[nagdu] service animals for other disabilities

Mardi Hadfield wolfsinger.lakota at gmail.com
Mon Jun 1 03:03:42 UTC 2009


Hi every one,    Sara, I agree with you. I suffer from seizures, and when I
had a cat that would alert to my seizures, I ran into many confrontations.
While I was visually impaired, I could see well enough that I did not need a
guide dog and the cat was never wrong when she alerted me.She sat in a
basket on my wheelchair and went everywhere with me. Because I had this
wonderful animal , I was able to leave my home and not be afraid I would end
up in some hospital after having a seizure in public. She allowed me to get
some where , away from people before it happened. I lost my beloved Tabitha
to Cancer. I then decided to get a service dog. My dog had a special
mobility harness,with an upright handle,for assisting me in transferring to
and from the wheelchair.  Lily would alert me to my seizures, pick up
dropped items, pull my wheelchair and many other tasks. I still ran into
confrontations and was denied access many times. Once when I was denied
access in a convenience store, I called the police . When the officer
arrived, he was annoyed that I called for this kind of problem. Then he went
into the store and talked to the manager who had denied me access. I did
tell her that Lily was a service dog and she told me she did not care. She
told the police officer that she never told me that I could not come into
the store with my dog. The officer then informed me that if I ever made a
false call again, I would be arrested. Both of my service animals had ID
cards and harnesses but that did not seem to matter. Even with my guide dog
I have had many confrontations. I do not leave my house with intent to start
trouble, but if I do get a confrontation, I do not back down. I have tried
to educate the public, but the public does not always want to be educated. I
recently had an incident where I was denied access on a public bus. My dog's
leash was ripped from my hand and she was kicked and thrown off the bus. I
think there will always be some people that will try to deny access and
cause problems for a disabled person, no matter what the disability is, but
it is far worse on the ones who do have hidden disabilities.  Have a great
day,  Mardi and Nala, semi-retired and Shaman, gdit

-- 
http://wolfsinger-lakota.blogspot.com/



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