[nagdu] service dogs and people's fears or allergies

[Steven Johnson]

Wow, that is very interesting.  Last fall, when the regulations surrounding
the definition of service dog were proposed and then were adopted this past
spring, I, being a County employee, worked with our Personnel Department to
make sure that this policy was updated.  You may want to request to see the
policy and work with the county to make sure that the proper changes are
made as to not segregate or treat persons using service dogs different from
the general public.  Failure to comply with this as you know, could
potentially result in legal action against the county for discriminatory
practices.  

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Lyn Gwizdak
Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 12:43 PM
To: NFBnet NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] service dogs and people's fears or allergies

Hi Marion and all,
On Friday, I wwent to our local MediCal office to request a new MediCal card
to reflect my name change.  Before I went through the metal detector, the
security guard there told me that all people with service dogs would have to
sit in a seperate room with the dog and not in the large room where people
sit while waiting their turn at the window.  They said they had this policy
because people may have allergies or be afraid of dogs.  they said that this
was a directive from the County.

Another worker said that sinse the room wasn't full, they brought me a chair
to sit near the guard and metal detector to wait my turn sinse the window
was right there.  I sat there and soon my turn came, I took care of business
and left.

The workers there were coureous - even nice folks - and I think they thought
the policy rather stupid and they had no problem with dogs.

Has anyone else had a situation like this?  I did tell them that allergies
and fears didn't constitute an excuse for segregation of dog users from the
general public - the same thing that came up with the cab drivers and the
ADA.  Marion, is our County violating the ADA with this policy?

Lyn and Landon
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