[nagdu] Guide Dog Access Challenge in Indianna

Fri Apr 23 00:05:55 UTC 2010

Tami,
    Merry has a saying she uses quite frequently to describe this situation: 
"When the defendant becomes the victim, the victim becomes the defendant!" 
It seems as if the owner is saying that it was Ms. Kirby's fault that the 
manager didn't understand her assertions that her guide dog was a guide dog!

Fraternally yours,
Marion


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Guide Dog Access Challenge in Indianna


> Ah.  It's the blind person's fault!  Well, along with the foreigner.  How 
> is
> an innocent, well-meaning business owner to survive the cruelty of peole
> coming into his restaurant trying not to be served like that?  Will the
> conspiracy never end?  /evil grin/
>
> Actually, it does seem to be a pretty good article and fairly well 
> balanced.
> I just found the business owner's statement to be, um, interesting.
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Marion Gwizdala
> Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 1:59 AM
> To: NAGDU List; blindtlk at nfbnet.org; NFB Chapter presidents
> Subject: [nagdu] Guide Dog Access Challenge in Indianna
>
> Dear All,
>    I want to thank National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU) member
> Susan Jones and NFB of Indianna President Ron Brown for their advocacy on
> this issue. This story helps to underscore why we need to have an 
> affiliate
> NAGDU division in each state! Though Indianna has a state statute
> criminalizing discrimination based upon disability, the local law
> enforcement told Ms. Kirby that "this is not a police matter".
>    If you would like information about how to organize an affiliate NAGDU
> division, please feel free to get in touch with me. My contact information
> is below my signature.
>
> Fraternally yours,
> Marion Gwizdala, President
> National Association of Guide Dog Users
> National Federation of the Blind
> 813-598-7161
> President at NFB-NAGDU.ORG
> HTTP://NFB-NAGDU.ORG
>
> Misunderstanding raises awareness: Woman with service dog turned away from
> Terre Haute restaurant
>
> Howard Greninger and Arthur Foulkes The Tribune-Star
>
> TERRE HAUTE - Hannah Kirby wanted to enjoy a belated celebration of the
> birthday of a good friend, so she selected a Terre Haute restaurant she 
> had
> heard
> has good food and which she had never visited.
>
> As it turns out, she never made it past the counter of the Sunrise Family
> Restaurant near Fifth Street and Margaret Avenue on Saturday.
>
> Kirby is blind and uses a guide dog to help her get around.
>
> "They refused to let us in with Lanie," Kirby said of her nearly 
> 4-year-old
> golden retriever guide dog. "She is my eyes. She is what gets me around 
> and
> through the stores. We go everywhere together.
>
> "They would not let us in the restaurant," Kirby said Monday. "We could 
> only
> go in if we left the dog outside. I told him [the restaurant worker], 'I
> have
> my leader dog identification card if you need to see it,' but he said, 
> 'No,
> you cannot come in.'"
>
> Kirby also said that a customer at the checkout counter agreed she should 
> be
> allowed to enter the restaurant.
>
> Kirby's friend, Judy Sweeney, has worked for the past 40 years as an
> orientation mobility instructor, teaching skills for independent travel to
> visually
> impaired people.
>
> "I explained that it was a service dog and that federal law had to allow 
> it.
> He said no, we have to leave the dog outside. He said that the customers
> would
> not like it and that we could not come in," Sweeney said.
>
> Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, privately owned businesses that
> serve the public, such as restaurants, hotels, retail stores, taxicabs,
> theaters,
> concert halls and sports facilities, are prohibited from discriminating
> against individuals with disabilities. The ADA law requires businesses to
> allow
> people with disabilities to bring service animals onto business premises 
> in
> areas where customers are generally allowed, according to the U.S.
> Department
> of Justice.
>
> Pamela Kieft, co-owner of the Sunrise Family Restaurant, said the
> family-style restaurant welcomes service animals. "Service dogs are 
> allowed,
> no problem,"
> Kieft said. "If there was a misunderstanding, I feel terrible about that."
>
