[nagdu] Indiana service dog law, help requested

Tue Feb 17 18:51:56 UTC 2009

Thank you Susan. 
What is going on in Indiana is wrong, there's no argument from me on
that front. 
I just don't think the woman's status or lack thereof as a married
woman, or ability to bear and/or raise children has any bearing on her
treatment. I also feel even more strongly that her position on the issue
is not relevant to her discrimination case. 

I'd hope that should she have been a single bachelor with no kids, who
was speaking on behalf of say, getting rid of recess, the NFB and guide
dog users would still be defending her right to be at that meeting with
her dog present. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of sblanjones11
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 3:19 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Indiana service dog law, help requested

Rebecca,
I absolutely agree that marital status, etc. are not, and should not be
issues in this case!
Susan & Rhoda

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (IT)
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 5:21 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Indiana service dog law, help requested

I'll start by saying that what happened in this school district is
wrong. 
I also want to know why the mother's being single is emphasized? What
does her martial status or lackthereof have to do with this legislation?

The fact is, she's got a kid in the school system, and she needs to know
what is going on there. Even if she did not have a child, she is a
taxpayer, and has the right to know where her money is going, and to
speak on the issues she chooses. 
And, even if she was against service dogs for children in the school
system, what difference does that make? 
These details are irrivalant. 
What do ffolks have to say? Her position on the issue, her relationships
with adults, and her child are nonissues. Why are they braught into this
discussion? 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jenine Stanley
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 11:07 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: [nagdu] Indiana service dog law, help requested

The following note comes from Kacie Weldy, a GDF grad who is needing to
get the word out about this pending legislation. Please read and pass
along to appropriate parties. 

Kacie writes: 

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:

<http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/bill>
http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/bill
<http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2009&session
=1&r
equest=getBill&docno=1603#latest_info>
watch/billinfo?year=2009&session=1&request=getBill&docno=1603#latest_inf
o

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
<http://www.in.gov/cgibin/legislative/contact/contact.pl> 

Contacting House speaker-Pat Bauer:
<http://www.in.gov/surveytool/public/sur>
http://www.in.gov/surveytool/public/sur
<http://www.in.gov/surveytool/public/survey.php?name=bauer_comments_form
_1>
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
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indba/>  

Read here about my journey with my guide dogs and life:
http://hearnoevil-seenoevil.blogspot.com
<http://hearnoevil-seenoevil.blogspot.com/> 

 Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com

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