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

Mon Mar 2 21:59:43 UTC 2015

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your thoughtful post and your good question.  Let me give you my
personal answer.

You said, " 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."

To extend your question further why is anyone required to register a vehicle
or show license plates?  Automobiles must, according to the law, be
registered and we as a society have decided to require that proof of
registration and individual identification of the registrant of the vehicle
comes from the showing of license plates.  Driving a car is a privilege in
our society, not a right.

Persons being required to show a placard and/or include a special license
plate number to justify being able to park in a specific place comes from
the very fact that only certain parking places are included as designated
parking places for persons with disabilities.  To prove that you have the
authority to park in a designated spot makes sense and the protection that
comes from having the placard or special number is suppose to keep unlawful
individuals out.  Of course, it does not always work.  There are counterfeit
placards.  Also, people have found ways to circumvent the system and get
placards although they do not really have a justification for having one.

A guide dog is a different animal, as it were.  We have the right to travel
anywhere as part of society.  Under the law, we are the ones who have the
right to travel, not the animal.  We do have the right to use the assistive
technique we choose in traveling.  Some of us  choose dogs.

Society does not demand that anyone exhibiting a characteristic such as race
or gender carry or show special identification to prove that they are a
member of the human race.  Why should I be required to carry something to
prove that I am blind?  The answer is that I should not be so required.

As for my guide dog, why should I be required to carry something to prove
that she is a guide dog?  The answer again is that I  should not be so
required.  The ADA, in  my opinion, has addressed this issue by identifying
how members of the public can interact with me to satisfy themselves that
Africa is a guide dog.  I can appropriately answer the questions posed under
the ADA.  Can those who have fake service animals do so?  Even if they can,
please remember that the animal must always act appropriately in public.
Even my guide dog must behave properly.  I would venture to guess that we
wouldn't even be having this discussion if every fraudulent "service animal"
was obedient, controlled and did not attract attention.

What is the solution?  In California the Guide Dog Board should take the
lead to educate store owners and other proprietors about their rights,
responsibilities and obligations under the state law as well as under the
ADA.  Why are we not seeing a pr campaign toward this end?  Why hasn't the
Board created a taskforce of consumers to help in this effort?  I bet you
could get the support of organizations such as the NFB to help with this
process.

Another way the board could lead the way would be to work with the state
legislature to enact EXTREMELY harsh laws and penalties concerning
misrepresentation of an animal as a "service animal".  I do not believe that
the burden should be on us to show what we are and why we use guide dogs.
The burden should be on the wrong doers and the consequences for their
improper actions should be significant.

By the way, I served on the California Guide Dog board many years ago and do
understand the mandate of the board.  Even so, I suspect that there would be
wide spread support for the board leading the way to make California a
shining example of how to address the fake service animal problem.

I hope I have given you a sufficient answer to your question.  Feel free to
contact me if you want to talk about this further. 

Best,

Michael Hingson
Vice President, NAGDU
Past member, California State Guide Dog Board

The Michael Hingson Group, INC.
"Speaking with Vision"
Michael Hingson, President
(415) 827-4084
info at michaelhingson.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Skewis, Brian at DCA
via nagdu
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 11:17 AM
To: The Pawpower Pack; NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide
Dog Users; Debby Phillips
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Fw: Proposed Act Regarding Service Dogs from the state
of Maine.

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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