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. The references are mainly in Greek.