[nagdu] Article: Senators consider bill giving greater protection for service dogs

[Steven Johnson]

Please forgive me if this has already been posted.

 

 

News-Leader.Com (Missouri)

March 30, 2012

 

Senators consider bill giving greater protection for service dogs


Written by Josh Nelson 


 

JEFFERSON CITY - Man's best friend means a little more than just having a
good dog for the Shearer family.

If that were the case, the Springfield residents would not have spent months
raising more than $10,000 for a dog, and then traveled to southwest Ohio
just pick her up.

But Delta, mix between a Labrador retriever and a poodle, is not just any
old dog. She is specially trained to help care for Pleasant View student
Joseph Shearer, who suffers from autism and seizure disorders.

This week, Joseph's mother Tracey Shearer came to Jefferson City to urge
lawmakers to pass added protections for families who use services animals
like Delta.

"This is about my son being a productive part of society in a few years,"
Shearer told senators during a hearing Tuesday. "He can with the proper
accommodations."

Sen. John Lamping, R-Ladue, is sponsoring a bill to allow families like the
Shearers greater protection in state law for service animals. Current
Missouri law differentiates between physically disabled people who use
service animals, such as the blind, and those with mental disabilities, like
traumatic brain injury or autism.

That means a person with mental disabilities may not be able to take a
service dog into certain settings, such as a public bus or in a school.

"Our country has a long history of recognizing that fact that service dogs
provide a valuable service to those that have hearing issues, that are blind
or have other physical disabilities," Lamping said during a Senate hearing
Tuesday on his bill. "What we have not done in the state of Missouri is to
not include those individuals with mental disabilities."

Lamping's bill will eliminate that disparity. He noted that the Americans
with Disabilities Act does not differentiate between physical and mental
disabilities when it comes to service animals. According to the Americans
with Disabilities Act, a service animal must be trained to deal with a
specific disability, whether it is a mental or physical ailment.

Source:
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20120330/NEWS01/303300037/service-dogs-Sp
ringfield-Missouri-senate