[nagdu] Fw: Proposed Act Regarding Service Dogs from the state of Maine.

Skewis, Brian@DCA Brian.Skewis at dca.ca.gov
Mon Mar 2 19:16:40 UTC 2015


Hi all,

I want to genuinely thank you all for your posts regarding service dog legislation.  I have been following the legislation in Florida, Arizona, and Maine quite diligently and I am truly grateful to be able to see your responses regarding the topic.  

I work for the California State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind; a consumer protection board that licenses and regulates guide dog schools and instructors in California.  I get calls and emails on a regular basis from people asking questions about guide dogs and service dogs in general.  These questions range from business owners asking access questions, to questions about how to register or license a service dog, to questions from members of the legislature regarding how to "fix" the fake service dog issue.  

I understand that the ADA specifically protects a service dog user from having to show any documentation to gain access to a place of public accommodation, but a question I have yet to have answered is how this is different from an individual with a disability having to display a placard on their vehicle or license plate in order to use an accessible parking place.  How is displaying a license on a service dog different than displaying a placard on a vehicle?  Is it because the individual leaves the vehicle and then can assume personal privacy from that point?  I ask because I have seen this analogy used several times in articles, but I haven't heard both sides of the argument.

Regarding the legislation in Maine, Arizona, and Florida, my personal opinion is that because federal law is so broad, that it makes it very easy for people to fraudulently hold their pet dogs out as service animals with little to no repercussions.  There either needs to be a service dog club on the national or state level (meaning some way to identify legitimate service dog teams and exclude illegitimate teams), or the aversion of animals in public needs to change along with the education of businesses in their right to request that a poorly behaved dog leave the premises.  

Thank you again for your continued education and fascinating stories regarding guide dogs and your lives with your "fluffy durable medical equipment" as I read earlier, which literally made me laugh out loud.  Although I'm not a guide dog user, my chocolate lab gives me so much happiness, I identify with you all on that level.              

Regards,

Brian Skewis
California State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind
Email: brian.skewis at dca.ca.gov 
www.guidedogboard.ca.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of The Pawpower Pack via nagdu
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 10:19 AM
To: Debby Phillips; NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Fw: Proposed Act Regarding Service Dogs fromthe stateof Maine.

Under the ADA, most stores are required to give a certain number of feet to aisle clearance space. If the store is not doing this, then they are IMHO, asking for trouble.  This is not just a service dog or blind issue, but the same struggle would be faced by someone with a wheelchair, or walker.
If I go into a store, and cannot get through the aisle, either with a dog or in a wheelchair, and something gets broken, the store is responsible to make sure there is enough clearance. 
  
It is the responsibility of the store to make sure that they are ADA compliant. 


 Rox and the kitchen Bitches: 
Mill'E, Laveau, Soleil
Pawpower4me at gmail.com
Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 2, 2015, at 12:12 PM, Debby Phillips via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Whether I liked it or not, I would have to pay for such.  There are lots of shops where aisles are narrow and there's stuff everywhere.  As for dessert trays, they will put them where they can be seen and who better to see them and want them than children? It's a matter of taking responsibility for what my dog or my child, if I had one, does.    Debby
> 
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