Kika & Me: How One Extraordinary Guide Dog Changed My World

Chloe_Alumni

In my spare time I love to read books, but I'm very aware that disabled people are rarely featured. 

This is why I would like to share Kika & Me: How One Extraordinary Guide Dog Changed My World by Dr Amit Patel.

About the author

Dr Amit Patel is a disability rights campaigner, motivational speaker and independent diversity, inclusion and accessibility consultant. He is registered severely sight impaired (blind) having lost his sight to keratoconus in 2013.

Amit studied medicine at Cambridge and qualified as a doctor, specialising in emergency medicine and major incidents. During medical school, Amit was diagnosed with keratoconus, a condition which changes the shape of your corneas, but which is usually easily treated with a corneal transplant. However, Amit was one of the rare individuals for whom the transplants rejected and despite travelling to the US for ground breaking surgery, Amit lost his sight completely just one year after getting married.

Since then, Amit has been on a journey to learn to live with his sight loss, from learning how to make a cup of tea again to walking using a white cane. Once getting to grips with the basics himself, Amit set out to help others who were new to sight loss, through volunteering with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Amit is now an active campaigner for accessibility, diversity and inclusion, speaking out against the issues that disabled people face daily.

In September 2014, and after only 6 weeks on the waiting list, Amit was matched to his Guide Dog, Kika, a white labrador. Together, Amit and Kika travel through London and its surrounds on a daily basis, charting their journeys, challenges and the people they meet on their travels via their Twitter accounts (@Kika_GuideDog and @BlindDad_UK) and Instagram (@Kika_GuideDog).

Follow Kika and Amit:

Dr Amit Patel and his guide dog Kika document their travel through London and its surrounds, challenges they face and what it's like to have a guide dog. Amit also does a great deal of campaigning work around living with sightloss.

• Buy Kika & Me
• Follow Amit on Twitter
• Follow Kika on Twitter

Have you read this book? Would you recommend any other disabled authors? Let us know in the comments below!

willow12

I like the sound of this book I so need too read it!!

Chloe_Alumni

I think it sounds great too @willow12! It's on my list of things to read. Do you read much?

willow12

@Chloe_Scope I read alot tbh books all weekly msgs I tend too put kids too bed and have some wind down time and read 

Chloe_Alumni

Sounds lovely @willow12.

willow12

@Chloe_Scope only spare time I get when kids r in bed or at school lol 

WestHam06

Hi @Chloe_Scope, 
                               Thank you for sharing this with us, sounds like a really great book to read and very inspiring Thank you