[Flagdu] NAGDU Responds to Petition to Ban Online Sale of ServiceAnimal Gear

[Janet DeLuca]

Hello Sherrill,

I couldn't agree with you more on this matter.
Do you currently have a committee working on Florida ADA legislation for
criminal penalties? 
If so could you contact me, I would be very interested in working on this
committee.

Warm Wishes,
Janet DeLuca
Janetsyear2010 at gmail.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Flagdu [mailto:flagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sherrill
O'Brien
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 6:03 PM
To: Florida Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [Flagdu] NAGDU Responds to Petition to Ban Online Sale of
ServiceAnimal Gear

Hello all,



I wanted to follow up on this important issue. As president of FLAGDU, I am
certainly in agreement with our NAGDU president. I would urge you to go to
NAGDU's Harness Up blog and read what Marion has to say in response to the
petition of Canine Companions for Independence, which would seek to ban the
sale of service animal gear. I admit that it is a natural reaction to at
first think banning service dog gear would help make this fraud go away. But
we need to be thoughtful and careful when proceeding so we don't diminish
our rights in the process. It is my opinion that legitimate service dog
handlers should not have to show identification everywhere we go. We could
certainly work on legeslation to  put in place criminal penalties for
falsely asserting that a dog is a service animal. Actually, when a person
commits this fraud, they are not only pretending that their dog is a service
animal, they are also pretending to have a disability. After all, the first
question an employee or staff member can ask: is   the dog a service animal
required because of a disability? So it is fraudulent that the person is
passing him or herself off as having a disability. This is most assuredly a
criminal offense, so it makes sense to work toward adding this into our
Florida access laws


On a personal note, I've been wanting to purchase a lightweight and washable
nylon harness for Fallon. It would be wonderful to use when we go to the
beach, as I wouldn't be worried about getting saltwater on it. I should have
the right to purchase such a harness, and not be penalized because some
choose to break the law.


So take a look at Marion's response if you haven't done so, and I'd love to
see a thoughtful discussion on this matter.

Warm regards
Sherrill


-----Original Message-----
From: Flagdu [mailto:flagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org]On Behalf Of National
Association of Guide Dog Users
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 1:41 PM
To: 'Florida Association of Guide Dog Users'; 'NAGDU Mailing List, the
National Association of Guide Dog Users'; New Jersey Association of Guide
Dog Users; 'New York Association of Guide Dog Users';
nagdu-leaders at nfbnet.org; 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
Subject: [Flagdu] NAGDU Responds to Petition to Ban Online Sale of
ServiceAnimal Gear


Dear All,

                A  petition has been recently circulated from Canine
Companions for Independence (CCI) that seems to have the support of other
service animal training programs. This petition is asking the U.S.
Department of Justice to ban the online sale of service animal gear in an
effort to stem the proliferation of the use of what the writer is calling
"fake service animal gear". The National Association of Guide dog Users Inc.
(NAGDU), A STRONG AND PROUD DIVISION OF THE National Federation of the
Blind, has written an official response to this petition. We would like to
encourage those interested in this issue to read our response and make
comments on our online blog. You can read our comment by visiting our
Wordpress blog at



http://harnessup.wordpress.com



Fraternally yours,



Marion Gwizdala, President

National Association of Guide Dog Users Inc.

National Federation of the Blind

(813) 626-2789 (Office)

888-NAGDU411 (Hotline

President at nagdu.org

www.nagdu.org



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