[nagdu] The disabled fret new service-animal law Rights

[Ginger Kutsch]

The disabled fret new service-animal law Rights 
SLC advocate says confusion is 'biggest concern.'
By Julia Lyon 
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 03/11/2009 10:51:37 AM MDT
 
The smell of raw meat or the chaos of Wal-Mart can launch Edward
Carey back to a time when saving soldiers' lives in Iraq was his
job. Now the former combat medic is home and Lexi, a border
collie, is trying to save his. 
 
A service dog-in-training, the 8-month old black and white puppy
yanks the veteran back to reality with a tug on his pants when a
panic attack begins. Often, Carey says, she knows one is coming
before he does. 
 
Plagued by anxiety, Carey hopes a new state law won't stop people
like him from healing. 
 
Lawmakers have eliminated references to emotional support animals
allowed in private and public places, leaving some Utahns with
disabilities concerned about what the future may hold for their
service. 
 
     The newly passed bill, SB 173, sponsored by Sen. Margaret
Dayton would replace SB 192 (2007), sponsored by Sen. Scott
McCoy.  
or comfort animal. They worry the law will step on the rights of
the disabled, preventing them from getting the animal assistance
they need. 
 
"Our biggest concern is the confusion it's going to cause," said
Alison Smith, an advocate at the Disability Law Center in Salt
Lake City, noting that "service animal" under the federal
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is broadly defined. 
 
Which animals are permitted and where they can go may leave their
owners and businesses puzzled, she said. Emotional support
animals had been broadly defined as one identified by a mental
health therapist and needed in a specific location to address a
mental health issue. 
 
Others see the new law as potentially exclusive, eliminating a 
disabled person's ability to take their animal out in public
depending on its technical status. 
 
"What the state is doing is they're trying to usurp a federal
law, which is illegal," said Alan Rawley, a former public health
inspector who lives in Bountiful. 
 
But one specialist says the new law now just restates what's in
the ADA. The prior law had been too broad and become abused,
critics say. 
 
"I think we have gotten out of control with allowing emotional
support animals," said Linda Robinson, executive director of
Gateway to Canine Partnerships, which teaches people to train
their service dogs. "As much as I love cats ... I don't think a
cat can be trained to go in public with you. I don't think a
rabbit can be trained to be a service animal." 
 
Trained service animals that perform tasks and emotional support
animals that soothe and comfort are different, said Mary Ann
Cowen, the Salt Lake County ADA coordinator. 
 
"A lot of these people who claim they're going to be
discriminated against ... they probably have the wrong name on
their service animal," she said. 
 
People like Carey would still be permitted to go out and about
with their animal because the dog helps mitigate his Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, Cowen said. 
 
That would be good news for the veteran. 
 
"I now go everywhere with a battle buddy," he said. "She keeps me
in the here and now." 
 
jlyon at sltrib.com 
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11881348
 


Ginger Bennett Kutsch
Morristown, NJ