[nagdu] Service Dog Forced To Ride In Taxi Trunk

Tamara Smith-Kinney tamara.8024 at comcast.net
Thu Jun 9 23:33:02 UTC 2011 

Good points and questions.  And you're right.  Whether her reasons are
important to me, it wasn't me running late to somewhere I needed to be when
I found myself facing an impossible choice.  It was her.  She was the one
who had to decide what she was going to have to give up on the other end of
what should have been an ordinary cab ride, or even how that was going to
affect the rest of her schedule when she had to cancel and reschedule when
she was already running late...  All I know is that when the cab showed up,
she became a crime victim and in the midst of dealing with that criminal
behavior she choked and did something that we all can agree no one should
*ever* do.

Which I am not trying to justify.  However, I feel really strongly that the
important thing to keep in mind is that she was dealing with a criminal --
in the act of committing a crime against her -- at the time.  She hadn't had
time to plan for it; she didn't have time to run to the internet to
reasearch dogs in car trunks -- assuming she was a lifelong non-driver and
just had never considered checking out car trunks and what they're like
inside in case someone asked her someday to toss her guide dog into one, she
didn't have anyone to ask for help -- or at least it sounds like she was
alone at the time.

*That* is the heart of the situation.  The crime.  Yeah, I think she should
have chosen differently.  I believe I would take a different course of
action.  But judging someone else or suggesting she be punished for her
response to a crime in progress when she was the one looking the criminal in
the eye -- not me, not any of us -- is something I am not qualified to do.

Now, if she decides it's a good idea to just have the dog ride in the trunk
of the car as a matter of course, I will be all over cracking down on
*that*.  I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen, though.  And I do hope
someone is there to reach out to her and to help her get the inner tools --
knowledge and a spine if that is lacking -- to do better next time it
happens.  I can't, but I've learned something from hearing about this case,
so I am better equipped to do better than she did when that one comes up for
me.  Whether I will make the best call when I'm totally blindsided by
something bizarre like that that I've never gotten around to planning for
remains to be seen.  Sigh.

The fingernail polish and the job vs. date bit was just a sort of
illustration of how easy it is to impart one's priorities onto another when
judging their decisions in a bad spot.  Come to think of it, the reason it
was nail polish that popped into my mind is because there are people who
should know better who have insisted (and would still if I gave them a
chance) that I need to get a weekly manicure and pedicure now that I'm blind
and that if I won't do that and can't prioritize that into my budget and
schedule -- even over medical treatment for my very serious physical illness
and the needs of my dog -- then I am clearly completely screwed up, don't
have my priorities straight and probably need counseling because I don't
know how to do what's important and just screw around instead.  Well, guess
which state agency that person works for.  They do that sort of thing to
everybody -- if we're all crazy then they don't have to buy us stuff, I
think is how that goes -- but they never do get the legally required pscyh
eval.  Or in my case, a second one, since the first one didn't work for
them...  Anyway, I didn't get manicures or use nail polish regularly when I
could see and was employed -- not needing expensive equipment they're paid
to help acquire -- so I can't see the point now.  It used to be something I
would chip before I even got out of the door, but now the stuff is a
metaphor for the judgment of priorities, I guess.  /smile/  Oh, also, I
never have gotten a manicure for a job interview and have no plans to in the
future, and this seems not have convinced the prospective employers in
question that I was not employable, since they invariable hire me.  Just the
state agency that seems to believe that strongly enough to forget that I'm
the one paying their salaries...  Or bits of them anyway.  Oh, well.  At
least they gave me a metaphor, and I can toss it out and confuse people with
it.  /lol/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of PICKRELL, REBECCA M (TASC)
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 12:40 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Service Dog Forced To Ride In Taxi Trunk

Tami 
Why would it matter if she was getting her nails done for a hot date v. for
a job interview? Love makes the world go round. Isn't saying "It's fine to
get your  nails done for a job but not for a date" conveying the same
attitude "I know what you need" that you (and me) dislike so much? 


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 7:38 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Service Dog Forced To Ride In Taxi Trunk

Jewel,

I like the way you expressed the balance there.  It's too easy to judge her
for her response, or at least I find it awfully tempting myself, until I
remember that the really shocking part is that she was put in this position
in the first place.

Honestly, when I was first reading the article was the statement of the
advocacy group there in Denver about how many complaints of *exactly* that
situation they receive on a regular basis.  And how many people on the list
have talked about having to deal with the same demand on a routine basis.  

Next time I spring for a cab from my regular company, I am going to kiss
whoever shows up.  /lol/ It had never occurred to me before yesterday that
when I get into a taxicab that I called and for which I will pay with a tip
to the driver that this is in fact a thing to be overjoyed about because
apparently it's not just something I should expect.  Who knew?

