The nomination "Responsible for those...": Ekaterina Kudrina creates unique projects "The Dog is my eyes" and "See with my heart".
Ekaterina is a student at the Don State Technical University. She is visually impaired and has been trying for many years to get a special helper dog. Katya's life turned out in an amazing way when a long-awaited case brought the girl together with a dog named Sherlock.
A few years ago, Ekaterina underwent compulsory training in Balashikha near Moscow with a dog, this is necessary so that the guide and the visually impaired get used to each other, know how to respond correctly to commands, signals, sounds, and move around an unfamiliar space and city. And only then Katya and her new friend Sherlock returned home to Rostov-on-Don. And then she was faced with a cruel reality – they refused to let her and her dog into the dormitory, let alone live together. The rector came to help. That's when the story of the most interesting inclusive projects for guide dogs and blind people began, where Katya and Sherlock teach other students how to work with guide dogs.
The general public outside the university found out about the Dog - My Eyes project when Katya and her handsome Sherlock were shown by the DON-24 TV channel. Then many students and their parents realized that a student of the Faculty of Psychology, Pedagogy and Defectology with a dog in pairs was not a whim, but a vital necessity.
"We implemented the Dog - My Eyes project in 2024, we did it on the basis of the university. And in 2025, I have a new project, "Seeing with my heart." There are more opportunities for those who don't see. What's the point: as part of the project, my dog Sherlock and I came to student lectures and talk about how the very idea of training guide dogs originated. How legislation regulates the work of such dogs, how and where it is possible to move with them, what is necessary for this," Ekaterina Kudrina said.
In addition, Katya and Sherlock conduct interesting experiments in the project for those who see. She invited first-year students to a master class and plunged them into darkness.
"It was a complete immersion in the world of blind people, when the guys drew with their eyes closed, tried to walk with a guide dog, and felt for themselves what it means not to see. There were tactile trails," Ekaterina continues.
In addition, as part of the project, Ekaterina teaches students how to handle guide dogs, what can be done when communicating with a blind person, and what absolutely cannot be done. How to properly address a blind person if he holds his dog's harness. And, of course, the most favorite part of the project is when Katya lets the students walk with Sherlock on the street, feel for themselves how the guide dog walks, how it works, how it executes commands.
"Now this project is developing, I continue to promote inclusion. My program has been coordinated with our regional branch of the Society for the Blind, the head of the club where guide dogs are trained. We have already started to conduct lessons not only for students, but also for children who need it," says our heroine.
Photo – TV channel "DON – 24".