[nagdu] Indiana guide dog law is not up to level of federal law

[Chasity Jackson]

Not sure if this has been sent to the list or not, as I have not been around 
on the computer much this past weekend. This is an experience from someone 
in Indiana. I don't know anything else about this except what is stated 
below.

> Good Evening all!
> As I return from a VERY informational session and inspiring one at that, 
> of
> Partners
> in Policymaking, I come home strongly supporting this bill and am asking
> for your support as fellow Hoosiers or guide dog handlers to help us get
> this bill
> passed.
> This bill is the direct result of several recent occurances, where a 
> single
> mother
> was not allowed access to a school board meeting in the carmel Clay school
> system.  She had come to the school board meeting to protest the removal 
> of
> two service
> dogs that were for attending students.  When refused access to
> the meeting, she displayed her id, the dog was wearing his identification
> jacket,
> and even though she and another person was there read and presented copies
> of the ADA, she was still denied access.
> After the police were called to the scene, she was finally admitted to the
> back of
> the room, after the sign-up sheet had been passed around for those wishing
> to make public comments.  She was unable to hear or understand what was
> being said
> or who was speaking at any given time.
> A federal lawsuit has been filed for this violation, and would be filed
> under state
> legislation, however, since Indiana law currently defines that service
> animals are to be allowed in places that provide services to the public, 
> the
> school
> does not fall into this category, as it only offers services to a limited
> portion of the public.  Thus the current language of the law, under state
> regulations
> allow schools to exclude service animals from schools.
> A second situation involves a lady in Ft. Wayne, IN, who works for Do It
> Best hardware
> store headquarters there in Ft. Wayne.  She contacted her Human resources
> dept., notifying them that she would be applying for a guide dog.  When 
> she
> received
> acceptance to the school, she notified the HR dept again, and they
> told her congratulations.  Then when she requested the vacation time off, 
> a
> full
> four weeks, they approved the time off and again showed thier support
> for her.  However, when she returned home and showed up for work on the
> first day
> after receiving her dog, the VP of human resources stood in the doorway
> of the building and refused to allow her access to her employment.  They
> told her
> that she could not enter the building whatsoever with the dog.
> Do It Best has since set her up against her suggestions, set up a full
> office within
> her home, installing phone lines, purchasing a new computer, and 
> installing
> a T link in order to provide "reasonable accomodations".  This lady has 
> been
> "provided:
> these things to accomodate her, but she is not allowed to step
> foot on the building premises of her employer with her dog.  She has even
> been notified
> that she is not allowed to bring the dog to company sponsored picnics
> and functions that are for the employees.
> Do It Best hardware stores themselves are all completely assistance dog
> friendly.
> The company however, has used the loophole within the state statute,
> that because the Headquarters office does not serve the general public, 
> that
> they
> are exempt from the state regulation of having to provide their employee
> access to their facilities.  They have under the ADA though, provided
> "reasonable
> accomodations".
> This situation very much concerns me as a guide dog handler, as this 
> statute
> currently
> is not up to the level of the federal law.  The way the IN statute
> reads right now, the schools can deny me access to my children's schools 
> on
> the basis
> of my guide dog, should they want to, and unless I have the financial
> ability to fight this on a federal level, I have no choice but to back 
> down
> on this.
> And that REALLY bothers me as a mother of three young kids either
> in or soon to be in elementary school.
> So what you can do...
> This piece of legislation that is being proposed can be read and followed
> here:
> session/bill
> http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/bill
> watch/billinfo?year=2009&session=1&request=getBill&docno=1603#latest_info
> The following committee is the one that will be hearing this bill and I
> sincerely
> and strongly urge you to contact especially the Chair of this committee
> and House speaker Pat Bauer, as well as the rest of this committee, 
> voicing
> how important
> this bill is.  The more people that are the actual consituants
> of these committee members, the more it will help.  So if you know anyone
> that is
> within these districts, please, please have them contact these committee
> members below at the link I've provided to contact these gentlemen.
> Labor and Employment Committee
> Rep. David Niezgodski, Chair: South Bend District 7
> Rep. Chuck Moseley,Vice Chair:Portage District 10
> Rep. Dan Leonard, RMM: District 50
> Rep. Doug Gutwein: District 16
> Rep. John Bartlett: Indianapolis District 95
> Rep. Matt Bell: District 83
> Rep. Clyde Kersey: Terre Haute District 43
> Rep. Gerald Torr: District 39
> Rep. Dennie Oxley: Taswell District 73
> Rep. Greg Steuerwald: District 40
> Rep. Russ Stilwell: Boonville District 74
> Rep. Dennis Tyler: Muncie  District 34
> How to contact committee members:
> http://www.in.gov/cgibin/legislative/contact/contact.pl
> Contacting House speaker-Pat Bauer:
> public/sur
> http://www.in.gov/surveytool/public/sur
> vey.php?name=bauer_comments_form_1
> Currently, the bill is waiting to go to hearing.  As of this morning, the
> bill was
> not very high on the priority list because of it being a budget year
> and we were being told that it wasn't going to make it to a hearing and 
> thus
> die
> for this session.  We just received word tonight though, that Rep. Leonard
> has received word from Chairman Niezgodski that he would hear the bill in
> the House
> Committee on Labor and Employment.  The bill will mostly get a hearing
> this coming week however the date for that hearing has not been set.
> Tentatively
> the date is February 12th. We will not know the exact date until the day
> before.
> So please, please send in your emails, make the phone calls, and please 
> help
> me gather
> the support we need to get this passed!
> Thank you all soooo much for your help on this!
> Sincerely,
> Kacie Weldy & Rei
> Vice President ~
> Indiana Deaf Blind Association
>
>
>
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