It's sad that one woman was put in this position and made what so many of us
agree -- and what she now seems to believe -- was the wrong choice.   But
the really sad thing is that this is a choice guide dog users have to make
in cities all over the country when the ADA is 20 years old now...  But
apparently, people still believe they can break that law with impunity.
And, let's face it.  They can.  So the driver got fired.  Boohoo.  Poor him.
How much was the fine?  Did he lose his license?  Is he being prosecuted for
animal abuse?  Is anybody going to get sued?  What about licensing reviews
in Denver, where it appears this is a common thing -- the demand to put the
dog in the trunk, at least.  If all these complaints are coming in all the
time, as the advocacy group seemed to be saying, why aren't they saying what
they're doing to prevent it?  Granted, maybe they did and the reporter
didn't include it.  Maybe they are doing something or trying to.

Yes, I do disagree with the woman's handling of the situation.  Yes, I
believe I would not make the same choice.

But the facets of this article and this case that I deplore have more to do
with the fact that, in the year 2011, a woman in a hurry can be put in the
position to have to consider it when all she wants to do is get to an
appointment.  For which she called a cab, for which I assume she intended to
pay, so that she could do so.  Which she has a legal right to do with her
dog without having to question wehter there will be a problem about it.
Only, clearly, she doesn't.  And if she doesn't, the rest of us don't,
either.

That concerns me for all of us and our dogs -- especially me and mine, I'll
admit that.  If we can't expect those in control of our independent
transportation to obey the law when we try to use it, then guess what,
folks?  We're *not* independent.  We're at their mercy because they can just
make us late or leave us stranded whenever they feel like it, and there is
not a thing we can do about it.  Except to wonder suddenly if we need to get
somewhere so badly that we need to ask the question about putting the guide
dog in the trunk in the first place.

What I keep remembering when I want to give in to my own urge to judge her
because I agree she is respolnsible for the dog and that the dog is the only
true victim is that she did not put the need to make that choice on herself.
A law breaker did.  A criminal, who held her freedom in his hands and broke
the law to force her into an untenable choice where nothing she did was the
right thing.  She had to decide, on the spot, what to do and what to give
up...  True, I don't know what her appointment was about.  I suppose I would
feel differently and view the situation differently if she was in a hurry to
get her nails done...  Unless she needed to get her nails done for a job
interview, as opposed to needing to get them done for a hot date...  Well, I
don't know any of that.  Just that when people control your transportation,
they control your access to resources like doctors, job interviews, meetings
with advocates (who won't advocate for you if you choose to be late just
because you're so irresponsible as to make the cab driver refuse your dog...
They'll come up with an excuse anyway, but when someone fails me in
transportation in that instance -- it's happened -- then guess what happens
to me when I do get there or call to reschedule?  You got it!)  And so on.

So I agree with the just say no position when it comes to putting the dog in
the trunk.  But the original crime is still the cabby's. And it *is* just
that.  A crime.  The woman became a crime victim the minute he arrived in
his cab.  And, no, you don't have to literally put a knife to someone's
throat to have power over them.  He had the power of transportation, which
she needed to get to something else she needed.  He broke the law by
refusing her access unless she made a bad choice.  Is it physically the same
thing as rape?  No.  But in principle, it's very much the same thing.  Give
in to me, or you lose something important to you.  Do what I tell you to do,
or I leave you stranded.

Putting the dog in the trunk, not okay.  But breaking the law by demanding
the dog go in the trunk is far, far worse. 

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jewel
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 10:56 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Service Dog Forced To Ride In Taxi Trunk

Dear all,
Having ridden in the trunk of a car (don't ask...just know it was in a
parking lot only), I can say that it is NOT comfortable nor safe. I
would be surprised if this guide dog does not have trauma from the
experience, especially considering the way many cab drivers drive
these days!

This is outrageous and saddens me deeply, that anyone could suggest
putting a dog in the trunk and that anyone, no matter how much in a
hurry, would agree to it. I don't blame the guide dog handler, but I
am saddened by this.

A dog lover,
Jewel

On 6/8/11, Lyn Gwizdak <linda.gwizdak at cox.net> wrote:
> Good!!!
>
> Somebody posted about how we shouldn't dump on the woman who put her dog
in
> the trunk - called it like blaming the victim of rape or other abuse.
>
> I don't think this is the same.  Although people can make mistakes and
maybe
> not react in the best way, I think we do have to think about how our
actions
> will impact future actions by the public.  If we don't stand our ground
then
> people will think it's ok to push us aroound.  Putting a dog into a closed
> trunk is NEVER ok to do and it endangers the dog, period.
>
> I'm sure the woman in question will never do this again and the cab driver
> has been fired so he may never pull that stunt again, either.
>
> Although, we don't want to blame the victims of crime, we still do have to
> take the responsibility of our own safety as well as we can.  We have to
be
> supportive of each other making good choices and be there for folks when
> stuff goes sideways.
>
> Lyn and Landon
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 8:35 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Service Dog Forced To Ride In Taxi Trunk
>
>
>> According to the ABC reporter who interviewed me today, the driver was
>> fired.
>>
>> Marion
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Sheila Leigland" <sleigland at bresnan.net>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 10:05 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Service Dog Forced To Ride In Taxi Trunk
>>
>>
>>> That's awful and completely shameful. The driver should be fired.
>>>
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