Megan Taylor, a 22-year-old blind woman from St Helens, England, was traveling on a bus with Rowley, her guide dog, when another passenger began questioning the animal’s presence. When she explained that Rowley was an assistance dog, the woman did not believe her and demanded that she take him off the bus.
According to Megan, the passenger even told her that guide dogs had to be yellow because Rowley was black. She also called her a liar when Megan tried to explain that the animal was trained to help her. Megan eventually decided to ignore her and continued her journey with Rowley.
Rowley is a black Labrador and had been trained to assist Megan in her daily life. The young woman had begun experiencing episodes of blindness after suffering a serious head injury when she was 15, and her dog could help her with various tasks and even call for help if she lost consciousness.
The incident went viral in 2019 precisely because of how unusual the situation was: the passenger had assumed that a guide dog had to have a particular coat color. The case also served as a reminder that assistance dogs do not necessarily have to be yellow: what matters is their training and the role they fulfill alongside the person who needs them.