> According to Kieft, the manager on duty - who "comes from another culture"
> and speaks with an accent - could not tell that Lanie was a service dog 
> and
> told
> the women that the restaurant does not allow pets. Kirby noted that the
> restaurant worker "sounded foreign."
>
> To him, "It looked like two ladies with a pet," Kieft said. When told the
> dog was a service animal, the manager wanted to verify this by asking what
> sort
> of service it provided, she said. The restaurant, which employs about 20
> people, trains its employees to welcome service animals; however, it's
> important
> to ensure the animals really are service animals, Kieft said.
>
> "People try to bring pets in here all the time," she said. "We definitely 
> do
> not allow pets."
>
> Sweeney, meanwhile, said she "kept asking for [the employee's] name or 
> name
> of the owner or the manager and was refused the information. I just got a
> card
> for the restaurant. I got a little upset. I offered to put a blindfold on
> him and let him experience what it is to be blind."
>
> The two then left the restaurant to go to another place for lunch.
>
> "Hannah was so embarrassed," Sweeney said. "When we got out to the car, 
> she
> said, 'You know, I feel like I have leprosy,''' Sweeney said.
>
> "I felt angry," Sweeney added. "Working with visually impaired, life is 
> not
> easy for them. Hannah has gone to a lot of effort, she lives alone and
> maintains
> her apartment, then to be humiliated like that. I see her as someone
> striving to be independent, and she was put down for it."
>
> "The manager said they were welcome to come in, but he needed to make sure
> clearly it was a service dog," restaurant co-owner Kieft said Monday when
> asked
> about the situation. Kieft was not present when the incident happened, but
> was subsequently informed by the manager.  "The lady got very upset," 
> Kieft
> said she was told.
>
> Kirby started losing her eyesight when she was 9 years old and now only 
> has
> light perception. "I can tell when it is light or dark," she said.
>
> Lanie was trained through the Leader Dogs for the Blind program in 
> Rochester
> Hills, Mich., where Kirby trained with the dog for a month before assuming
> ownership.
>
> Kirby said being denied access to a restaurant happened once before in 
> Terre
> Haute, about two years ago when she went to a chain restaurant. She
> contacted
> that restaurant's corporate headquarters, which "apologized all over
> themselves and said they would train their people to not ever do that 
> again.
>
> "That is the whole point of this. I am not trying to be mean. It is
> embarrassing and you feel dirty when they won't let you in. You can see
> Lanie is clean
> and is taken care of," Kirby said of her guide dog. "I just want to make
> sure it doesn't happen to someone else because there are several guide 
> dogs
> in
> this town and it is the law."
>
> But Kieft said the restaurant manager would never wish to turn away anyone
> with a service animal and worries about potential bad publicity.
>
> "From the bottom of my heart, if this woman was hurt by something that was 
> a
> misunderstanding, I feel so terrible about that," Kieft said. "She had to
> have
> clearly misunderstood or she was clearly so mad she did not want to have
> service.
>
> "This is not me. This is not us," Kieft said. "Something like this could
> really hurt a small business like ours," she said.
>
> After the incident, Kirby contacted the National Federation for the Blind.
> Kirby is secretary for the Terre Haute chapter, which has about 10 
> members,
> she
> said. The federation suggested she make a police report. Kirby said she
> contacted police, who instructed her to contact the Better Business Bureau
> or the
> media.
>
> Sweeney on Monday called Mayor Duke Bennett's office, which put her in
> contact with the city's Human Relations Commission. Sweeney said she will
> provide
> Kirby with the information "and let her decide what she wants to do."
>
> Kirby said she's had no other recent problems at other Terre Haute
> restaurants or retailers such as Walmart, where she is given individual
> assistance while
> shopping.
>
> Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or
> howard.greninger at tribstar.com
>
> Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or
> arthur.foulkes at tribstar.com.
>
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