Ioanna Maria Gertsou

Ioanna-Maria Gertsou was born on January 20, 1979 in Athens Greece and she is visually impaired due to retinopathy of prematurity. She is mostly known as representative of the guide dog movement, through "Lara Guide-Dog School Hellas" a non - profit organisation that she co-founded in 2008. She is an activist, promoting human diversity, guide dog access, physical and electronic accessibility and animal rights. She is also a scientist with superior studies in experimental psychology and cognitive science. From 2006 to 2012, she worked as a researcher in the Human/computer Interaction Laboratory, located at the Foundation of Research and Technology Hellas (F.O.R.T.H.) which is considered to be a major scientific center worldwide. In 2008, during a visit at F.O.R.T.H the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias was moved by her presentation and did something extraordinary: he bowed and kissed her hand to show his respect. Ioanna-Maria is one among the very few visually impaired / disabled researchers around the world and the only one, employed in Greece. Additionally, she is considered to be a rare case of a person who is blind since birth to exhibit visual synaesthesia. That is why, she is being asked to contribute to experiments, studies and projects regarding perception and the crossing of the senses. Every year, she is invited and participates in numerous conferences, arising matters varying from psychological research to guide dogs and contemporary issues as youth unemployment., Her knoweledge in psychology is often shared on newspapers and blogs. She was the first person to enter with her guide dog (and a dog in general), into the Hellenic Parliament and the European Parliament. In 2009, she protested through the web because her guide dog was denied in two reustaurants. She wrote a letter which went viral and caused great awareness. Following this incident, one year later a Spanish tourist named Antonia Pons Losada was not permitted into the new Acropolis Museum with her guide dog. As a result of local and international outcry regarding issues of guide dog access in Greece on August 2010, Ioanna contributed to the voting of the first national law, related to guide dogs. As soon as the law was approved by the Hellenic Parliament, she took her guide dog "May" and a Television crew for a visit to the Acropolis Museum. Today on the Museum's website we are informed that "guide and assistance dogs, are welcome". According to the law 3868/2010, guide, assistance and therapy dogs are allowed practically everywhere in Greece. The law was recently reviewed, including guide/assistance/therapy dogs who are still in training and claryfing that they can enter into transportation means, without a muzzle. While transforming Greece into a role model for guide dog access, she joined the board of directors of the European Guide Dog Federation to defend the rights and access of guide dog teams, throughout the European Union. In 2013 at the European Parliament, she and former MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis were the main rapporteurs for the voting of an E.U. direction, aiming to promote e-accessibility on governmental websites. The direction was approved in 2014. Ioanna-Maria, was two times a political candidate. One in the 2009 Hellenic National Elections with the Ecogreens Party and one in the 2014 European Elections with the "Greek European Citizens Party". She was a paracycling athlete. Always accompanied by her two guide dogs "Lara" and "May", she had appeared on several documentaries, TV shows, movies and public events., The references are mainly in Greek.