[nagdu] Blind woman sues nudist community over guide dog

[Ginger Kutsch]

Blind woman sues nudist community over guide dog 

Feb 27, 2014 4:36 AM EST 

By: Aaron Mesmer, FOX 13 News - 

Source:
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/24835372/2014/02/26/blind-woman-fights-co
ndo-association-to-keep-guide-dog

 LUTZ (FOX 13) - A blind woman living in a nudist community in Lutz vowed
Wednesday to continue her fight to keep her guide dog and keep living in her
condominium.

 

Sharon Fowler has had her service dog since 2011, shortly after a medical
condition caused her to lose her vision.

 

"It is the most difficult thing," she said. "It's not only adjusting to
everything becoming dark and black, it's loss of freedom."

 

And Fowler said that loss of freedom led her to her dog, Laura.

 

"Laura is my best friend," Fowler said.

 

Fowler and her husband, Craig, moved to Paradise Lakes Condominiums in 2012.
They say they had already been settled in when the community association
told them Laura, a black Labrador, is too big and had to go, or they had to
move out.

 

But the Fowlers said they thought this would be a free-thinking and
accepting community and have been stunned by how management has handled the
guide dog situation. 

 

 

Still, they say they're not going anywhere.

 

"I am legally blind. Laura is a trained, certified guide dog," Sharon said.
"You cannot bully us. We will not leave. This is our home. I won't be
embarrassed. I won't be intimidated. We will go all the way with this, and
we've done nothing wrong."

 

"I have to sit back and behave myself and watch my wife go through some of
the most embarrassing and traumatic times that she's ever had to go
through," Craig said.

 

The Fowlers filed a lawsuit against the condo association for mental anguish
and asked a judge to force the association to allow them to stay, at least
for now.

 

The suit was initially thrown out, but an appellate court has since
overturned that ruling.

 

"I won't be embarrassed. I won't be intimidated. We will go all the way with
this," Sharon said.

 

FOX 13 left messages for the condo association manager and president of the
board of directors, but our calls were not returned.