[nagdu] Questions about Federal regs regarding paratransit

[Marion & Martin]

Charlene,
    Since I am not an attorney, this is not legal advice. To your first 
question, I believe there is no requirement that you notify any entity that 
you will be accompanied by a service animal. The entity cannot deny serving 
you because of the presence of the dog, so why should they need to know.
    As for the question about HIPPA, I have often wondered the same thing. 
Unless the radio signal is scrambled, anything transmitted over the airwaves 
is open to interception by anyone who has a receiver on that frequency. For 
that matter, anyone who is using that service can hear that information 
being broadcast over the radio. Our service regularly transmits people's 
names, addresses, and destinations which may compromise the privacy of 
individuals. they do not, however, ever transmit social security numbers, 
but did at one time. HTH!

Fraternally,
Marion

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charlene Ota" <caota at hawaii.rr.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:27 PM
Subject: [nagdu] Questions about Federal regs regarding paratransit


> Several of us in Hawaii are having a problem with guide dogs on 
> paratransit.
> We've all notified the company and validated that the fact that we have
> guide dogs is in our records and the reservationists see this at the time 
> we
> make reservations.  However, even so, we're having a problem if we make a
> reservation when we are picked up we are at times given a hard time about
> because we didn't tell the reservationists that we have a service dog. The
> other day I was almost put out of a cab from one of the companies that
> paratransit contracts with. When I pointed out to the reservationists that
> it is in my record that I have a guide dog so why do I have to tell you
> every time that I take him she kept arguing that it's assumed that if you
> don't mention that you're taking the dog then you're not taking the dog. 
> She
> compared it to having a PCA. I tried to tell them that it's actually the
> norm for me to have my guide dog with me, but this didn't matter to her.
>
> So, my question is, can we be put off of paratransit if we don't
> specifically mention our dog every time we make a reservation? Is a 
> service
> dog or guide dog comparable to a PCA? Personally, I think this is going 
> too
> far and it is verging on discrimination.  Also, one final question, are 
> our
> HIPA rights violated when our information is discussed over the air of the
> radio or cell phone with the drivers?  To me, paratransit is public
> transportation and I don't feel they have the right to do some of these
> things. But, I need the Federal regs to do much about the situation.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Charlene
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