on the import of the animal but refers it to the Ministry of Health.

“This is why I am not only sad, but I am deeply shocked by how little the Icelandic government cares about us. The government that is aware of the situation still wants to build obstacles that will be insurmountable in the future and make it impossible for me to have Max with me,” Gunnarsson further writes.

He says he now has a “defining experience” of the government’s low regard for the disabled. “We are undoubtedl y put in the bottom tier,” writes Gunnarsson, who discussed the case of his case with mbl.is today. He said that he has a full understanding of the reasoning behind the quarantine rules for importing pets.

Can't come to the country without the dog

“The dog is my eyes,” says Gunnarsson, explaining that when he came on vacation home from England, the dog was taken away from him at the airport. “But you can’ t separate us as you did there,” he says.

Gunnarsson approached the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Food with the case. The former offered advice that suggested that he could seek financial help from a charity to cover the cost. However, the Ministry of Food has shut down the project, and there is no reply.

“I can’t really come home to Iceland without my dog,” Gunnarsson points out, adding that guide dog users are free to go everywhere wherever the public is free to go; those same users should therefore not bear the cost of traveling by means of transport.

Payment for state-owned aids

“I find it obvious that requiring payment for bringing a state-owned aid back home to Iceland and requesting veterinary care and having blind users take on the cost is tantamount to denying disabled people access to their country of origin except in return for payment,” he says.

He regards MAST’s stance as a gross injustice. “I’m here to study abroad for the next five years, is this something I will have to pay every year?” Gunnarsson concludes, noting that it is a matter of pure and clean discrimination by the Icelandic government.